User:CollegeMeltdown/DOD Tuition Assistance

DOD Tuition Assistance (DOD TA) is a US Department of Defense program that funds higher education programming for US military servicemembers. Currently, DOD TA funds servicemember's college tuition and fees, not to exceed $250 per semester credit hour or $166 per quarter credit hour and not to exceed $4,500 per fiscal year, Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. In 2019, The US Department of Defense (DOD) spent more than $492 million on the program that year and about 220,000 troops used the benefits.

History
The US military has employed civilian institutions for its troops since at least World War I. According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, DOD Tuition Assistance began in the 1950s as a way to provide education benefits to active duty personnel.

In the 1990s, DOD Tuition Assistance was excluded from requirements that schools receive funding outside of government funds. This made servicemembers more vulnerable to for-profit colleges that were aggressively marketing students.

In 2011, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report calling for greater oversight of the DOD TA program. While DOD has instituted an oversight system, it has not sanctioned any schools for violations of the MOU.

In 2015, after an expose by the Center for Investigative Reporting, DOD began removing the University of Phoenix for aggressive marketing.

From 2014 to 2018 the number of servicemembers using the program fell by 14.5 percent. According to the Military Times "For-profit schools accounted for 34.7 percent of TA usage in fiscal 2018, compared with 39.7 percent for public schools and 25.7 percent for private nonprofit schools. For-profits are even more dominant among the top 50 TA schools, accounting for 39.3 percent of the student enrollment, more than public and private institutions."

In 2018, DOD reported that all member schools that reported had at least one violation of the MOU. One school had 17 infractions.

In 2021, Congress closed the 90-10 loophole, and DOD Tuition Assistance would no longer excluded from the 90-10 formula.

Benefits
DOD TA funds college tuition and certain fees with the following limits:
 * Not to exceed $250 per semester credit hour or $166 per quarter credit hour
 * Not to exceed $4,500 per fiscal year, Oct. 1 through Sept. 30

Administration
DOD Tuition Assistance is administered by the Defense Voluntary Education Programs. The Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel Readiness provides overall policy guidelines and the responsibilities are accomplished through the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy and the Chief of Continuing Education in the Educational Opportunities Directorate."

MOU
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) requires schools to be transparent with servicemembers, bans aggressive marketing and inducements to encourage servicemembers from enrolling in their school. Schools that receive DOD Tuition Assistance are required to sign the MOU periodically.

Top Up program
The Top-Up program allows servicemembers to use the GI Bill to supplement the tuition and fees not covered by tuition assistance.