The Army said Friday it will reimburse soldiers who may need to foot the bill for college courses this fall as glitches in the service’s tuition-assistance portal have kept hundreds of troops from accessing those funds.
Army IgnitED, which connects soldiers with federal funds to cover the cost of college courses and other credentialing programs, has been plagued by technical difficulties for years. Now, an effort to connect the online portal to the Army’s personnel files appears to have created a new slew of problems for troops in the weeks leading up to the fall semester.
The hurdles could force soldiers to postpone their education or to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket to move forward with their classes. Some schools may opt to hold off on requiring payment until the Army can make good on its funding.
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Soldiers who opt to pay their tuition out of pocket can request tuition assistance payments through their education centers, Army spokesperson Heather Hagan said Aug. 16.
“Education services officers at the education centers are prepared to support soldiers with these requests,” she said.
About 200 help desk tickets related to system access or data accuracy have been filed since Army IgnitED and the Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army, or IPPS-A, were connected on July 16, Hagan said. That’s out of nearly 30,000…
