Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Time
When Johnny came marching home from the second World War, he could march straight into college—or finish high school—with considerable financial help. A grateful nation had passed the G.I. Bill of Rights, which paid for tuition and books (up to $500 a year for four years) and kicked in $50 and up per month for living expenses. Today's Viet Nam veteran gets just $1,575 a year to cover everything—and only for 36 months. That figure represents an increase of 6.7% over what was paid in the 1940s, but it hardly matches the 350% increase in education costs since then.
In an effort to ease their financial strain, some 350 veterans converged on Duluth last week to plan a campaign of political action. Why Duluth? "Because," said one vet, "the hotels offered to put us up for four dollars a head a night, that's why. We're all broke." Arriving by bus, motorcycle and thumb, delegates of the National Association of Collegiate Veterans (N.A.C.V.), which claims 500 chapters representing 250,000 veterans, began efforts to revise and update the obsolete G.I. Bill.
"Many veterans are forced to work now in order to stay in school," says N.A.C.V. Board Member Patrick M. McLaughlin, 25, once a staff sergeant in the 1st Infantry and now a prelaw student at Ohio University. Work cuts down on study time to such an extent, claims McLaughlin, that the 36 months of aid are almost sure to be exhausted before the student has earned enough credits for graduation.
To change an outdated system, N.A.C.V. is organizing vets both on and off campus in hopes of electing local and state officials sympathetic to their needs. N.A.C.V.'s major objectives: a 20% increase in the subsistence allowance; payments of up to $1,000 per year for books, fees and tuition; extension of studies from 36 to 48 months; two months' advance payment to enable veterans to meet registration costs.
"It would be another question if we were asking for more than the Government offered other vets in other wars," says Bill Cunningham, 28-year-old vice president of N.A.C.V., "but that's not the case. Listen, there were a million guys discharged in 1971. This year there'll be more. You've got to do something for these guys; they know full well what their fathers got when they came home."
In an effort to ease their financial strain, some 350 veterans converged on Duluth last week to plan a campaign of political action. Why Duluth? "Because," said one vet, "the hotels offered to put us up for four dollars a head a night, that's why. We're all broke." Arriving by bus, motorcycle and thumb, delegates of the National Association of Collegiate Veterans (N.A.C.V.), which claims 500 chapters representing 250,000 veterans, began efforts to revise and update the obsolete G.I. Bill.
"Many veterans are forced to work now in order to stay in school," says N.A.C.V. Board Member Patrick M. McLaughlin, 25, once a staff sergeant in the 1st Infantry and now a prelaw student at Ohio University. Work cuts down on study time to such an extent, claims McLaughlin, that the 36 months of aid are almost sure to be exhausted before the student has earned enough credits for graduation.
To change an outdated system, N.A.C.V. is organizing vets both on and off campus in hopes of electing local and state officials sympathetic to their needs. N.A.C.V.'s major objectives: a 20% increase in the subsistence allowance; payments of up to $1,000 per year for books, fees and tuition; extension of studies from 36 to 48 months; two months' advance payment to enable veterans to meet registration costs.
"It would be another question if we were asking for more than the Government offered other vets in other wars," says Bill Cunningham, 28-year-old vice president of N.A.C.V., "but that's not the case. Listen, there were a million guys discharged in 1971. This year there'll be more. You've got to do something for these guys; they know full well what their fathers got when they came home."
Recently I flooded facebook with my petition announcement. This feature was abused and I was notified by facebook for "spamming". I definitely pushed my limits, but I wasn't "spamming". If you received emails from me it's all legit. I need your help spreading this petition because my account will be disabled if I continue to abuse this feature.
If you are unsatisfied with the government's outdated Gi Bill than please sign my petition. It's disgraceful. The Gi Bill was given to people who served in the military to pay for full tuition. Especially now when more and more people are deployed overseas and the military is getting stretched thin. You'd think this would be the best time to show how much the government, country and people appreciate our service. Hearing "we support our troops" is great but at the end of the day we want our benefits and promises which WE DESERVE if we served honorably.
If there's something you'd like to do please sign this petition and spread the word.
Thank you
Igor
Forgotten Promises Of The Gi Bill
"Join the military and go to college." That's what the recruiters say.
But the deal that today's servicemen and servicewomen get is a far cry from what their fathers and grandfathers got. When President Franklin Roosevelt signed the GI Bill into law in the waning days of World War II, he saw it as part of his New Deal program. The law, officially called the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, promised returning veterans that the government would pay the full cost of tuition and books at any public or private college or job-training program. It also provided unemployment insurance and loans to buy homes and start businesses.
By contrast, the current Montgomery GI Bill, passed in 1984, asks active duty members to accept a pay reduction of $100 per month through twelve months of military service. When they return to school, they receive $1,100 monthly for a maximum of three years of education benefits. It's an amount that doesn't come close to covering the cost of a modern college education, but it does help some veterans - if they can get through the red tape.
In July 2005, 23-year-old Paris Lee was honorably discharged after serving almost three years in the Army. A native of California's rural, picturesque North Coast where the old-growth redwoods grow, he returned home and enrolled in a free ten-week college prep program called Veterans Upward Bound at Humboldt State University. Lee was preparing to attend Humboldt State in the fall, but this past May he received a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs denying his application for the GI Bill. "They said I'm not eligible because I served thirty-five months and two days in the Army," he told me. "Normally you have to serve thirty-six months to get education benefits, so they're trying to deny me based on twenty-eight days." After the VA rejected Lee's application for GI benefits, he sent an appeal letter to the VA regional office in Muskogee, Oklahoma. While he waits for the response, the Army veteran works dealing cards for blackjack, Pai Gow and Texas hold 'em games at Blue Lake Indian Casino east of Arcata.
According to the VA, those seeking to activate their GI Bill benefits must fill out a twelve-page form, which is eventually submitted to the college or university of choice. It's not uncommon for a veteran to receive letters requesting more information, and VA questions must be answered to the department's satisfaction. A notice of eligibility usually takes four to eight weeks.
With an application process like that, it's little wonder that, according to the Department of Education, veterans are much less likely to graduate from college than students who have never served in the military. The department's most recent data show just 3 percent of veterans who entered a four-year college program in 1995 graduated by 2001, compared with a 30 percent overall graduation rate.
Another reason for that gap is the military experience itself. The Pentagon sells an educational dream to recruits. In addition to promising tens of thousands of dollars for a service member's college education, recruiters promise future soldiers that they'll be able to "attend college anywhere they are based and even in the combat zone through Internet classes offered from the college they are enrolled in."
But most Iraq War veterans say that's a promise that exists only on paper. They say it's difficult to study in the military - especially in combat zones. Take 23-year-old Alejandro Rocha. The Los Angeles native joined the military in 2002. After graduating from high school, he had started to drift, and when his father's hours got cut from his job in a pen factory, Rocha dropped out of community college and took a minimum-wage job loading and unloading merchandise at Macy's. "I wanted to escape," he told me. "The money wasn't good, and I said to myself, I can't just be doing this my whole life. So I joined the Marine Corps. They sent me on three tours in Iraq." Rocha was assigned to an infantry unit and spent most of his five-year commitment either in Iraq or in training. After taking part in the initial invasion in 2003, he was called back for the brutal siege of Falluja in November 2004 (more than 100 Americans and 4,000 Iraqis died in that battle). In 2005, he was back in Falluja.
"I don't know how they expect us to take classes in Iraq," he said. "Maybe some people can. Maybe some people have desk jobs, but I was a machine-gunner. I manned Humvees and rolled around in Humvees, patrolling. Sometimes we went house to house...door by door and knocking down doors. When we were back in the U.S., we were just training and training. It wasn't really part of my job to study."
A different set of issues confronts America's "weekend warriors," members of the National Guard and Reserve. As of June there were about 90,000 U.S. military reservists enrolled in college, and about 25,000 of them have been deployed at least once to Iraq or Afghanistan. Juggling school and military service isn't easy. Just ask Marine Corps reservist Todd Bowers. He was halfway through a degree in Middle Eastern studies at George Washington University when the Pentagon pulled him out of school and sent him on two combat tours to Iraq. On October 17, 2004, Bowers was shot in the face while patrolling the outskirts of Falluja. A sniper's round had penetrated the scope Bowers was using and sent fragments into the left side of his face. When he returned, he found his student loans had been sent to collection.
"I had notified my lenders that I was leaving on a combat deployment," he said. "Something went awry while I was gone, and [when I returned] I had tremendous amounts of letters saying, You owe this money." Eventually, Bowers said, he was able to get the difficulty resolved, "but the damage had already been done, and my credit history was ruined."
Under federal law, there are no protections guaranteeing that a school must accommodate a student/soldier who's been deployed. Universities and colleges are not required to readmit students when they return from overseas or to refund tuition for soldiers pulled out mid-semester--and they are even allowed to flunk students if they're not attending classes because they've been sent to Iraq.
Bowers dropped out of school. He works as government affairs director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the first and largest member-organization for U.S. veterans of recent wars. In June IAVA persuaded Congresswoman Susan Davis, D-Calif., and Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to introduce a bill called the VETS Act, which would require colleges to refund tuition for service members sent overseas, cap student loan interest payments at 6 percent while the students are deployed and extend the period of time during which student/soldiers may re-enroll after returning from abroad. Veterans groups are optimistic about the bill's chances for passage; but like most legislation geared toward veterans, Congressional leaders have put it on the back burner while they argue about how and whether to fight the Iraq War.
Other, more ambitious efforts appear to be headed for much less success. In January, newly elected Democratic Senator James Webb of Virginia (one of a handful of Congress members to have a son or daughter serving in Iraq), introduced legislation to create a new GI Bill called the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act that would provide college tuition, room and board and a $1,000 monthly stipend to veterans who have served at least two years of active duty since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Webb noted that the benefits in his bill essentially mirror the widely popular benefits allowed under the nation's original GI bill. According to a 1986 Congressional Research Office study, each dollar invested in the World War II GI Bill yielded $5 to $12 in tax revenues, the result of increased taxes paid by veterans who achieved higher incomes made possible by a college education. "That bill helped spark economic growth and expansion for a whole generation of Americans," Webb told Congress. "As the post-World War II experience so clearly indicated, better educated veterans have higher income levels, which in the long run will increase tax revenues."
Unfortunately, Webb's colleagues didn't share his enthusiasm for veterans' education. The Bush Administration quickly declared its opposition to the bill, warning it would cost tens of billions of dollars and would prove cumbersome to administer. Republican senators agreed, and the bill has not made it out of committee.
In short, the government's approach is not to benefit veterans, but to make the benefits of service seem attractive to soldiers when they enlist, while extracting as little money as possible from the federal Treasury. Today's GI Bill is not so much a ticket to college but a recruiting tool that can be used to persuade skeptical young people to join the military.
By Aaron Glantz
Reprinted with permission from the The Nation.
But the deal that today's servicemen and servicewomen get is a far cry from what their fathers and grandfathers got. When President Franklin Roosevelt signed the GI Bill into law in the waning days of World War II, he saw it as part of his New Deal program. The law, officially called the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, promised returning veterans that the government would pay the full cost of tuition and books at any public or private college or job-training program. It also provided unemployment insurance and loans to buy homes and start businesses.
By contrast, the current Montgomery GI Bill, passed in 1984, asks active duty members to accept a pay reduction of $100 per month through twelve months of military service. When they return to school, they receive $1,100 monthly for a maximum of three years of education benefits. It's an amount that doesn't come close to covering the cost of a modern college education, but it does help some veterans - if they can get through the red tape.
In July 2005, 23-year-old Paris Lee was honorably discharged after serving almost three years in the Army. A native of California's rural, picturesque North Coast where the old-growth redwoods grow, he returned home and enrolled in a free ten-week college prep program called Veterans Upward Bound at Humboldt State University. Lee was preparing to attend Humboldt State in the fall, but this past May he received a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs denying his application for the GI Bill. "They said I'm not eligible because I served thirty-five months and two days in the Army," he told me. "Normally you have to serve thirty-six months to get education benefits, so they're trying to deny me based on twenty-eight days." After the VA rejected Lee's application for GI benefits, he sent an appeal letter to the VA regional office in Muskogee, Oklahoma. While he waits for the response, the Army veteran works dealing cards for blackjack, Pai Gow and Texas hold 'em games at Blue Lake Indian Casino east of Arcata.
According to the VA, those seeking to activate their GI Bill benefits must fill out a twelve-page form, which is eventually submitted to the college or university of choice. It's not uncommon for a veteran to receive letters requesting more information, and VA questions must be answered to the department's satisfaction. A notice of eligibility usually takes four to eight weeks.
With an application process like that, it's little wonder that, according to the Department of Education, veterans are much less likely to graduate from college than students who have never served in the military. The department's most recent data show just 3 percent of veterans who entered a four-year college program in 1995 graduated by 2001, compared with a 30 percent overall graduation rate.
Another reason for that gap is the military experience itself. The Pentagon sells an educational dream to recruits. In addition to promising tens of thousands of dollars for a service member's college education, recruiters promise future soldiers that they'll be able to "attend college anywhere they are based and even in the combat zone through Internet classes offered from the college they are enrolled in."
But most Iraq War veterans say that's a promise that exists only on paper. They say it's difficult to study in the military - especially in combat zones. Take 23-year-old Alejandro Rocha. The Los Angeles native joined the military in 2002. After graduating from high school, he had started to drift, and when his father's hours got cut from his job in a pen factory, Rocha dropped out of community college and took a minimum-wage job loading and unloading merchandise at Macy's. "I wanted to escape," he told me. "The money wasn't good, and I said to myself, I can't just be doing this my whole life. So I joined the Marine Corps. They sent me on three tours in Iraq." Rocha was assigned to an infantry unit and spent most of his five-year commitment either in Iraq or in training. After taking part in the initial invasion in 2003, he was called back for the brutal siege of Falluja in November 2004 (more than 100 Americans and 4,000 Iraqis died in that battle). In 2005, he was back in Falluja.
"I don't know how they expect us to take classes in Iraq," he said. "Maybe some people can. Maybe some people have desk jobs, but I was a machine-gunner. I manned Humvees and rolled around in Humvees, patrolling. Sometimes we went house to house...door by door and knocking down doors. When we were back in the U.S., we were just training and training. It wasn't really part of my job to study."
A different set of issues confronts America's "weekend warriors," members of the National Guard and Reserve. As of June there were about 90,000 U.S. military reservists enrolled in college, and about 25,000 of them have been deployed at least once to Iraq or Afghanistan. Juggling school and military service isn't easy. Just ask Marine Corps reservist Todd Bowers. He was halfway through a degree in Middle Eastern studies at George Washington University when the Pentagon pulled him out of school and sent him on two combat tours to Iraq. On October 17, 2004, Bowers was shot in the face while patrolling the outskirts of Falluja. A sniper's round had penetrated the scope Bowers was using and sent fragments into the left side of his face. When he returned, he found his student loans had been sent to collection.
"I had notified my lenders that I was leaving on a combat deployment," he said. "Something went awry while I was gone, and [when I returned] I had tremendous amounts of letters saying, You owe this money." Eventually, Bowers said, he was able to get the difficulty resolved, "but the damage had already been done, and my credit history was ruined."
Under federal law, there are no protections guaranteeing that a school must accommodate a student/soldier who's been deployed. Universities and colleges are not required to readmit students when they return from overseas or to refund tuition for soldiers pulled out mid-semester--and they are even allowed to flunk students if they're not attending classes because they've been sent to Iraq.
Bowers dropped out of school. He works as government affairs director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the first and largest member-organization for U.S. veterans of recent wars. In June IAVA persuaded Congresswoman Susan Davis, D-Calif., and Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to introduce a bill called the VETS Act, which would require colleges to refund tuition for service members sent overseas, cap student loan interest payments at 6 percent while the students are deployed and extend the period of time during which student/soldiers may re-enroll after returning from abroad. Veterans groups are optimistic about the bill's chances for passage; but like most legislation geared toward veterans, Congressional leaders have put it on the back burner while they argue about how and whether to fight the Iraq War.
Other, more ambitious efforts appear to be headed for much less success. In January, newly elected Democratic Senator James Webb of Virginia (one of a handful of Congress members to have a son or daughter serving in Iraq), introduced legislation to create a new GI Bill called the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act that would provide college tuition, room and board and a $1,000 monthly stipend to veterans who have served at least two years of active duty since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Webb noted that the benefits in his bill essentially mirror the widely popular benefits allowed under the nation's original GI bill. According to a 1986 Congressional Research Office study, each dollar invested in the World War II GI Bill yielded $5 to $12 in tax revenues, the result of increased taxes paid by veterans who achieved higher incomes made possible by a college education. "That bill helped spark economic growth and expansion for a whole generation of Americans," Webb told Congress. "As the post-World War II experience so clearly indicated, better educated veterans have higher income levels, which in the long run will increase tax revenues."
Unfortunately, Webb's colleagues didn't share his enthusiasm for veterans' education. The Bush Administration quickly declared its opposition to the bill, warning it would cost tens of billions of dollars and would prove cumbersome to administer. Republican senators agreed, and the bill has not made it out of committee.
In short, the government's approach is not to benefit veterans, but to make the benefits of service seem attractive to soldiers when they enlist, while extracting as little money as possible from the federal Treasury. Today's GI Bill is not so much a ticket to college but a recruiting tool that can be used to persuade skeptical young people to join the military.
By Aaron Glantz
Reprinted with permission from the The Nation.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
GI Bill Petition
Our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan deserve every opportunity for re-integration.
After World War II, attending college gave veterans time to readjust to civilian life, and prepared them for careers as innovators and leaders. Not only that, but for every dollar spent on the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, seven dollars went back into the economy in the form of increased productivity, consumer spending, and tax revenue.
Today's GI Bill only covers 60% of the tuition at an average public university. Also, structural and bureaucratic delays discourage veterans from using their GI Bill benefits. Many forego education altogether.
The newest generation of veterans deserves real educational benefits that make college tuition affordable. Tell Congress to take action, and pass a 21st-century GI Bill.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
GI Bill Increase 2000
VA Secretary Backs GI Bill Increase
May 11, 2000
(Printable Version)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Togo D. West Jr. today praised an administration proposal for a 25-percent increase in Montgomery GI Bill educational assistance for veterans and active-duty military personnel. If approved by Congress, it would be the largest single benefits hike in the programs 16-year history.
"This administration continues to show leadership on veterans issues," said Secretary West. "This proposal would nearly double Montgomery GI Bill benefits from their level in 1993 when President Clinton took office."
The Clinton-Gore proposal would permit veterans to use their Montgomery GI Bill benefits for certain licensing and certification. The plan also provides the same percentage increase in education benefits for survivors and dependents.
The administration plan, unveiled May 10 by Vice President Gore, would increase payments under the Montgomery GI Bill educational assistance program from $536 to $670 monthly. The higher rates would take effect October 1.
"By having the increase take effect immediately, instead of phasing in over several years, participating veterans will get help sooner," Secretary West said.
The increase would narrow the gap that has developed between Montgomery GI Bill benefits and the cost of higher education. In 1985, the $300 monthly benefit covered 70 percent of the average college tuition. The current rate of $536 only pays 58 percent of the average tuition.
Under the Montgomery GI Bill, active-duty participants have a $100 monthly deduction from their paychecks for their first 12 months in uniform.
"Since 1944, the GI Bill has eased the transition of millions of military personnel back to the private sector, where they became the backbone of our economy," Secretary West said. "Improving the Montgomery GI Bill is an investment in the future."
May 11, 2000
(Printable Version)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Togo D. West Jr. today praised an administration proposal for a 25-percent increase in Montgomery GI Bill educational assistance for veterans and active-duty military personnel. If approved by Congress, it would be the largest single benefits hike in the programs 16-year history.
"This administration continues to show leadership on veterans issues," said Secretary West. "This proposal would nearly double Montgomery GI Bill benefits from their level in 1993 when President Clinton took office."
The Clinton-Gore proposal would permit veterans to use their Montgomery GI Bill benefits for certain licensing and certification. The plan also provides the same percentage increase in education benefits for survivors and dependents.
The administration plan, unveiled May 10 by Vice President Gore, would increase payments under the Montgomery GI Bill educational assistance program from $536 to $670 monthly. The higher rates would take effect October 1.
"By having the increase take effect immediately, instead of phasing in over several years, participating veterans will get help sooner," Secretary West said.
The increase would narrow the gap that has developed between Montgomery GI Bill benefits and the cost of higher education. In 1985, the $300 monthly benefit covered 70 percent of the average college tuition. The current rate of $536 only pays 58 percent of the average tuition.
Under the Montgomery GI Bill, active-duty participants have a $100 monthly deduction from their paychecks for their first 12 months in uniform.
"Since 1944, the GI Bill has eased the transition of millions of military personnel back to the private sector, where they became the backbone of our economy," Secretary West said. "Improving the Montgomery GI Bill is an investment in the future."
The Kicker
Increase Your GI Bill by $5,400
A $600 investment gets you an additional $5,400 instantly! You can't beat that...
Did you know that all current active-duty servicemembers who joined for the first time after June 30, 1985 are eligible to participate in the GI Bill Buy-Up program?
Add $5,400 to Your GI Bill! Did you know that for an addition contribution to your GI Bill account you can earn an extra $5,400 in education benefits?
Here's How If you are an eligible active-duty servicemember the GI Bill Buy-Up program can help you get up to an extra $150 a month added to your standard MGIB "pay rate." This could increase your total benefits by as much as $5,400.
Participating in Buy-UpTo apply you must have joined the military for the first time after June 30, 1985, still be on active duty, and elect to contribute up to an additional $600 before you separate. You may elect to contribute any amount from $20 to $600 in increments of $20. Each $20 contributed earns you an extra $180 in total benefits. To participate you must contribute through your military branch using form DD-2366-1 to process your request.
A $600 investment gets you an additional $5,400 instantly! You can't beat that...
Did you know that all current active-duty servicemembers who joined for the first time after June 30, 1985 are eligible to participate in the GI Bill Buy-Up program?
Add $5,400 to Your GI Bill! Did you know that for an addition contribution to your GI Bill account you can earn an extra $5,400 in education benefits?
Here's How If you are an eligible active-duty servicemember the GI Bill Buy-Up program can help you get up to an extra $150 a month added to your standard MGIB "pay rate." This could increase your total benefits by as much as $5,400.
Participating in Buy-UpTo apply you must have joined the military for the first time after June 30, 1985, still be on active duty, and elect to contribute up to an additional $600 before you separate. You may elect to contribute any amount from $20 to $600 in increments of $20. Each $20 contributed earns you an extra $180 in total benefits. To participate you must contribute through your military branch using form DD-2366-1 to process your request.
GI Bill Rates Increase
GI Bill Rates Increase for 2008
The Fiscal Year 2008 GI Bill rates have been announced.
GI Bill Benefits have increased, and as of October 1, 2007, full-time students with GI Bill benefits may now be eligible for over $1101 per month to cover the cost of their education.
This increase could mean you have as much as $39,636 to pay for your education. The GI Bill provides up to 36 months of education benefits for:
• College, Business, Technical or Vocational school
• Tuition Assistance: “Top-Up”
• On-the-Job Training and Apprenticeship Programs
• Correspondence Courses
• Remedial, Deficiency, and Refresher Training (in some cases)
• Flight Training (in some cases)
• The cost of tests for licenses or certifications needed to get, keep, or advance in a job
• National Tests
Your monthly MGIB payment depends on your category (Active, Selected Reserved, etc.), course of study, how long you have served, and money put aside for you by the Department of Defense (MGIB Fund, or “kickers”). In most cases, you are eligible for MGIB support for ten years after you join the program.
You may still be able to benefit from the GI Bill if you are no longer active if you:
• entered active duty for the first time after June 30, 1985;
• received a high school diploma or equivalent (or, in some cases, 12 hours of college credit) before the end of your first obligated period of service;
• received an honorable discharge;
• continuously served for 3 years, OR 2 years if that is what you first enlisted for, OR 2 years if you have an obligation to serve four years in the Selected Reserve AND entered Selected Reserve within a year of leaving active duty.
You may not be eligible for MGIB if you have a general, “under honorable condition,” or early discharge: Eligibility under an early discharge requires an acceptable separation reason. Call the number below or check with your Education Services Officer for more information.
The Fiscal Year 2008 GI Bill rates have been announced.
GI Bill Benefits have increased, and as of October 1, 2007, full-time students with GI Bill benefits may now be eligible for over $1101 per month to cover the cost of their education.
This increase could mean you have as much as $39,636 to pay for your education. The GI Bill provides up to 36 months of education benefits for:
• College, Business, Technical or Vocational school
• Tuition Assistance: “Top-Up”
• On-the-Job Training and Apprenticeship Programs
• Correspondence Courses
• Remedial, Deficiency, and Refresher Training (in some cases)
• Flight Training (in some cases)
• The cost of tests for licenses or certifications needed to get, keep, or advance in a job
• National Tests
Your monthly MGIB payment depends on your category (Active, Selected Reserved, etc.), course of study, how long you have served, and money put aside for you by the Department of Defense (MGIB Fund, or “kickers”). In most cases, you are eligible for MGIB support for ten years after you join the program.
You may still be able to benefit from the GI Bill if you are no longer active if you:
• entered active duty for the first time after June 30, 1985;
• received a high school diploma or equivalent (or, in some cases, 12 hours of college credit) before the end of your first obligated period of service;
• received an honorable discharge;
• continuously served for 3 years, OR 2 years if that is what you first enlisted for, OR 2 years if you have an obligation to serve four years in the Selected Reserve AND entered Selected Reserve within a year of leaving active duty.
You may not be eligible for MGIB if you have a general, “under honorable condition,” or early discharge: Eligibility under an early discharge requires an acceptable separation reason. Call the number below or check with your Education Services Officer for more information.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The Shame of a Nation
The Shame of a Nation
by: ThisDudesArmy
Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 20:27:05 PM EST
There exists a mantra so cliché, so endlessly hollow that it practically holds little meaning in 2008, as interest in the duel wars has waned considerably since the respective invasions many years ago. I speak, of course, about "Support The Troops." Countless people throughout the country slapped yellow ribbons on their car adorned with the slogan with scarcely a thought, absolving themselves of the guilt of being the nation that sent their soldiers to one war of reason (Afghanistan) with numbers too few, and another war (Iraq) that no one can rationally explain. Hey, don't look at me, I support the troops.
There are organizations out there who have taken an active interest in the lives of soldiers, post service. The Fund For Veteran's Education is a non-profit that awards scholarships to war veterans that are currently enrolled in college or a technical school. One of the biggest misconceptions civilians have about the military is that education is completely paid for once you leave the service. The common phrase used is "free college," and that is a myth that The Fund For Veteran's Education wants to bust wide open.
That was the case, lo, so many years ago. The G.I. Bill of 1944 sent eight million veterans of World War II to college, creating what is now called the middle class. The success of it was two-fold: the nation gave its veterans a shot at a successful life after they got home from the battlefields of Europe and Japan to pursue higher education. Save the world and go to school - not a bad deal. The result was a staggering boon to the economy: for every dollar contributed to education for veterans, the country got back five to twelve dollars back in renvenue and other taxes.
The veterans from Iraq and Afganistan have faced multiple tours in an all volunteer military stretched thin by a two front war, yet the promise made by this country to look after them when they return is largely and shamefully unkept. 375,000 men and women separate from the military every year to resume their civilian lives, many with hopes of getting an education. The G.I. Bill was meant to ease that transition and give back to those who honorably served, but that is not the case in twenty-first century America. After a mind boggling amount of paperwork and bureaucratic red tape to cut through to start getting money for college, veterans from active duty are paid a maximum of $1,100 dollars a month for three years, for a maximum of $39,636. This only takes a bite out of tuition costs, which have steadily risen over the years as the G.I. Bill remains largely stagnant. The average cost for a four year ride at an in-state school is $65,428. Out of state costs are $105,216, and if you want to get your money's worth at a private college or university, you'll be hamming it up with the rich kids while you rack up debt with average costs at $133,204.
Ninety percent of enlisted soldiers don't hold a degree and in may cases enlist for the benefits of higher education, which they'll only partially receive thanks to this legislation that lingers in an era of peacetime. But we're at war now, or at least the military is. The country hasn't been asked for a draft while 1.6 million of us do the bidding of a largely ungrateful nation. To move on with our lives we must carry a psychological burden, and because of the current G.I. Bill, we will carry a financial one as well.
The G.I. Bill in its current state is the shame of a nation, a Congress, and an administration that continues to dishonor those who have served. To do your part, contact your Senator to let them know you support S. 22, the Post 9/11 Veterans' Education Assistance Act from Senators Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel. And contribute to the The Fund For Veteran's Education so that a lucky veteran can receive a scholarship thanks to you. If every citizen contributed one dollar to the fund, over four thousand veterans could get a four year degree at an in-state school.
If you really 'support the troops,' you must support them during and after service. That means working toward a new G.I. Bill, the same one that helped the Greatest Generation become great.
The GI Bill gives emphatic notice to the men and women in our armed forces that the American people do not intend to let them down. -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt
by: ThisDudesArmy
Tue Jan 29, 2008 at 20:27:05 PM EST
There exists a mantra so cliché, so endlessly hollow that it practically holds little meaning in 2008, as interest in the duel wars has waned considerably since the respective invasions many years ago. I speak, of course, about "Support The Troops." Countless people throughout the country slapped yellow ribbons on their car adorned with the slogan with scarcely a thought, absolving themselves of the guilt of being the nation that sent their soldiers to one war of reason (Afghanistan) with numbers too few, and another war (Iraq) that no one can rationally explain. Hey, don't look at me, I support the troops.
There are organizations out there who have taken an active interest in the lives of soldiers, post service. The Fund For Veteran's Education is a non-profit that awards scholarships to war veterans that are currently enrolled in college or a technical school. One of the biggest misconceptions civilians have about the military is that education is completely paid for once you leave the service. The common phrase used is "free college," and that is a myth that The Fund For Veteran's Education wants to bust wide open.
That was the case, lo, so many years ago. The G.I. Bill of 1944 sent eight million veterans of World War II to college, creating what is now called the middle class. The success of it was two-fold: the nation gave its veterans a shot at a successful life after they got home from the battlefields of Europe and Japan to pursue higher education. Save the world and go to school - not a bad deal. The result was a staggering boon to the economy: for every dollar contributed to education for veterans, the country got back five to twelve dollars back in renvenue and other taxes.
The veterans from Iraq and Afganistan have faced multiple tours in an all volunteer military stretched thin by a two front war, yet the promise made by this country to look after them when they return is largely and shamefully unkept. 375,000 men and women separate from the military every year to resume their civilian lives, many with hopes of getting an education. The G.I. Bill was meant to ease that transition and give back to those who honorably served, but that is not the case in twenty-first century America. After a mind boggling amount of paperwork and bureaucratic red tape to cut through to start getting money for college, veterans from active duty are paid a maximum of $1,100 dollars a month for three years, for a maximum of $39,636. This only takes a bite out of tuition costs, which have steadily risen over the years as the G.I. Bill remains largely stagnant. The average cost for a four year ride at an in-state school is $65,428. Out of state costs are $105,216, and if you want to get your money's worth at a private college or university, you'll be hamming it up with the rich kids while you rack up debt with average costs at $133,204.
Ninety percent of enlisted soldiers don't hold a degree and in may cases enlist for the benefits of higher education, which they'll only partially receive thanks to this legislation that lingers in an era of peacetime. But we're at war now, or at least the military is. The country hasn't been asked for a draft while 1.6 million of us do the bidding of a largely ungrateful nation. To move on with our lives we must carry a psychological burden, and because of the current G.I. Bill, we will carry a financial one as well.
The G.I. Bill in its current state is the shame of a nation, a Congress, and an administration that continues to dishonor those who have served. To do your part, contact your Senator to let them know you support S. 22, the Post 9/11 Veterans' Education Assistance Act from Senators Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel. And contribute to the The Fund For Veteran's Education so that a lucky veteran can receive a scholarship thanks to you. If every citizen contributed one dollar to the fund, over four thousand veterans could get a four year degree at an in-state school.
If you really 'support the troops,' you must support them during and after service. That means working toward a new G.I. Bill, the same one that helped the Greatest Generation become great.
The GI Bill gives emphatic notice to the men and women in our armed forces that the American people do not intend to let them down. -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Time For a New GI Bill
ANOTHER VIEW OF EDUCATIONAL CRISIS, AND A FIX
THE GRIM NEWS of the city's high dropout rate (45 percent) and low numbers of people with college degrees (18 percent) is even grimmer considering we're seeing a similar troubling trend in the military.
The National Priorities Project, a research group that analyzes federal data, found that only 71 percent of Army recruits had earned regular high-school diplomas, about 20 percentage points away from its target of 90 percent.
This has far-reaching implications on the battlefields and the homefront, but there is one silver lining: Congress can use it to spur positive action by adapting a 21st-century version of the G.I. Bill.
The G.I. Bill - the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 - was designed to help veterans assimilate into civilian life, with tuition assistance, low-cost housing loans, and unemployment benefits.
Sadly, the G.I. Bill has been left to decompose, not updated or adjusted to deliver the same promise to our newest veterans.
The nonprofit Fund for Veterans' Education reports that the maximum amount a veteran who served on active duty could get out of the old G.I. Bill is $39,636 over four years. While not insignificant, it would hardly cover the cost of a four-year state college for an in-state student, which averages $65,428; private college averages more than $105,000. So, veterans are asked to saddle tens of thousands of dollars of debt, or find the cash to go to college on their own. If they can't, we tell them, "Go find work with your high school diploma, if you have one."
That's a national disgrace.
Sending veterans to college isn't just a moral issue; it's a practical one. Historian Stephen Ambrose said of the old G.I. Bill that it "was the best piece of legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress, and it made modern America." Indeed, the G.I. Bill created hundreds of thousands of teachers, doctors, artists and engineers, who went on to create, in the 1950s, what we now call the middle class.
U.S. Sens. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., are working on a 21st-Century G.I. Bill that will restore America's promise to those who fought for us. Fixing the G.I. Bill is the right thing to do, not only because of the benefits it provides to all of us, but because it would go a long way to rectifying the government's shameful treatment of the health and well-being of those we ask to serve.
Congress should fast-track that legislation, and sign it. *
THE GRIM NEWS of the city's high dropout rate (45 percent) and low numbers of people with college degrees (18 percent) is even grimmer considering we're seeing a similar troubling trend in the military.
The National Priorities Project, a research group that analyzes federal data, found that only 71 percent of Army recruits had earned regular high-school diplomas, about 20 percentage points away from its target of 90 percent.
This has far-reaching implications on the battlefields and the homefront, but there is one silver lining: Congress can use it to spur positive action by adapting a 21st-century version of the G.I. Bill.
The G.I. Bill - the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 - was designed to help veterans assimilate into civilian life, with tuition assistance, low-cost housing loans, and unemployment benefits.
Sadly, the G.I. Bill has been left to decompose, not updated or adjusted to deliver the same promise to our newest veterans.
The nonprofit Fund for Veterans' Education reports that the maximum amount a veteran who served on active duty could get out of the old G.I. Bill is $39,636 over four years. While not insignificant, it would hardly cover the cost of a four-year state college for an in-state student, which averages $65,428; private college averages more than $105,000. So, veterans are asked to saddle tens of thousands of dollars of debt, or find the cash to go to college on their own. If they can't, we tell them, "Go find work with your high school diploma, if you have one."
That's a national disgrace.
Sending veterans to college isn't just a moral issue; it's a practical one. Historian Stephen Ambrose said of the old G.I. Bill that it "was the best piece of legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress, and it made modern America." Indeed, the G.I. Bill created hundreds of thousands of teachers, doctors, artists and engineers, who went on to create, in the 1950s, what we now call the middle class.
U.S. Sens. Jim Webb, D-Va., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., are working on a 21st-Century G.I. Bill that will restore America's promise to those who fought for us. Fixing the G.I. Bill is the right thing to do, not only because of the benefits it provides to all of us, but because it would go a long way to rectifying the government's shameful treatment of the health and well-being of those we ask to serve.
Congress should fast-track that legislation, and sign it. *
NPR
Morning Edition, September 27, 2007 · The way the GI Bill serves veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is quite different from the way it served soldiers of World War II. Today it covers only 60 percent of the cost of a public-school education. Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, speaks with Renee Montagne.
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