Friday, May 23, 2008

A new GI Bill

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."

5 comments:

Tim said...

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

mike said...

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

Anonymous said...

If you retired in 2007, you are entitled to the New GI Bill/post 911.

Anonymous said...

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!

Unknown said...

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.