Distance Learning for Military Spouses

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Martinsburg Institute for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

You know I’m a navy wife, and I know lots of military spouses of course. Tons of them are going back to school, and taking advangage of the awesome MyCAA program to get funding for their continued education. The idea is that since our husbands (or wives) are being transferred all around the country and world, it’s hard for us to find jobs, so MyCAA should be used for earning certificates or degrees that can facilitate a more portable career for us. It’s an effort in retention. Keep the spouse happy and employed/employable, and the husband can keep working for the Navy.

The MyCAA program is open to all eligible spouses under the new program guidelines below:

• Spouse of an active duty Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine service member, or activated Reserve member in pay grades E1-E5, W1-W2, or O1-O2.

• If the spouse of National Guard and/or AGR member, the sponsor must be on federal Title 10 active duty orders as reported in DEERS.

• Spouses of Guard/Reserve members in an Alert, Transition Assistance, or Post Deployment status are not eligible.

• MyCAA accounts will be limited to the new $4,000 maximum benefit with a $2,000 fiscal year cap. Waivers to the fiscal year cap will be available for spouses pursuing licensure or credentials with a cost that exceeds the $2,000 fiscal year cap up to the total maximum assistance of $4,000.

• Spouses must finish their program of study within three years from the start date of the first course.

• Funding is limited to only Associate’s degrees, certifications and licensure programs.

Many schools accept MyCAA funding, which is great if you know you’re going to be in one place long enough to finish your program. But if you’re not sure whether your servicemember spouse will be transferred in the middle of your courses, you might take a look at distance learning. One such school is the Martinsburg Institute, which provides students with a laptop with all required course materials already loaded on it, kind of a neat perk. They offer many certificate programs and a couple Associate’s degrees, in areas like IT, business, and medical administration.

If you’re a military spouse, have you used your MyCAA benefits? What degree or certificate did you put it towards? Is there a program at Martinsburg that interests you?

I was going to do a distance Montessori certification program, but then Anneliese happened and distracted me from it, and now we’re no longer eligeable. I still want to do it at some point, but will just have to save up for it myself.