In light of a new G.I. Bill with a 15-year limit, some older veterans are asking lawmakers to consider reopening old G.I. Bill benefits.

NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... Ever since the concept of the New G.I. Bill first starting getting tossed around the halls of Congress, older vets began saying, "What about us?"

However, there is little support for extending the old G.I. Bill.

One Capitol Hill staffer told me:

What good would it do a 60-something to finish a degree?  Except the satisfaction of hanging it on the wall.  It would be a waste of money.  But, don't quote me.

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Oldest veterans want their GI Bill extended

By Chris Echegaray
THE TENNESSEAN

College campuses are seeing an influx of students, prompted in part by the newest G.I. Bill for those who served after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

But the nation's oldest veterans will be missing. An earlier G.I. Bill, passed after World War II, had a 10-year time limit to use it after exiting the service. In light of a new bill with a 15-year limit, some local veterans are asking lawmakers to consider reopening the first bill's benefits so they can complete college careers abandoned decades ago.

The new limit recognizes hurdles to higher education that people with families in particular may face as they resume life at home.

"It's been quite a challenge for veteran groups to get it to 15 years," said Cornell University professor Suzanne Mettler, an expert on American political development and public policy. "They are probably elated to have it lengthened. To drop the limitations entirely … it's not politically feasible."

Navy vet Carl McClanahan, 69, is just shy of earning a bachelor's degree. The Shelbyville grandfather said he would like to finish his degree in liberal arts.

He served from 1957 to 1960, enlisting after the end of the Korean War and just before U.S. involvement in Vietnam. He was stationed in Pearl Harbor at the time of his discharge and later attended the University of Tennessee for three years in the 1960s.

Married with children and working full time, he dropped out and never went back. "I think it would be good for my grandchildren to see me finish and inspirational for other aging veterans to do something like this," he said.

Veterans are able to access Veteran Affairs home loans and medical benefits without time constraints, and McClanahan said that same rule should apply to higher learning. McClanahan said he has lobbied politicians about the limits on the GI Bill but to no avail.

"One could mount a cogent argument, I believe, that if in fact benefits are earned by sacrifices due to some years of service to the country, then these benefits should have no time limits,'' he added.

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, sponsored the new G.I. Bill and was successful in adding the extra five years to the time limit. Efforts to reach him Tuesday were unsuccessful; an automated e-mail reply said he was in Asia.

The new bill has its perks: paid tuition and fees, a housing allowance and a book stipend. And if they agree to serve four more years in the military, veterans can transfer the education benefits to a spouse and children.

Vets use school benefit

Area universities are reporting hundreds of new students using the benefits, although a final tally hasn't been made.

Kevin Keaton, 45, an Army veteran of the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, is earning his English degree from Lipscomb University under the G.I. Bill's Yellow Ribbon program. It pays private schools the same amount of tuition as the state's most expensive public school plus matches 50 percent of the cost over that amount. The private schools match the rest.

Keaton, a former Apache helicopter instructor pilot, said he understands the difficulty facing veterans like McClanahan. Before the passage of the newest bill, veterans had to pay $100 a month to go to college after their service and had to deal with the time limits.

"I couldn't go to a private school without a loan, and boom, this (bill) drops on my lap," he said. "With the old G.I. Bill, I was priced out of it. I feel a great amount of gratitude from the country."

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, G.I. Bill