The Navy has announced it will be closing 16 of its 20 stateside Navy College offices by October 1 of this year, and the remainder of its stateside offices by October 1, 2017.
In an announcement, the Navy has said that it plans to close the following offices:
- Ventura County, CA
- Coronado, CA
- Lemoore, CA
- New London, CT
- Pensacola, FL
- Kings Bay, GA
- Great Lakes, IL
- Bethesda, MD
- Gulfport, MS
- Fallon, NV
- Charleston, SC
- Millington, TN
- Corpus Christi, TX
- Little Creek, VA
- Everett, WA
- Whidbey Island, WA
After the closings, only 4 CONUS Navy College offices will remain open:
- San Diego, CA
- Jacksonville, FL
- Norfolk, VA
- Kitsap, WA
These offices are scheduled to be closed by October 1, 2017, shuttering all CONUS Navy College offices.
In a letter to Navy Installation Commanding Officers, CAPT Lee A. C. Newton, Commanding Officer, Naval Education and Training Professional Development and Technology Center, said the closings are a result of budget cuts. He also said the closings will affect 84 civilian positions, by abolishing 54 jobs and moving 30 personnel to a call center that will assist sailors with their education goals.
The Navy says that sailors will be able to use the call center or its Virtual Education Center (VEC) to accomplish everything that physical Navy College offices could provide. Services offered by the VEC include: applying for tuition assistance, enrolling in Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOCNAV), reviewing Joint Services Transcripts, or receiving educational counseling. With these closings, stateside-based sailors seeking off-duty education help will have to call or email counselors at the Navy’s virtual education center - making the Navy the only branch of the military that lacks on-base education counseling for CONUS based servicemembers..
The Navy requires all sailors to have a degree plan on file, and receive counseling before they can use tuition assistance. Navy Education reports that the these functions make up the majority of their workload, however officials feel that today's sailors are accustomed to using the internet for nearly everything in their lives; from banking, to shopping, to taking online training, and they are confident that sailors will easily adapt to getting their counseling and TA approval online.
For their part, the Navy says it plans to use the money saved by the elimination of the CONUS Navy College offices and streamlining of services to increase their funding of the tuition assistance program, and to expand the hours and services offered by the VEC.
Afloat services and OUTCONUS offices, including Hawaii will not be affected by the closing.
To learn more about services offered by Navy College offices, see our Navy Education Programs page.
