Education: Post-9/11 GI Bill - Military Benefits | Marine Corps pay, education, health, housing, moving, MWR - Marine Corps Times

Education: Post-9/11 GI Bill

On Aug. 1, 2009, a new education benefit took effect that for the first time since World War II promised to pay full tuition and fees plus living stipends and book allowances to eligible veterans. Moreover, some career members are able to transfer unused benefits to a spouse or children if they agree to stay on active duty for at least four more years.

The program got off to a shaky start when first-term payments to students and schools by the Veterans Affairs Department were delayed. By the spring 2010 term, delays for most people appeared to have ended, but applying can still require patience.

Eligibility is based on length of active service — including cumulative time for National Guard and reserve members mobilized more than once — since Sept. 11, 2001. In most cases, at least 90 days of service is required to earn benefits, although veterans honorably discharged for service-connected disabilities may be eligible after serving 30 continuous days of active duty since Sept. 11, 2001.

Full benefits go to those who have at least three years of active-duty service since Sept. 11, 2001, or are honorably discharged for a service-connected condition with at least 30 days of continuous active-duty service. Lesser amounts of active-duty service merit a percentage of full benefits, down to a minimum of 40 percent for those with at least 90 days but less than six months.

Benefits can be used to attend most accredited two- and four-year schools, including distance learning and work study. However, unlike in previous veterans education programs, on-the-job and apprenticeship training, correspondence courses and flight training are not covered, unless those courses are available from an accredited institution of higher learning.

There is no enrollment, as is required for the Montgomery GI Bill. Instead, service members and veterans are automatically covered based on their service. To use benefits, the Veterans Affairs Department has an online application form available on its Web site, and uses Defense Department records to determine eligibility.

Benefits can be used while on active or reserve component duty, or up to 15 years after separation.

There are three elements to the new program:

Tuition

VA will pay the full cost of tuition and fees, up to a cap for each state based on in-state rates at the most expensive four-year public college or university in the state. Payments will go directly to the institution, not to the individual. As in previous GI Bill programs, payments are available for a maximum of 36 months — enough for four years of college.

Not everyone will have all their tuition and fees fully covered. Students who pay out-of-state tuition because they don’t qualify for in-state rates, students enrolled in graduate or doctoral programs at public or private institutions, and those enrolled in private institutions where tuition and fees exceed the cap, could end up paying some of their costs out of pocket. There could be some additional help: The Post-9/11 GI Bill features a matching-fund program, called the Yellow Ribbon Program, in which VA will match, dollar for dollar, any reduction in tuition that a private school agrees to make for GI Bill participants. A list of schools taking part in the Yellow Ribbon Program is published by VA. A state-by-state list of tuition and fees also is posted on VA’s Web site to give an idea of what to expect in payments.

Contact: www.gibill.va.gov/GI_Bill_Info /CH33/Tuition_and_fees.htm

Living expense

A living stipend is paid to those enrolled in enough courses to be considered more than half-time students. If you qualify, you receive full payment of the monthly living expense regardless of the total number of credit hours you’re carrying. Payment is equal to the military’s basic allowance for housing for an E-5 with dependents in the ZIP code of the school being attended. Anyone attending school half-time or less does not receive the payment, nor do active-duty members or their spouses using transferred benefits. People using GI Bill benefits for distance learning get the living expense only if they are taking at least one classroom course, and they still must be more than half-time students.

The Pentagon has a Web site that can be used to calculate the living stipend for any school by setting the paygrade to E-5 and plugging in the ZIP code. The “with dependents” rate would be the stipend.

Contact: www.defensetravel.dod.mil/ perdiem/bah.html

Book allowance

A book and supplies allowance of up to $1,000 per year is available, but will not be paid to anyone using the Post-9/11 GI Bill while still on active duty nor to the spouses of active-duty members using transferred benefits. The allowance is paid in a lump sum at the start of each quarter or semester, with no requirement to provide receipts. For those taking a credit load that makes them less than half-time students, the allowance is prorated based on how their credit load compares with being full-time students.

Transfer rights

The right to transfer Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to a spouse or child is one of the most attractive parts of the new program to many career members.

In general, transfer rights are available to those with at least six years of service who agree to serve an additional four years in the military. Special rules apply to people who, on Aug. 1, 2009, were not able to serve an additional four years because of high-year tenure restrictions or because they already had an approved retirement date.

The service member allocates the amount of benefits to be shared, which must be done in writing. The transfer can be rescinded at any time and the amount of benefits being shared also can be changed, although changes are limited to one per month and the amount of shared benefits cannot exceed what members would have received if they did not share their GI Bill benefits.

A service member can transfer benefits to a spouse after just six years of service, as long as he makes a new four-year commitment to serve in the military. A spouse is eligible for the same tuition and stipends as the service member, and can use benefits while the member remains on active-duty and for up to 15 years after the member is discharged. A service member must complete 10 years of service before GI Bill benefits can be shared with one or more children. A child can use a member’s GI Bill benefits until age 26.

For both spouses and children, use of benefits requires that they remain a dependent of the service member. Divorce terminates benefits for a spouse and marriage terminates benefits for a child.

Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits are not subject to division by a court, so a service member cannot be required to share benefits as a result of a property settlement upon divorce, or as child support.

Contact: www.gibill.va.gov