On the recordMay 26, 2011
When I was a young enlisted infantryman in the Army, I took advantage of this program to begin my own college education, but it has room to be perfected. A change in cost sharing has caused funding for the Tuition Assistance program to increase from $157 million in FY 2001 to $531 million in FY 2010. Cost per credit hour of distance education, for instance, has risen dramatically since 2001. The services have had to deny tuition assistance benefits to some servicemembers because of the growing cost of this program. My amendment calls for a study by the Department of Defense on ways to reform this program, including reinstating the 25/75 percent cost share. I believe that with ``skin in the game'' servicemembers will have incentives for high academic performance and that more servicemembers will be eligible for tuition assistance benefits. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1540.
