Marines cut tuition assistance rates

OKINAWA, Japan, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Marine Corps says it is cutting tuition assistance by 75 percent for Marines who take classes while off-duty.

Stars and Stripes said the cuts in military tuition from the Defense Department standard of $3,500 per year to $875 for Marines were expected as the government tries to cut costs. The Marine Corp was the first branch of the military to be affected by the cuts, the newspaper said.

The Marine Corps said the new rate is equal to the average class load taken on by Marines.

Stephanie Styll, a spokeswoman for University of Maryland University College Asia at Yokota Air Base in Japan, said the university has been anticipating the changes to tuition assistance for all the branches of service.

"We've really been beefing up our training on federal financial aid as well as veterans' benefits," she told Stars and Stripes.