Colorado latest state to sweeten GI Bill deal - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Colorado latest state to sweeten GI Bill deal

Colorado will begin offering in-state tuition at public colleges and universities for active-duty members and their families and all honorably discharged veterans under the GI Opportunity Act, a state law signed June 2 by Gov. Bill Ritter.

The tuition bill, meant to make Colorado more attractive to current and former service members, aims to reverse a phenomenon in which out-of-state veterans apply and are accepted to state schools, only to end up going somewhere else.

Last year, for example, 16 out-of-state veterans were accepted for admission to the University of Colorado at Boulder, but only one ended up attending, said retired Marine Corps Col. Greg Akers, director of the school’s office of veterans affairs.

Many states are ramping up efforts to attract service members, their families and veterans because of the looming Aug. 1 launch of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which provides benefits to fully cover the cost of in-state undergraduate tuition at a four-year public college or university.

By promising in-state tuition rates to service members, to their families who might get the new GI Bill benefits under a transfer option, and to veterans who don’t live in the state, Colorado is promising free education to a potentially large population.

The difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition rates is about $8,000 a year for Colorado state colleges and universities.