The Stanly News & Press - March 14, 2010
Earlier this month, Congressman Larry Kissell (NC-08) joined with members of the Congressional Military Families Caucus and urged the Department of Defense to restart the Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts, a military spouse education program, which was suspended in February after an unprecedented spike in enrollment.

It was announced that Phase 1 of the program would have started Saturday, helping 136,583 spouses enrolled in the program.

The spike forced the DoD to suspend the program which was pushed to its budget threshold. Kissell urged the DoD and Secretary Robert Gates to reinstate the program as quickly as possible.

Its suspension had negative effects on military spouses trying to further their education.

Enrollees were not notified of the abrupt suspension and forced to find different ways to pay for their educational endeavors.

“We should do everything we can to help our military families who’ve sacrificed so deeply for our nation as their loved ones fight in Iraq and Afghanistan," Kissell said.

“This program helps these men and women as they pursue career training, and I am proud to support it. I am pleased the Department of Defense has restarted this program, and hope it will continue to grow.”

Kimrey Rhinehardt, vice president for Federal Relations of the University of North Carolina, brought Kissell’s attention to the sudden abatement of the program, and how it would affect students in the UNC system as well as military spouses across North Carolina.

“The sudden discontinuation of the MyCAA program had a big impact on our students across the University of North Carolina system.

This program is hugely successful and very popular, and would have been a tremendous loss to so many of our military spouses here in North Carolina,” Rhinehardt said.

“Congressman Kissell was immediately responsive when he found out about the discontinuation, and showed tremendous leadership in his fight to get this program reinstated, and we thank him for his support.”

Plans to implement Phase 2 are being prepared with options for long-term management of the program and announcements should come in the next several weeks.

The program helps spouses of active duty members as well as activated members of the National Guard and Reserve Components who are on Title 10 orders. They are eligible to receive up to $6,000 over two years in MyCAA Financial Assistance. It pays for tuition for education and training courses including state certifications for teachers, medical professionals and other occupations requiring recognized certificates.