Ohio Army National Guard Tuition Assistance Recoupment Columbus Ohio

Was in the Ohio Army National Guard for 14 years, in 2007, we went through a reorganization and my unit in Toledo, OH went from a unisex unit to an all male unit. Since I was a full-time employee, there wasn't a spot left for me so I had to be transferred. I had just finished my Associates degree and was using the Federal Tuition Assistance program to get my bachelors degree, since the transformation happened in the middle of a semester and it was after the last day to drop a course, I failed the "pass/fail" courses because of missing too many classes. I passed the other courses because the didn't have the attendance requirement and I was able to submit my assignments online through Blackboard. Once I moved down here I transfered and during that year found out that my son was autisic and along with my military requirement and his medical needs, I was swamped and dropped two courses so that I can focus on him.

Fast forward to 2013, after getting out of the military in 2011, getting my bachelors (2010) and now starting on my masters, I get this letter from the Ohio Army National Guard stating that they are recouping my benefits during the 2007 year because of failure to complete course. I spoke with the National Guard representative and her supervisor, explained what happened and they told me what to submit. I did and they said I was alright, didn't need to worry about this anymore. Fast forward again to 2015 and with the change-of-command, I received the same letters of recoupment again. I contacted the office immediately and explained what happened.

I was told that even though the military forced me to move, that I would still be required to pay the courses back. I pointed out that in their OWN WORDS, it said that if failure was military related that all charges would be waived. I was told that it wasn't sufficient enough because I passed the other course. I then took the issue to my Congresswomen Joyce Beatty's office and they too followed up with the situation and was told that all I needed to do was submit a request and I would be ok. So I submitted another request. Imagine my surprise today when I received a letter from DFAS stating that they will soon start garnishing my wages for failure to respond to the recoupment letters.....WHAT? Luckily for myself, I did all correspondence via email so I have proof that they were contacted and I will again contact my Congresswoman's office because we were both lied too!