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WHAT GIVES? LEGION AND IAVA WANT LESS MONEY FOR
VETS USING NEW G.I. BILL -- First they wanted a
G.I. Bill that
really paid for college. Now they want to put a
cap on payments.
I smell a rat here.
First, IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of
America) fought for this New G.I. Bill. They wanted it big enough to
really pay for college.
Then, last week, the VA issued a preliminary
report on how much vets in the different states could receive. That
report here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nffeb09/nf022109-5.htm
We are talking big bucks, in some cases.
But, that was the goal. Decent money that would be different for
each state because the education costs vary so widely.
Now, IAVA and the Legion are saying "cap it."
What's really happening here is that some Members
of Congress got a look at the VA report and panicked at the cost.
So, they are putting pressure on IAVA and the Legion to call for the cap
on benefits.
Once again, your service orgs at work for
veterans.
For more on the G.I. Bill (old and new)... click
here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=g.i.+bill&op=ph
Story here...
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/
02/veterans-groups-want-cap-tuition-aid-under-new-gi-bill
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
Share story/email link.
-------------------------
Veterans groups want cap on tuition aid under new
G.I. bill
By Dale Eisman
The Virginian-Pilot
WASHINGTON -- Just a few months after securing a
historic, multibillion-dollar increase in veterans educational benefits,
some veterans groups may ask Congress to wipe out part of what they
gained.
The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and the American Legion are
among groups considering asking lawmakers to place a cap - $13,000 per
year has been suggested by the IAVA - on tuition aid for veterans. That's
far less than would be available in many states under a new GI bill for
post-9/11 troops but is enough to cover virtually all public college
costs, advocates of the limit say.
The cap would make the new benefit program easier for veterans to
understand and simpler for the Department of Veterans Affairs to run, said
Patrick Campbell, the IAVA's legislative counsel. The law passed last fall
creates more than 315,000 possible combinations of benefits, Campbell
argues in a message posted on the group's Web site.
He's particularly concerned that the new law creates wide variances in the
aid available to vets in different states.
"It's a matter of fairness," he said. "I don't know how you can justify
giving one state so little and another so much."
The disparity is the latest complication to arise in what will be the
largest military benefit increase since the end of World War II.
"I think at this point, everyone's a little overwhelmed," said Rep. John
Boozman, an Arkansas Republican who serves on the House subcommittee
overseeing veterans education programs.
Boozman is part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are looking at
possible technical changes to the law, including extending benefits to
more than 40,000 National Guardsmen who work full time for state guards
but have not been called into federal service.
The new law is the signature initiative of Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, a
freshman Democrat and former Navy secretary who overcame the opposition of
the Bush administration to get it passed. It requires the Department of
Veterans Affairs to pay each eligible veteran's tuition and fees, up to
the maximum charge at the most expensive public college in the state where
the vet enrolls.
The law also gives vets $1,000 each year for books and materials and a
housing allowance during the school year equal to that provided to troops
on active duty.
Veterans who served before the 9/11 attacks will continue to receive aid
under the Montgomery GI Bill. Congress beefed up that program last year,
but its benefits often fall thousands of dollars short of actual college
costs.
 The
VA expects that as many as 100,000 more veterans will seek college aid -
about 400,000 now receive it. The agency estimates the 10-year cost of the
new program at $78 billion.
With the law set to take effect Aug. 1, the VA has asked college officials
in each state to provide data on their highest in-state tuition and fees.
Because some schools base those charges in part on the programs a student
chooses, the most expensive rate may be paid by only a handful of
students.
Some of the maximums, which the VA posted on its Web site this month, are
eye-popping.
Although the VA says the data are tentative, Texas, the most expensive
state, quoted a maximum of $1,333 per credit hour in tuition and $12,130
per semester in fees. For a student carrying an average course load - 15
credit hours per semester - that would translate into annual aid of up to
$64,250.
By contrast, in Wyoming, the cheapest state according to the VA figures, a
vet's maximum annual tuition aid would total just $3,621.
The Texas maximums are a combination of charges from two different schools
and so represent total costs that no single student could incur, said
Connie Jacksits, director of veterans education for the Texas Veterans
Commission.
Texas does not routinely charge tuition by the credit hour, Jacksits
added, and the cost per hour decreases as a student enrolls for additional
hours. For full-time students, the highest tuition in Texas is $4,959 per
semester, she said.
Such complexities have made it difficult for the VA to compute the maximum
aid it will provide, said Keith Wilson, the agency's director of education
services. If an individual veteran's actual costs are less than the
maximum aid, the VA will pay only the actual costs.
For vets attending school in Virginia, the VA figures indicate the maximum
aid per year would be just over $20,000. The IAVA said its research
indicates that Virginia's highest in-state tuition is the $9,473 paid by
students at Virginia Military Institute.
In-state students at Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University,
the four-year state colleges in South Hampton Roads, pay less than $7,000
in tuition and fees, so their costs would be fully covered under both the
law passed last year and the IAVA proposal.
Whatever limits are ultimately set, reports of the bill's enhanced
benefits have caught veterans' attention, said VA, college and military
officials.
"We are getting a lot of questions," said Resty Orduna, a retired Navy
personnel specialist who counsels other vets at Tidewater Community
College's Veteran Affairs office and attends TCC classes himself on the
Montgomery GI Bill.
Orduna expects to shift to the new benefit plan this summer, an option
available to him because part of his service came after the Sept. 11
attacks. He said he's particularly pleased that the VA will make his
tuition payments directly; under the Montgomery Bill he pays those costs
and uses a monthly benefit check to gradually reimburse himself.
Other vets, like Pete Tapyrik of Virginia Beach, are looking to share part
of their benefit with their children, an option provided by the new law.
After 21 years in the Air Force, working with munitions and then in
intelligence, Tapyrik is pointing toward a new career as a chef. He's
attending TCC now on the Montgomery Bill and will save benefits under the
new law for his 10-year-old daughter.
So far, though, he said he hasn't been able to find out how much that will
total. Under the new law, it depends on how much aid a veteran already has
received and his or her length of service.
More than 400 military and college counselors peppered the VA's Wilson
with questions about such intricacies of the new law during a two-hour
session earlier this month at ODU.
Wilson was quick to admit he didn't have all the answers, but insisted the
VA will work through them in time to meet the August deadline.
The agency has hired more than 500 people to help administer the new
program after deciding last fall that a new automated system to handle
inquiries and an expected flood of paperwork could not be ready in time.
"They are mounting a herculean effort to get this done," the IAVA's
Campbell said.
Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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