ARLINGTON, Va. — Looking to cut costs, the Navy has announced stricter guidelines for its tuition assistance program.
The Navy currently provides sailors up to $250 per credit hour for up to $4,500 per year in tuition assistance, said Ann Hunter, of Naval Education and Training Command.
Last year, the Navy increased the number of semester hours per fiscal year for which sailors could receive tuition assistance from 12 to 16.
“The Navy wants to make it easier for sailors to obtain their education goals,” Cmdr. Sharon Bemis of NETC said last June. “A well-educated force will increase its competency.”
But the move also meant that program spending “just went out the roof,” Hunter said. Within six months, the program was $24 million over budget.
Now the Navy has implemented new eligibility requirements for sailors who want to apply for tuition assistance. The moves should save the Navy about $10 million through fiscal 2008, Hunter said.
Sailors who want tuition assistance must now be eligible for advancement and must have passed their most recent advancement exam and Physical Readiness Test.
In another change, sailors cannot apply for tuition assistance if they have been court-martialed or given a nonjudicial punishment in the previous six months, Hunter said.
“If you’ve been in trouble, you need to focus on changing your ways, getting out of trouble, before we give you more money for education,” she said.
The Navy will also no longer provide tuition assistance for sailors pursuing dual degrees, meaning sailors who already hold a bachelor’s degree cannot receive tuition assistance for another bachelor’s level unless it is a prerequisite for a master’s degree, Hunter said.
The move will affect about 1,200 enlisted sailors and another 100 officers, Hunter said.
Other changes are meant to ensure that sailors focus on the requirements they need to do their jobs before taking college courses, she said.
For example, sailors can no longer receive tuition assistance when they are at school first learning their rating or designator. That will affect about 420 enlisted sailors and another 70 officers, she said.
And the Navy will no longer provide tuition assistance for continuing education units, or vocational-type training, affecting about 300 enlisted sailors and 70 officers, Hunter said.
Sailors are also encouraged to master their warfare qualifications, in which they must show they have mastered the skill-sets that their jobs demand, before they take college courses, she said.
In another change, enlisted sailors with less than 20 years’ experience cannot receive tuition assistance if they have less than one year remaining of active service, Hunter said. This change will be further clarified in the next 30 days.
The Navy also plans to modify the changes to the tuition assistance program as needed, she said.
“We will be watching this very closely over the next year, year and a half,” Hunter said.
