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Strategy for Going to College as a Military Spouse

Updated | Lori Waddell and Joe Wallace
military spouse going to college

Choose Your Career Path Carefully

Moving every few years is a reality if you’re a military member planning to remain on active duty for the long haul. Some choose a career path where their skills and education will be sought after in communities of all sizes. Most people don’t have to think about choosing a transferable career, but military spouses need to plan carefully to set themselves up for success. Consider careers in the following areas:

  • Medical Billing and Coding
  • Dental Assistant
  • Web Designer
  • Pharmacy Tech
  • Mental Health Professional
  • Business Administration
  • Nursing
  • Teaching
  • Early Childhood Education
  • Finance & Accounting
  • Hospitality Management

Frequent permanent change-of-station moves, local occupational licensing barriers, and unpredictable deployment tempos disrupt military spouses’ lives, their careers, and, when they are in school, progress in their college education.

Making the most of college under these circumstances is not impossible, but for some military spouses, reaching graduation day means choosing credentials that transfer to other schools with few or no lost credits, supported by military education benefits and state financial aid and grants that help students avoid taking on new debt where possible.

What strategies can military students and their families try to make the most out of available funding for college or other higher education?

Using FAFSA First

Before spending savings or borrowing money, submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid to qualify for need-based federal Pell Grants.

Read FAFSA: What You Need To Know to see how the Department of Education calculates aid for military families. Federal Student Aid regulations exclude tax-exempt military allowances, such as Basic Allowance for Housing, from income calculations. Pell Grants require no repayment.

DoD SpouseWorks

Eligible spouses can receive up to $4,000 in tuition assistance through the DoD SpouseWorks program, using something formerly called MyCAA.

Department of Defense SpouseWorks offers resources to spouses of service members on active-duty Title 10 orders across paygrades E-1 through E-9, W-1 through W-3, and O-1 through O-3. The benefit is capped at $2,000 per fiscal year and pays for qualifying associate degrees, occupational licenses, and job certificates in high-growth career tracks.

Planning Your College Financial Aid

It pays to avoid using your GI Bill or other veteran education benefits before you try applying for awards and military spouse scholarships from groups like Army Emergency Relief, Fisher House, and Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society. These organizations offer financial help to qualifying applicants covering books, academic fees, and course costs without the student needing to resort to the GI Bill.

Military Financial Aid for Testing and Certification

Relocating under orders often forces military spouses to pay for new state credentials, background checks, and exam fees. Your branch of the military may offer up to $1,000 for licensing and certification costs required for a permanent change-of-station move. This reimbursement helps cover professional costs that standard college tuition assistance cannot pay.

State Licensing and Interstate Compacts

Education and training programs at the state level used to cause career dead ends after a PCS move but the Military Spouse Licensing Relief Act says spouses relocating on military orders can work using their existing out-of-state credentials if their original license meets standards in the new location.

Military spouses with certifications in healthcare or education should check whether the new state’s clinical rotation agreements align with the applicable Nurse Licensure Compact and Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.

CLEP Testing, DANTES Testing for College Credit

You can save money and speed up your studies by taking credit-by-exam options. Passing scores on CLEP Tests for Military and DANTES DSST Exams may help you meet introductory course requirements at more than 1,900 colleges. While active-duty troops receive funded tests, spouses generally pay test center and registration fees unless their academic program includes exam costs in approved tuition plans.

Including MSEP in Your School Search

Your school search should include colleges tied to the Military Spouse Employment Partnership. MSEP links degreed and credentialed spouses to corporate and federal employers that offer portable jobs, remote work arrangements, and hiring preferences for military families.

According to the official site, “Since 2011, the Military Spouse Employer Partnership, a War Department initiative, has brought together vetted public- and private-sector employers committed to recruiting, hiring, promoting and retaining military spouses.” This network features over 1,000 employer partners, including federal agencies and corporations.

Transferring Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits

Service members can transfer GI Bill benefits to a spouse and dependents, but there are important caveats. This can be done after the service member has completed six years of active duty, and sharing the GI Bill requires the service member to commit to four additional years of military service.

Using the GI Bill in this way is more complicated for military spouses. Military households that already collect a monthly military housing allowance will not receive the Post-9/11 GI Bill housing allowance at the same time. As long as the service member draws a housing allowance, the Post-9/11 GI Bill does not pay a second housing benefit.

Remember Deployment and PCS protections:

Unexpected orders or family separations should never ruin your GPA or create student debt. Institutions participating in the DoD MOU have formal military class drop/withdrawal rules that allow military-affiliated students to withdraw without penalties, request incomplete grades to finish work later, or receive full tuition refunds if military duty forces an interruption.

These policies vary by school, and you may need to meet certain requirements to qualify.

Take Advantage of Scholarships For Military Spouses

When applying for scholarships, start locally by checking with your base or installation to see if they offer scholarships and what the requirements are. You can also take a look at military spouse scholarships or use the CollegeRecon Scholarship Finder to find scholarships for military, veterans, spouses, and dependents.

Military-Friendly Online Schools

Some colleges have paid CollegeRecon for promotional consideration.

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About the author

Lori Waddell serves as Co-director of an emergency response COAD in Montana, a freelance writer, and an Air Force Key Spouse. She is passionate about empowering communities and individuals through knowledge and resources. She currently lives in Montana with her husband and two children.

Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma.

Wallace is cofounder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter and filmmaker. Joe Wallace is the director of The Camera is Your Friend, a documentary about the Texas psychedelic experimental collective, Crevice. He also directed Cowgirls & Synthesizers, a documentary about the Texas synth-pop band, Hyperbubble.

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