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LAWMAKERS URGE EXTENSION OF GI BILL BENEFITS --
While veterans struggle with college costs
because
of the shrinking buying power of the GI Bill.
We have two stories...
First story here...
http://www.military.com/
NewsContent/0,13319,135109,00.html
Story below:
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Lawmakers Urge GI Bill Extension
Military.com | By Terry Howell
Veterans who want to take advantage of the Montgomery GI Bill but have
found their eligibility has expired may soon get a second chance with
new legislation introduced on Capitol Hill last week.
In an effort to extend the time veterans have to take advantage of their
GI Bill benefits, Washington Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell
introduced the GI Bill for Life Act that would eliminate the 10-year
time limit placed on GI Bill benefits.
The GI Bill for active duty servicemembers and veterans is a "pay to
play" benefit that requires each servicemember to make a $1,200
non-refundable contribution up front. In return for the contribution
they can use their entitlement-up to $1,075 per month for 36 months-to
help pay for education, apprenticeship, and job training.
The catch is the GI Bill automatically expires 10 years after the
veteran leaves active duty service. It's this "use it or loose it"
aspect of the GI Bill that has left many veterans feeling misled and
cheated.
According to the Department of Veteran Affairs reports, nearly 30
percent of eligible veterans are unable to use any of their education
benefits and most eligible veterans are only able to access a portion of
their GI Bill before the 10-year limit is reached.
"GI Bill benefits should not come with an expiration date," Cantwell
said in a May 1 press release announcing the bill. "When our
servicemembers leave the military, family obligations, work commitments
and economic difficulties often get in the way."
Many veterans postpone going to school due to several factors including,
employment constraints, family obligations, illness and disabilities
associated with military service. In many cases 10 years have pass and
they simply lose their benefits.
"We need to remove this arbitrary time limit and make sure our veterans
can get valuable skills training when the time is right for them,"
Cantwell added. "Veterans should have access to their education benefits
for life."
On the other side of Capitol Hill, House Armed Services Committee member
and fellow Washington lawmaker Rep. Rick Larsen (D), will soon introduce
identical legislation in the House.
"Times have changed, and we owe it to our veterans to keep up," Larsen
said a press release. "In today's changing economy, veterans should be
able to get the education they need when they need it."
The Montgomery GI Bill includes active duty as well as reserve component
programs: The Montgomery GI Bill for Selected Reserve and the Reserve
Education Assistance Program. Unlike the GI Bill for active duty, the
Reserve GI Bill does not require a $1,200 contribution, but it does
require a service commitment of six or more years.
In addition, enrollees in the reserve program receive up to $309 per
month for 36 months in education benefits, and the Reserve GI Bill
expires after 14 years - or when the individual leaves the service. In
other words, veteran reservists who are out of the service aren't
eligible to receive any GI Bill benefits.
The so-called "Cantwell/Larsen Montgomery GI Bill for Life Act of 2007"
- S. 1261 - which is cosponsored by Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), would repeal both the 10 year and 14 year
deadlines. It doesn't address the reserve component programs' expiration
upon leaving the service, however.
With a renewed focus on veterans' issues on Capitol Hill and large
influx of war veterans, advocates feel that such legislation has a
better momentum this year.
"This legislation will allow veterans that have earned their GI Bill
entitlements to use those entitlements to keep up with changes due to
technology over the course of their lifetime, thus keeping them more
employable," veteran and former Washington VFW commander Frosty Hulsey
said in the Cantwell release. "This bill is a long time overdue. It
makes sense and is the right thing to do."
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Second story here...
http://www.dailypress.com/
news/local/virginia/dp-gibill0509may09,0,4
118600.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia
Story below:
---------------
Veterans struggle with college costs because of the shrinking buying
power of the GI Bill
By STEPHEN
MANNING
Associated Press Writer
FAIRFAX, Va. -- Marc Edgerly and his father, Carl, both joined the Army
as young men, served during wartime and eventually decided that college,
not a full-time military career, was what they wanted. But the cost they
shouldered for that education is dramatically different.
The GI Bill covered all of Carl Edgerly's college expenses in the
mid-1970s. His son, however, expects that even with the maximum $1,075
in monthly GI Bill benefits, he will be saddled with $50,000 in student
loans when he graduates from George Mason University.
"The total amount of the GI Bill comes nowhere close to what I actually
need for college," said Marc Edgerly, 26, who is in his second year at
the suburban Washington school. "After five years of college, it is not
going to work."
As the Edgerlys prove, it's not your father's GI Bill anymore.
The federal program that once covered nearly the entire cost of a
veteran's college expenses continues to fall further behind the soaring
price of higher education.
Despite several attempts by Congress to boost benefits in past decades,
the gap has grown so large that many veterans are forced to take out
sizable student loans.
The maximum GI Bill amount a currently enrolled veteran who served on
active duty can qualify for during a college career is roughly $38,700.
But for many students, that is not nearly enough to pay for tuition,
room, board and books. And the GI Bill covers only four years of school,
leaving veterans on their own if they take longer to graduate.
The average cost of one year's tuition, room and board at four-year
public institutions in 2006-07 was $12,796, according to the College
Board. For private schools, the one-year cost was $30,367. Tuition and
fees at all schools have risen 35 percent in the past five years, while
the highest GI Bill monthly payout has increased only 20 percent since
2002.
Big student loans are not uncommon among college students in general;
the average graduate now leaves school with $19,000 in loans.
Congress has boosted the GI benefit several times since its
inception--the last a $9 billion, 10-year increase passed in 2001 that
even then was criticized as too small to keep up with soaring costs.
Some lawmakers want to try again. Legislation in the House and Senate
would make National Guard and Reserve troops, who are relied on heavily
in Iraq and Afghanistan, eligible for the same GI Bill payments as
active-duty personnel. Currently, Guard members and reservists receive a
much lower educational benefit.
A bill by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a former Marine and Navy secretary,
would pay the entire tuition, room and board of veterans and provide
them with a monthly stipend of $1,000. The expanded benefit would be
available to all members of the military who served after Sept. 11,
2001. A Webb spokeswoman said there is no estimate yet of how much the
expanded benefit would cost.
Webb touted the bill Wednesday in the Senate Committee on Veterans'
Affairs, saying it would help boost recruiting, ease the transition of
returning soldiers and raise the quality of life for veterans. The
legislation is backed by several veterans groups, such as the American
Legion.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, which administers the program,
distributed $2.76 billion in education aid to 498,123 people last year.
While that amount is substantial, it falls short of original program's
scope.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the GI Bill, officially called
the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, in 1944, largely to keep millions of
demobilized World War II soldiers from flooding the job market. By 1956,
7.8 million servicemen had used the benefit for either college or
vocational training.
Veterans initially received about $500 per year, enough to pay for
tuition, room and books at most colleges, according to Keith Olson, a
University of Maryland professor who wrote a book on the GI Bill. But
the purchasing power of the GI Bill benefits has eroded over the years.
To enroll, troops must buy in to the program. Their pay is reduced by
$1,200 during the first year of service, and then they must serve their
full enlistment period. Those who serve three years or more are eligible
for the full benefit of $1,075 per month. Some may qualify for
additional money provided by each military branch, known as a GI Bill
"kicker."
Despite its original largesse, some veterans aren't sure the GI Bill
should pay for the entire cost of their education.
Carl Edgerly, 55, served for three years in the Army, including a year
in Vietnam. Now an accountant for the North Dakota Game and Fish
Department, he is also a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard
scheduled for a tour in Iraq.
Edgerly worked full time while he was on the GI Bill, and received $374
per month in GI Bill benefits. He attended Bismarck Junior College and
then University of Mary College, both in Bismarck, N.D.
Despite the costs his son faces, Edgerly said he believes the program is
meant to give a soldier a "head start" rather than a free ride in
college.
His son agrees--somewhat. Marc Edgerly enlisted in a burst of patriotism
following Sept. 11, 2001, and spent four years in the Army's Old Guard,
serving on honor guards at Arlington National Cemetery.
Now a Russian and engineering major at George Mason, Edgerly also works
part-time as security guard at $12.50 per hour. His yearly tuition bill
is about $7,000. Edgerly and his fiancee pay around $1,200 monthly for a
small apartment near campus in the high-rent Washington suburb.
He expects to find a well-paying job as an engineer after he graduates,
which should help to repay his loans. And he has a big incentive to stay
in school.
"My fiancee says she won't marry me if I don't get a college degree," he
said.
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Larry Scott --
