‘Stressful’: Vet awaits GI Bill pay - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

‘Stressful’: Vet awaits GI Bill pay

An Alaska veteran’s plea for help in getting promised GI Bill benefits is one sign of problems facing the Veterans Affairs Department as it processes a backlog of claims for the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

“I need to consider dropping out and coming back when VA has its ducks in a row,” said Joya Myers, a former Army information management specialist working on a business degree at the University of Alaska.

Myers said she was depending on the GI Bill and a part-time job at the university to cover her costs, but the job in the information technology department dried up, and her GI Bill living stipend and book allowance are late.

“I am stressing about how I am going to make my rent for October and car payment,” Myers said. “It has become so stressful, I have wondered if this is all worth it.”

The House and Senate armed services committees are monitoring the new GI Bill program, which launched Aug. 1, after hearing from schools and veterans about payment problems.

“It seems to be taking about 32 days to process a claim and it looks like that is going to increase,” said a congressional aide who asked not to be identified.

“I think everybody has to take a deep breath,” the aide said. “Fall has always been a tough time on VA’s education service, and this year is even harder.”

Myers said her goal is to get a bachelor’s degree so she can rejoin the Army as an officer. “I must keep my credit in good standing, or my goal of becoming an officer will be greatly affected,” she said.

“My father helps when he can, and usually that keeps a roof over my head, but as far as food, car payment and other bills, I call and plead with them not to put it on my credit report,” Myers said.

Myers transferred from the university’s Fairbanks campus to Anchorage, believing a part-time job and GI Bill benefits would cover her expenses.

When she was laid off after five months, Myers said she thought she would still be OK with just the GI Bill, with its full tuition, living stipend and book allowance based on her more than three years of service.

“I scheduled my classes under the assumption I was not going to work so I could just focus on school. My classes are scheduled throughout the day, which makes it difficult to find work that will take me for a few hours here and there,” she said.

She could return to Fairbanks to the IT job, but “I could not afford to move back,” she said.

“This entire process is a headache, any way you cut it,” Myers said.

Myers said she has tried to get information from VA and the university about when she can expect to get the book allowance and living stipend, with no success.

“At my school, we cannot just see someone,” Myers said. She had to wait to see someone who gave her “a ‘they will call you’ answer,” she said.

She has e-mailed the school’s veterans advisor, but said she only gets “generic answers that I already know.”

Calling VA has not been any better, she said.

“Who do we write to when we cannot get through to VA because they have managed to make the wait time about an hour?” she said “Who do we go to when we cannot afford our school books, because we were relying on them to be paid for by the time school was in session? Who do we go to when we cannot afford to pay for gas?

“Why does VA continue making excuses?”

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