Three Ways VA Helps Military Spouses Continue Their Education

Military spouses can take advantage of programs that help continue their education and develop fulfilling careers working with our nation’s Veterans.

By Contributing Authors

Military spouses interested in continuing their education to advance a career need look no further than VA.

More than 500,000 military spouses in the U.S. are underemployed or unemployed. We’re committed to helping them enjoy meaningful careers by partnering with the DoD’s Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP) program.

“By taking this pledge, we demonstrated our commitment to working with DoD and military installations across the country to engage military spouses in conversation about career opportunities across the country,” said Tracey Therit, chief human capital officer at VA.

As a VA employee, you could enjoy access to a robust range of programs to support your ongoing education. Here are three ways we offer education support to our employees:

Scholarships. The Department of Defense grants military spouses up to $4,000 in tuition help to pursue licenses, certifications or associate degrees in targeted fields through the My Career Advancement Account scholarship. We also offer several scholarship opportunities to our VA employees. If you’re a nurse, you can receive nearly $40,000 to continue your nursing studies and earn a baccalaureate or advanced nursing degree. Get a tax-free scholarship of up to $40,117 to pursue a health care degree through the Employee Incentive Scholarship Program or the same generous scholarship plus salary replacement through the VA National Education for Employees Program.
Loan repayment and reimbursement. Your federal student loans are often eligible for forgiveness as a federal employee at VA. On top of that, we also offer up to $10,000 per year for six years in loan repayment help for employees in certain occupations.
Internal training and education. Keep your education going while on the job. Our Employee Education System offers education and training, including accredited courses and programs, to improve outcomes, operations and administration. Take advantage of our leadership training program, state-of-the-art satellite system that delivers digital educational programming 24/7, a web-based training portal, and agreements with colleges and universities close to many VA facilities.

With this support, you can continue your education and grow into the rewarding career you’ve been looking for, all while serving Veterans at VA facilities across the nation.

A wealth of benefits

In addition to education assistance, we offer competitive pay, premium-support group health insurance, access to the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) and remote work options. We strive to provide work-life balance to our workers. We offer 13-26 days paid annual leave that start accruing your first day, 13 sick days annually with no limit on accumulation and 10 paid federal holidays.

VA jobs that are a good fit for military spouses are tagged on USAJobs and key information — such as remote work opportunities, flexible work schedules and child care benefits — are highlighted in all job announcements.

For many positions, you’ll have noncompetitive eligibility (NCE) and can apply for jobs that are open only to federal employees. You also can be hired outside of the formal competitive job announcement process.