New VA benefits delayed

[More_liberal_than_mo]

Has anyone else noticed that the New GI bill was changed during the final rewrite to delay the new bill from taking effect until 1 August of next year? The law as originally proposed by Senator Webb called for it to go into effect the day that Bush signed it (1 August 2008) but the VA complained that they could not process the changes in time for the fall semester (2008) start. Webb then changed the bill to allow the VA time to process the new payments retro-actively back to 1 August 2008. Someone in Congress (it has not been revealed yet) who wrote the finalized bill that Bush signed removed the retro-active bit and instead inserted 1 August 2009 as the start date for the new benefits to kick in. I can't find the link now to where I read about this change but anyone can go to http://www.gibill.va.gov/S22/Post_911_Factsheet.pdf and see that 2009 is the new start date. My son who is already enrolled under the old law will lose out on a year's worth of the new upgraded benefits. There's no way a GI can afford to go to college under the old benefits without help from family or a good paying job to supplement the costs of a college education. My son had to move back home as the old bill barely covers the school tuition and fees and leaves nearly nothing for living expenses. I've had trouble helping him out since his younger sister is in college too. He's now got an off campus job at a coffee house to help out with living expenses. How are others handling this?

[jimmil]

1. It was the same after Vietnam.

If I recall the total monthly benefits were $202.00 a month. When you paid tuition, books, supplies, etc., you hardly had money for anything. I at least went under a different chapter for disabled vets that paid all my tuition, books, supplies, and a monthly living expense. My advice would be for your son to go to a VA hospital and claim anything that may be wrong with him was a result of his service and request a full physical exam be performed to determine disability. What I would hope could possibly happen is that they give him some sort of disability. That would allow him to go to school under a different chapter like I did. With tuition now as high as it is this would be a great help in the monthly expenses.

[More_liberal_than_mo]

3. I was in the Navy

during Vietnam and got married while still in (1967 to 1975). By the time I got out I had 1 son already and neither my family nor my wife's could afford to help us out while I went to college so I ended up missing out all together on my GI education benefits. I didn't want that to happen to my younger son who went into the Marine Corps straight out of high school. I intend to make sure he has the means to get his degree even if I have to dig into my 401k.

Both of us were really happy to see the new bill signed into law but were soon disappointed to find that he had to wait another year to get the more generous benefits. I'm still grateful that he's getting what he does because without it he could not afford to go at all. His younger sister has got me tapped out with her college expenses. I can't afford to let either one of them start a new life without a college education and I don't want either of them to have to go into debt to fiance it either. With his coffee shop job and the $1341 a month we can make it until the new law kicks in.

Thanks for the comment and your service. My son spent 2 tours in Iraq but so far hasn't shown any signs of PTSD. He seems to have come home healthy and I doubt he could claim any disability at this point. He got out just over a year ago and just completed his annual physical at the VA hospital for the IRR. They pronounced him to be in good health and tried to get him to re-enlist.

[Blaubart]

2. Thanks...

Tell you son "Thanks for your service" and give him a pat on the back from me.

It is indeed unfortunate that he is missing out on some benefits that he might have been able to reap if someone hadn't changed the effective date. However, the GI Bill wasn't promised to be the full ride scholarship that it is about to become when your son joined. What he does have in the meantime is at least a $1,321/month leg up on the other students that haven't served and don't have the GI Bill.

[More_liberal_than_mo]

4. Right you are

and he is lucky to be getting what he is getting. My point was that under the old bill (that we are stuck with for another full year) without family help for living expenses the benefits don't cover enough for a former GI to actually go to college.

[Blaubart]

5. ...and my point is...

...that it was never supposed to. That's why they also offered the Army College Fund, which was an enlistment option that would have added a lot more money to his benefits. All the other options for financial aid that are available to every other student are also available to your son. Grants, scholarships, student loans, work study, etc.

Again, I agree that it sucks that the effective date was changed, but don't let that stop him from continuing his studies.