Will the military help us?

[mrs. robinson]

We will be relocating north. The cost is significantly higher there than here. My husband is active duty navy (E4) and I am a full-time student and plan to continue my studies once we arrive there. We are concerned about child care (locating and the cost) for our 1 and 6 year old. Here was very affordable because there were people on base who charged reasonable prices, but this will be our first move and we are really concerned. Are there any programs that will help us financially? We are already on the list for base housing there. But my mother in law says we are going to make it there financially. I am scared. any advice is appreciated. thank you in advance.
I meant my mother in law says we arent going to make it there financially, that is why I am scared.

[bratt8380]

Hey there, Good luck with your move and finding work, child care, and just making it there. Don't let anyone's negative comments discourage you. If you are in base housing then the cost of renting a place shouldn't be an issue. The only other necessities are things you are already counting in your budget such as utilities, groceries, children's necessities, and the bills you are already paying on (credit cars, car payments, etc.) so if you ask me, with base housing there shouldn't be that big of a problem adjusting to the cost of living in the new area because none of the above listed things would change. The cost of them might go up but I doubt it would go up enough to cause a huge problem.

As for child care, visit www.naccra.org They have a program that assists military families with the cost of day care according to your income. There should also be a day care center on base. Oh, and this web site also can give you info on who to contact for a list of child care centers in the area and the program will only pay for a center that is accredited by them so that should be reassuring.

Best of luck to you and your family.

[NWIP]

If you are on the housing list then you should get into housing fairly quickly. Is the housing still run by the military or is now a private company aka PPV? With PPV housing the BAH will automatically come out of the pay.

Whether or not it is more expensive can depend on where you are moving from and where you are moving to. Some locations are more expensive but others aren't. Then it will depend on what the job is he will be doing. Is he going to Sea? If yes then you will also get Sea Pay plus when he deploys you will get Family Separation. If he is going to a Shore billet, then BAS will not longer be deducted from his pay, he will get that amount each month. For Child Care it will depend on the location, how many openings they have, the price you pay will depend on the income of the family. If you are going to college then you should qualify for resident rates immediately.

While moving if you are driving then you will make money on that. The military will pay you Per Diem and Mileage for the travel. You will also qualify for DLA (dislocation allowance) which starts around $1700. He needs to put in a request for that right away. You will also get up to 10 days of TLE (Temporary Lodging) that can be split between the 2 bases.

There is a forum on military.com just for spouses that includes pay, moving, etc..questions. go to http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/cfrm/f/377197221 and see if it can be answered.

[italienne]

Yes, they will help you, if housing costs more you'll get a variable housing allowance that's higher.

[mygirl952]

If you don't mind me asking where will you be relocating to?

[bulletmagnet07]

well in the army there are programs designed to help soldiers I am sure the Navy has similar programs

[Jack G]

they will have your back, you will be fine financialy.

[Untamed Rose]

they have a military supplemented childcare program...where they find childcare programs/people in the area and they determine how much is "reasonable" for you to pay vs market value and pay the difference.
the base ombudsman should have the info or know where to get it.

[SFC_Ollie]

It is always scary making your first PCS. I don't know so much about the navy but in the army we had a sponsorship program where you were given a sponsor at your new base to send you info and answer any questions. I would contact the family group at the new base and talk with them.