Coast Guard To Pay Back Spouse Costs for State Licenses, Certifications

The Coast Guard has become the latest service to offer reimbursement of spouses’ state license and certification costs.

The Coast Guard said it will start reimbursing spouses of service members for qualified relicensing costs incurred as they transferred to another state or territory. 

This reimbursement is authorized by the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. The Marine Corpsannounced last monthit will reimburse up to $500 tospouses who paid for professional relicensing because of a move. The Air Force followed suit, announcing May 15 it would do the same. 

"Spouses, just like our servicemembers, endure many sacrifices during the course of a military career,” said Adm. Matthew Sibley, assistant commandant for Human Resources, in a statement. "These sacrifices are especially hard on a spouse’s career with the frequency of military moves. We are pleased to provide our military spouses with the Coast Guard License and Certification Reimbursement Program to assist them with easing their own career transitions.”