New, improved GI Bill passes overwhelmingly in the Senate. This is Senator Jim Webb's initiative, which I wrote about in one of my first Yahoo! Finance columns.
The $51 billion measure pays for four year's tuition at the highest-priced public institution in the veteran's home state. Current benefits have eroded with the growing cost of college.
According to Paul Rieckhoff of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America:
"These 75 Senators stood with Senators Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel in favor of a new bipartisan GI Bill that actually covers the cost of college. As these Senators return home to honor troops and veterans during the Memorial Day recess, they can proudly point to their vote this week as proof of their commitment to our troops. IAVA thanks each and every one of them."
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Generation Debt, and other writing by Anya Kamenetz
DIY U: Buy it Now!
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About The Author
My new book, DIY U:Edupunks, Edupreneurs and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education (buy it here), will be published by Chelsea Green in April 2010. I'm a staff writer for Fast Company Magazine and the author of the book Generation Debt. I've written Generation Debt columns for the Village Voice and as a featured Yahoo! Finance expert. I've also written for publications ranging from the New York Times to ReadyMade magazine and Mental Floss.
I live in Brooklyn with a phenomenal husband and an amazing cat.
I travel and speak fairly often. Upcoming dates are:
3/12-3/16 South By Southwest Interactive festival
4/11 Vox Pop bookstore NYC
4/21 Bluestockings Radical Books, NYC
5/4 Octavia Books, New Orleans
5/17-5/18 Carter Center, Atlanta; TEDx Atlanta conference
6/7-6/10 Sustainable Brands conference, Monterrey, CA
Contact Keppler Speakers if you want me to come to your town!
Email me at a kamenetz at fastcompany dot com.
I live in Brooklyn with a phenomenal husband and an amazing cat.
I travel and speak fairly often. Upcoming dates are:
3/12-3/16 South By Southwest Interactive festival
4/11 Vox Pop bookstore NYC
4/21 Bluestockings Radical Books, NYC
5/4 Octavia Books, New Orleans
5/17-5/18 Carter Center, Atlanta; TEDx Atlanta conference
6/7-6/10 Sustainable Brands conference, Monterrey, CA
Contact Keppler Speakers if you want me to come to your town!
Email me at a kamenetz at fastcompany dot com.
Good Links
- American Prospect Blog
- Barbara Ehrenreich
- BlogHer Personal Finance
- Brazen Careerist
- Campus Progress
- Credit Slips (Elizabeth Warren, etc)
- Debt Bloggers
- Employee Evolution
- Entitlements Research
- Freelancers Union
- Gen Y Financial Freedom
- Generation Debt Dot Org
- Higher Ed Watch
- Inside Higher Ed
- Journey to Financial Freedom
- Student Loan Justice
- US PIRGs Higher Ed
5 comments:
It's great that they are going to increase the GI benefit, but as a retired verteran of 24 years I don't qualify. There is a percentage of soldiers and sailors that will not ever qualify and here's why... When I joined the Navy in 1983, there wasn't a GI bill then, I was offered a program called VEAP (Veterans Educational Assistance Program). It was an awful program which only offered a total of $4700, if I paid into the program half of the amount. So, I choose not to sign up for VEAP. Then a few years later they offered the GI bill to service members that were new to the service, the program initially was not "grandfathered". I felt cheated because they were offering this new program to people that joined after me. In the early 90s the GI bill evolved again and they announced that servicemembers that initially qualified for VEAP could automatically convert to the GI bill, IF and only IF there was still at least $1 remaining in VEAP. Guess what? I never signed up for VEAP so therefore I could not get the GI bill. I'm not alone, there are thousands like myself that are retired (2007), or will shortly retired that will not ever get a GI bill. What is congress doing about us, nothing. Everytime I read something about expanding the GI bill, it never applied to me.
signed,
A Cheated Vet
Tim,
You cheated yourself.
I invested $100 a month for 2 years in the VEAP and got over $20,100 plus grants.
So you didn't understand the program. But it worked for me just as advertised. Is it really the fault of our government that you didn't ask more questions?
There were a lot of soldiers that put money into VEAP and cashed out their $2400 for fun. Bad move also but it was their money.
Good luck with your retirement.
mike
If you retired in 2007, you are entitled to the New GI Bill/post 911.
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!
Dude you should be there for your fellow troop who had your back. I to enlisted in 83 and could not afford to put into the program because I had a family and needed every penny to support them. I'm glad it worked for you but you didn't win the war by yourself so please don't act as such. Good luck life isn't over yet.
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