Military spouses deal with halted MyCAA

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - More military spouses are contacting 10 on Your Side after the MyCAA program was recently halted.

Originally from Salisbury, Md., Emily Coutu feels closest to home when she's surrounded by animals. Coutu works with birds at the Virginia Aquarium Marsh Pavilion.

"I definitely want to learn more as far as training and animal behavior," said Coutu.

So she jumped at the opportunity to take advantage of the MyCAA program. It gave military spouses $6,000 to pursue career training.

Coutu signed up for a Kaplan GRE test prep class.

"Everyone I spoke to said it was fine, it was approved," said Coutu.

In late February, the MyCAA program was suddenly halted. Department of Defense officials said it ran out of money. Most students said they found out through Facebook, not the program. A DOD spokesperson said the program would still pay for courses students were already enrolled in, but Coutu says MyCAA told her they wouldn't pay for hers.

"Their first explanation was they decided not to fund Kaplan prep courses in November, but if I had signed up before that it would have been funded. So, when I showed them proof that I had, they then said we never have, so we're not going to pay for it, you slipped through the cracks," said Coutu.

Coutu emailed 10 On Your Side and we reached out to the Department of Defense and Kaplan Test Prep.

"When we heard about Emily's situation we absolutely wanted to help," said Kaplan Spokesperson Carina Wong.

Wong said Kaplan would cover the cost of Coutu's class if MyCAA would not.

"You guys are amazing and the fact that you stepped up to help out military spouses is amazing to me," said Coutu.

Shortly after Kaplan stepped up to the plate, MyCAA also agreed to pay for the course.

In a statement issued to 10 On Your Side, DOD spokesperson Lt. Col April Cunningham said, "The course (Graduate Record Exam) is not normally funded by MyCAA however, because the course was inadvertently approved, we are honoring the commitment to the spouse to fund that course."