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Military Spouse Education

What Military Spouses Should Know About MyCAA in 2025

December 6, 2024 by Julie Leave a Comment

You have been a military spouse for a few years now, and you are thinking of going back to school. MyCAA can be a great way to do it. MyCAA is an excellent scholarship program for military spouses who do want to go to school. There have been some recent updates to the program, which help include more military spouses than they did before. Here is what you need to know about the program:

So, What Exactly is MyCAA?

MyCAA stands for “My Career Advancement Account Scholarship.” It is a workforce development program for eligible military spouses so they can work on getting a license, certification, or associate degree or for continuing education courses to maintain a license or certification necessary for employment. The program is a part of the Defense Department Spouse Education Career Opportunities Program.

Who is Eligible For MyCAA?

  • Military spouses of active duty service members, as well as spouses of National Guard and Reserve service members that are on Title 10 orders, qualify for the program.
  • The service member needs to be E-1 through E-9, W-1 through W-3, or O-1 through O-3.
  • Spouses will also need to have their high school degree or GED.
  • If your spouse does get promoted past the eligible ranks, you can continue your approved education and training program.

How Much Does MyCAA Pay For?

  • MyCAA provides a maximum tuition benefit of $4,000 with an annual fiscal cap of $2,000 for eligible military spouses who need professional credentials to meet their career goals.
  • MyCAA pays for tuition and testing fees.

Is There a Time Limit To Use MyCAA?

Yes, there is a three-year time limit for using your funding. The beginning of those three years is the start date of the first course that you are taking.

What Else Do I Need to Know?

  • Programs that only lead to a certificate are not eligible. Military spouses need to be pursuing a recognized postsecondary credential.
  • To get started, visit the MyCAA website. You will need to use DS Logon to access your account.
  • You can search for eligible schools and programs on their website.
  • You can also connect directly with an SECO Career Professional. They have a live chat.

Even if you are unsure of what you want to do or unsure of what you want to study, checking out this military spouse scholarship program would be a great idea. It’s an amazing benefit for military spouses.

What Military Spouses Should Know About MyCAA in 2025

Filed Under: Military Spouse Employment Tagged With: Military Spouse Education, Military Spouse Employment, mycaa

5 Reasons For Military Spouses To Go Back To School

September 27, 2018 by Julie

 

5 Reasons For Military Spouses To Go Back To School

Last year, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do in the future. I graduated with my BA in Sociology in 2001 and I never really knew what I was going to do with it. I never did get a “Sociology” job and ended up working in other ways after college. Then I started having children and started to stay home.

I have been a work at home mom for years now and while I love what I do (writing) and I love the flexibility of working from home (it’s so nice) I started to feel like I wanted to pursue something else. Something I was passionate about, something I felt I could do, and something that would be a good choice for my family.

Before I had my kids, I worked as a doula. And I loved being around birth, even though I didn’t do it very long. I had already been to quite a few births before I had my oldest baby. I loved being there, helping women through giving birth. I loved watching new life come into the world.

5 Reasons For Military Spouses To Go Back To School

Last fall, I sat down with a list of careers I could see myself pursuing. Careers I would need to go back to school for, but where I could find a good job once I was done. The thing about a Sociology degree is by itself; it can be hard to find a good paying job. So while I was thankful to have that degree, I knew if I wanted to pursue any of those careers on my list I would need to go to school.

As I talked to a few people in different career paths, thought about where I saw myself in the future, and figured out what I wanted to do, there was a clear winner…

Nursing!

I wanted to become a nurse. Right now, labor and delivery has my heart, but we will see where the road leads.

I needed to take a few prereqs before I could apply to nursing school. I decided to take this year to complete them and start nursing school next fall or spring. I started my first class in August, an online one, and I am not sure how I feel about that format.

5 Reasons For Military Spouses To Go Back To School

I will start my first in-person class in 17 years in a few weeks! It seems like a big change. Although I have deadlines with my work at home job, I work very flexible hours. If I need or even want to go somewhere at a certain time, I can usually make it happen. I just do my work around that.

This will change a little the rest of this school year with having to go to class a couple of times a week. And then once I do start nursing school, my life will look completely different. While I am very excited about this path, change is never easy.

I am not sure how everything is going to go. I am not sure how much time I will have for the things that are important to me. But I know everything will work out, and the sacrifice will be worth it.

As I think about this blog post, I wanted to share a bit about why I think it can be so good for military spouses to go to school. While going to school, or back to school isn’t an option for everyone, and it might not be the right season for you, going back to school can be something you can think about in the future.

5 Reasons For Military Spouses To Go Back To School

Here are 5 reasons for military spouses to go back to school:

MYCAA

If your spouse is on Title 10 orders, an E-1 to E-5, W-1 to W-2 or O-1 to O-2, you can use MYCAA for certain degrees, licenses, and certificates. MYCAA will give you up to $4,000 for your education. This is money, just for you to go to school, and can be a good reason to go back.

You never finished and always wanted to

You may have started college when you were younger, then life happened, and you decided to do something else. It has been a few years, and now you want to go back. Now is a perfect time to do so.

See what colleges are in your local area. I am a big fan of Community Colleges. You can check out what degree programs they have and go from there. Online programs are also a good idea and allow you more flexibility during military life.

Career change

Maybe you do have a degree and even a career. But as life went by, you decided you wanted to do something else. That’s okay; it’s never too late to go back and get another degree to do something else. Whether you are completely changing your focus, or just going to get some more education, starting a new career can be a very good thing for you and your family.

You want your own career

Maybe it is just time for you to work on your own career. Often times, military spouses can put their own hopes and dreams on the backburner because of the craziness of military life. Other times, they become the stay at home parent while their kids are growing up.

But as you know, children do grow up, and you might find yourself in a place where school makes more sense. This was part of going back to school for me. My kids were older, and I knew they could handle different schedules.

I also won’t have to depend on childcare as much, my oldest will be about 17 when I graduate. These are big hurdles for some people, and as your children grow, some of those challenges go away, and that makes working on your own career a little easier.

The GI Bill

Did you know that your service member spouse can transfer all or part of their GI Bill to you? This can be a good way to pay for school, especially if you can’t use MYCAA or plan to get a higher degree. There are some new rules when it comes to transferring the GI Bill which goes into effect next summer so if you ever want to use their GI Bill, get things figured out soon.

There are many reasons to go back to school, whether going back is something you have always wanted to do, or the time suddenly seemed right.

Did you decide to go back to school? What went into your decision?

Filed Under: Military Life Tagged With: military life, military spouse, Military Spouse Education

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About Soldier’s Wife, Crazy Life

 

Welcome to Soldier’s Wife, Crazy Life! I am so glad you are here.

My name is Julie and I first became a military spouse in 2005 when my husband of 3 years re-joined the Army. Then, in 2014, he joined the National Guard. In January of 2024, he retired from the National Guard after 21 years of service.

During our time in the military, we got to spend 4 years in Germany as well as Tennessee where we now call home.

We have three boys and have been through four deployments together.

I hope that you can find support for your own deployments, PCS moves, or anything else military life brings you through my articles and social media posts.

 

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