Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) introduced S. 3447, a bill to improve the Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits program.
The bill includes six major changes that will be welcomed by veteran students, school officials, and veterans service organizations.
With ten months of experience under the new program, I believe it is time to look at what improvements and modifications need to be made in order for the program to reach its potential
Akaka’s proposed Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 is designed to make a number of modifications to the new program of educational assistance which became effective on August 1, 2009.
The following are the six provisions that will likely have the greatest impact on current and future student veterans, many of which are considered long overdue:
- Members of the National Guard and Reserve who were inadvertently omitted from inclusion would be fully eligible for benefits.
- Include all vocational programs, OJT and apprenticeship training, flight, all types of non-college degree training and more. Effectively eliminating the need to make an irreversible decision as to whether or not to receive benefits under the old Montgomery GI Bill or under the new program.
- Eliminate the complicated, confusing and, in some cases, inequitable calculation of State-by-State tuition and fee caps to determine benefits for individuals enrolled in degree programs. Effectively ensuring that individuals enrolled in degree granting programs of study at public colleges and universities in the U.S. would pay little, if any, out of pocket. Those enrolled in private colleges and universities would receive the national average cost of education.
- Provide a modified living stipend to students who are enrolled in distance learning (online education) programs.
- Make active duty and their spouses eligible for the $1,000 annual book allowance.
- Eliminate the need for veterans to choose between Voc-Rehab and the Post-9/11 GI Bill enabling service-connected disabled OEF/OIF veterans to elect the program from which to receive their subsistence allowance. Ensuring that veterans would not be forced to pass on valuable counseling and support services to access the more generous Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.
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