In the Air force, and to a lesser extent, the Army, it's very difficult to get promoted to the higher enlisted ranks without some college. The TA program is even mentioned in Air Force Instructions as something that is more than encouraged , but slightly less than "required." In some MOSs, if you don't max out your civilian education points, you won't be making the cutoff for E-6
It's a defacto career requirement in some MOSs.
The point is, this wasn't just about "taking away free college." It was hampering career development, and also hurting post-service prospects for those Soldiers in MOSs with no direct civilian equivalent. It's tough for a fresh 11b to get a job after getting out. Oddly, employers don't care much about your ability to direct troops under fire.
It wasn't a "choice between 20 percent maintenance cuts and free college," because there's plenty of wasteful programs in the military that could have been cut instead. This was an engineered cut of TA designed to "make it hurt" so that the big wigs at the Department of the Army could keep their pet programs and generate outrage.
I'm glad it's back. I'm still getting out. I don't like that the DoD played political games with the livelihoods of their soldiers. I have national guard soldiers who are working *expletive deleted*it jobs, and using TA to get valuable credentials and training so that they can stop working those *expletive deleted*it jobs.
Then again, people think the military is a free ride, so that probably means little. The military is hardly a free ride for a reservist working at starbucks full time.