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Military Tuition Assistance Programs Zeroed Out by Sequester

One of the first causalities of the the federal Sequester is the Tuition Assistance (TA) program provided by the Army and Marine Corps. Following the Marines Corps lead, the Army announced on Friday, March 8th that soldiers will not be allowed to enroll in TA-funded courses after the day of the annoucement. The Marines announced on Thursday, March 7th. Both programs would not go forward after March 8th. Soldiers who are currently in courses may complete their classes, but may not pay for additional courses with TA.

Military TA programs provide up to $4,500 per year for active-duty troops who are attending high school completion courses and certificate programs, or are working toward college degrees. According to the Army, 201,000 soldiers took advantage of the Army’s TA program in fiscal year 2012. The TA program provided $373 million, helping 2,831 soldiers earn associate degrees, 4,495 earn bachelor degrees and 1,946 receive graduate degrees.

The Navy and the Air Force are considering similar cuts, but as yet, have not publicly decided to follow suit.

UW estimates this will keep 100 soldiers from using TA in the Spring Quarter across all three campuses.

President Proposes Linking Federal Aid to Performance

Yesterday, President Obama released “The President’s Plan for a Strong Middle Class and a Strong America” as a follow up to his State of the Union address on Tuesday. While the President focused on a few higher education messages during his speech, mainly his College Scorecard, his nine-page document released yesterday laid out a plan to seek major changes in the accountability system for higher education by calling for benchmarks for affordability and student outcomes as criteria for receiving federal student financial aid. If realized, regional and national accreditors would become the primary gatekeepers for access to those dollars, which would be based on performance and results. It is not yet clear how the President will achieve his goal of tying federal aid to performance as it is not well defined in his post-SOTU document. We will be following this closely.

UW Rates Exceptionally Well on Obama’s College Scorecard

During his State of the Union address last night, President Obama announced a new College Scorecard that would help students and parents make better decisions about which college to attend. The College Scorecard allows you to enter the name of a college of interest or select factors that are important in any college search. You can find scorecards for colleges based on factors such as programs or majors offered, location, and enrollment size.

According to the administration’s College Scorecard, the University of Washington, including UW-Tacoma and UW-Bothell, all “score” exceptionally well compared to other post-secondary institutions in Washington state. This validates what we have been saying for a long time: the UW offers great value and a great education for Washington state residents!

President to Nominate Sally Jewel for Interior

According to Politico.com, President Obama will nominate current REI President and CEO Sally Jewell to lead the Interior Department. Sally is also a current member of the UW Board of Regents.

If confirmed, Sally would replace current Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who held the post throughout Obama’s first term. Salazar announced last month that he would step down in March.

Congratulations Sally!

Alternative to Dream Act Introduced

As the Los Angeles Times is reporting, three republican senators introduced an alternative version of the Dream Act on Tuesday that would give legal status for young immigrants brought to the US unlawfully as children.  The effort, called the Achieve Act and launched by retiring senators Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) and supported by Arizona senator John McCain, appears to be a push to take some of the heat off of republicans on immigration.  But senate democrats, in an effort to hold their feet to the fire, won’t let the bill come to a vote during the lame duck session.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times.