It is yet another symbolic, in-your-face political gesture from the fever swamp of foolishness we call Washington, D.C. If you want to see why the entire sequestration idea is stupid, you would have to look no further than the anounced ending of tuition assistance to active members of the U.S military enrolled in colleges this fiscal year.
It is wrong that these indiscriminate cuts will force many of our classmates to either pay tuition themselves or drop out of classes. The federal government funding the Military Tuition Assistance Program makes good sense and is the right thing to do.
If you don’t know what sequestering is, it is about to hit the lives of many Americans. The sequester was an idea dreamt up in the confines of the Oval Office between President Obama and congressional leaders that cuts $1.2 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. The cuts are divided evenly between the military budget and domestic spending programs.
In 2011, congressional leaders and the White House agreed on the infamous sequester to avoid a self-imposed fiscal emergency like raising the debt ceiling. They agreed to set up sequestration to be so detestable and ridiculous that not even they would stoop so low as to actually let it come to pass. Fast forward to today, and they have indeed gone that low.
Its effects will be felt by our active duty members. How unfair it is for those who have signed up to defend our country and our freedoms to become victims of the very government they swear to defend?
According to the Army Times, About 201,000 soldiers are receiving tuition assistance from the military this year. Many will have to pay tuition for summer and fall semesters out of their own pockets if something is not done.
Already many state legislatures, like New York and Missouri, have introduced legislation that would give all students at state schools who serve in the military a discount in the amount they received prior to the sequester.
Additionally, U.S Senators James Inhofe from Oklahoma and Kay Hagen from North Carolina have passed an amendment to direct the Department of Defense to restore tuition funding.
“This is an earned benefit that not only assists in recruiting and retention efforts for our all-volunteer force, but it also improves the lives of our men and women as they seek leadership opportunities within the military,” Inhofe said in a statement, after Senate passage.
A vote will need to be taken in the U.S House of Representatives before it can be signed by the President.
While these proposals are good signs, it has been shown time and time again that we can’t depend upon partisan legislatures to act in the best interest of the people. The responsibility to help our fellow classmates should fall upon the colleges that they attend, if nothing is ultimately done in D.C or the state capitals.
Several private colleges around the country have introduced plans to offer tuition discounts for military members affected by the cuts. Southern New Hampshire University, Columbia College and Methodist University, among others, have announced that they will provide scholarships or defer tuition to all active duty members hit by the tuition assistance cuts for the upcoming term.
NSU administration would do right by its military students by instituting similar assistances. These students’ educations shouldn’t be interrupted because the politicians in Washington can’t get their act together.
Military students have earned educational benefits because of their great sacrifices during the longest wars in American history. Many of these student soldiers have fought in the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan and they deserve better. In fact, they deserve an education.
