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Delayed GI Bill payments making some students wary

As living stipends for the Post-9/11 GI Bill are sent out, college students and administrators say they’re still wary about jumping aboard the new veterans benefits program.

Joshua Ray, a Mesa College student, Navy veteran and the California state director for Student Veterans of America, said Veterans Affairs Department delays in tuition payments to schools and living stipend payments to students have left an aura of uncertainty and concern hanging over the program in its early phases.

Ray, a former Navy fire controlman with five semesters of college under his belt, has faced problems with the new GI Bill himself; he cannot find the paperwork proving he is eligible for a kicker that will increase his payments, and he has not been able to find out who can help.

Ray said other students have questions about whether they can start and stop benefits, taking GI Bill payments when they need them most while preserving benefits as much as possible.

“A lot of people don’t need the benefits every month, but want to take a month here and a month there, when they need the money to cover expenses,” he said.

Ray also said he wishes schools would offer better counseling for veterans beyond the office that works to get benefits. A counselor specializing in helping veterans “would be nice to have,” he said.

At the University of California at San Diego, veterans awaiting their first benefits checks can get no-interest loans — which concerns Student Veterans of America representative Justice Castaneda.

“I worry that this option is going to lead some people to take out loans they don’t need and will have problems paying back,” said Castaneda, who served eight years in the Marine Corps before getting out and going to college.

Like Ray, Castaneda said he thinks the new GI Bill holds great promise. But “it’s hard to understand how it’s going to be paid,” he said. “There’s a lot left unexplained.”

Mesa College President Rita Cepeda said her community college has seen a small increase in the number of veterans for the fall semester — about 800 veterans today, 100 more than last spring — but she said she expects even more to come in the future.

It is taking about six weeks to get students certified for their correct level of GI Bill payments, which means the school and veterans must wait for payments, she said.

Mesa College, with more than 22,000 students, arranged special orientation sessions on Post-9/11 GI Bill procedures and other veterans benefits, Cepeda said. Academic counseling also will be available to veterans for two or three weeks.

At the University of San Diego — a private school participating in the Yellow Ribbon Program, in which veterans’ full tuition and fees are covered by a combination of GI Bill payments and a matching fund supplement — officials have noticed that active-duty people, who make up more than half the students in a global leadership program created for the Navy, seem to be putting off using their new benefits.

“Everyone seems to be waiting for someone else to be the guinea pig,” said Stephanie Kiesel, the program’s assistant director.