VA Fixes Tuition Technicality in Post-9/11 GI Bill That Affected Veterans in California
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 by KarinaLast year, Congress enacted the new GI Bill for the 21st Century (or the ‘Post-9/11 GI Bill’) to restore the promise of a full, four-year college education for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. On May 1st, veterans were able to start applying for a certificate of eligibility for the new college benefits at the VA website https://www.gibill.va.gov and these benefits started August 1st, available to an estimated 2.1 million veterans. Today, the Administration announced a fix to a tuition technicality that affected veterans attending college in California:
Post-9/11 GI Bill glitch fixed in California
Army Times - August 5th, 2009
A semantic change has erased a glitch in the ability of California-based service members and veterans to gain full tuition benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the White House announced Tuesday.
The resolution is one of a number of issues unaccounted for when legislators enacted the generous new education benefit last year that the Obama administration and its Department of Veterans Affairs say they are fixing.
The Post-9/11 GI Bill offers some education benefits to those who have served on active duty for as little as three months, while those with three or more years of service qualify for full benefits — full tuition and fees up to the maximum undergraduate rate of the most expensive public university in the state where the student is attending school, plus money for books and living expenses.
Under the program’s “Yellow Ribbon” initiative, additional benefits are available to students paying out-of-state rates or attending private or graduate schools. The potential problem in California involved private schools.
“There was some question as to whether veterans who were attending private institutions in California were going to be eligible because of the unique nature of how California described its tuition versus its fees,” Obama said. “We just got that resolved today. This will be part of a broader effort to work out the kinks in the system.”
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, who also took part in the White House meeting, said in a post-interview news release that the fix “will allow all veterans who want to attend a California school the same benefits as any other veteran across the nation.”
Speaker Pelosi on the fix:
Secretary Shinseki and the Department of Veterans Affairs should be commended for fixing a technical glitch in the Post-9/11 GI Bill that could have prevented thousands of California’s veterans from attending the school of their choice this fall.
Enacting the Post-9/11 GI Bill was the foundation of the New Direction Congress’s continuing commitment to our nation’s heroes. Under this legislation, those who served in the armed forces after September 11, 2001 are eligible for tuition assistance up to the level of tuition charged by the most expensive public school in each state. However, California state law prohibits its public universities from charging tuition; instead, the schools recoup costs through student fees. This technicality risked creating a situation where California veterans would be forced to borrow additional funds to finance their education, placing them at a competitive disadvantage to their peers across the country.
The California Congressional Delegation, led by Congressman Mike Thompson, has been diligently working on a legislative solution since the glitch was discovered. I applaud their efforts in focusing national attention on this potentially devastating problem. Yesterday’s announcement by the VA and the State of California will restore the promise Congress made to these brave veterans by allowing them the freedom to attend any one of the many outstanding private and public universities throughout California.
For more information on the program, visit our information and resources page>>