<p>Best news I've read in months! While this isn't going to have any impact on my family's remaining tuition payments, I'm so glad for the thousands who will qualify.</p>
<p>The new GI bill will cover tuition up to the most expensive state school in each veteran's home state, plus books and a stipend for living expenses. (Many private schools have vowed to make up the difference) Vets have up to 15 years to use the benefits, and those who re-enlist can transfer them to a spouse or child.</p>
<p>In some states, the benefit is a lot higher than expected because the most expensive in-state program turns out to not be state-flagship tuition.</p>
<p>The new GI Bill is wonderful but it does have a few gliches that need to be ironed out.</p>
<p>My spouse was ROTC, got his MS while active duty and will use the GI Bill once he retires for his doctorate. If it were not for the new GI bill, it simply would not be possible. </p>
<p>I will say that they certainly earn every penny of it and I would never recommend someone join the military for the educational benefits. It is nice to see hard work rewarded.</p>
<p>Many people don’t realized that the new post 9/11 GI Bill applies to the children of military members as well. Unlike the old bill, officers as well as enlisted personnel can transfer their unused educational benefits to their children or spouse. My husband is an officer and already has graduate degree paid for by the military, and we have a son who will be a senior this year. To us this is still-in-the-too-good-to-believe category. According to the VA my husband has 36 months (4 years of school, nine months each year) of educational benefits. He has transfered them to my son. Once he graduates high school, he has until age 26 to use them. In the state of Texas, the amount allowed per credit hour is $1471 dollars; that means a load of 15 credit hours a semester could total as high as about 22K. In addition, my son would receive a housing allowance for the months he attended school. In areas like Austin, College Station, Houston, Dallas, etc. this would be over 1k a month. Also, he would receive 1k per year for books. In short, my son can now attend ANY university in Texas, public or private, and it will cost us next to nothing. As a middle class family with one income, a college fund worth far less than we had anticipated, and an extremely bright child with top grades and scores, this has been incredible news. Dad has been in the military for over 20 years and is currently on his second tour to the desert in 3 years. The way his tours have worked out, Dad has missed either a portion of or all of every year our son has been in high school and very much regrets it. As a family, we have made many sacrifices; it is great to know that paying for college will be one less worry. I urge any military parents out there to contact the VA to see if they qualify to transfer there benefits as well.</p>
<p>I was excited about the new GI bill when I got the letter from VA. But-- it doesn’t reach those who served AGR in the National Guard. The benefit is available for those who served AGR in the Reserves. AGR are the full-timers that essentially make sure everything is ready for deployment. The benefit doesn’t reach National Guard AGR because they serve under title 32 of the United States Code, not title 10. But their mission is the same as the Reserve AGR-- readiness for federal missions. And in case you haven’t been reading the news, the National Guard has been very busy on federal missions.</p>
<p>I should clarify-- the NG that deploys does so under title 10 and is covered. It’s the people in the armory taking care of things like health and personnel records, wills, and training are not covered. The people doing these things for the Reserves (and for the active forces) are covered.</p>
<p>To add to the good news for veterans, a bill was just passed–HEOA Technical Corrections Bill (H.R.1777)-- that keeps financial aid eligibility from being affected by veterans’ benefits. As a result, my financial aid offer changed for the better. Previously, it included the Post 9/11 GI Bill and a Pell Grant (which apparently was already unaffected by GI Bill benefits). Now, they’ve added a UC Santa Cruz Grant and UC Fee Grant and offered loans and work study as well because the GI Bill no longer counts as income and my need appears to be greater as a result. So, even if you feel that the GI Bill will cover your expenses, you should submit a FAFSA.</p>
<p>Wow! this is amazing. My HS rising junior son is a die hard Army ROTC hopeful. I think he has an excellent chance of getting a scholarship: the question is at which school… TBD.</p>
<p>I did not know that GI bill applies to ROTC officers. I thought it applied only to the enlisted soldiers… So at this rate, there is a possibility that a good portion of his graduate education after he serves 6 years on an active duty in Army (his plan so far) will also be paid for.</p>
<p>I have two questions: </p>
<p>(1) Is it only for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans? So, if my son is not stationed in the war zone, there is no scholarship? (He would like to go to the active war/battlefield, I have a different wish; my selfish desire is not to have him in the war zone regardless of how much scholarship they offer.</p>
<p>(2) can a solider attend an out of state college/university, and take the maximum allowed scholarship based on highest home state public school tuition there? Or, is s/he allowed only to attend an instate school, private or public.</p>
<p>For those who have or had ROTC scholarships, you must serve your ROTC commitment before your time towards the GI bill starts.
In other words, if you received a 4 year ROTC scholarship, you incur a commitment of 4 years. The clock toward the Post 9/11 GI bill doesn’t start until after 4 years. Hence, you must serve 7 years AD to qualify for 100%.</p>
<p>In response to the question asked by the mom whose son wants to do ROTC, the amount of money the VA pays has to do with the fees for the school you will be attending not your home state. For example, being from TX the rate allowed is $1471 per credit hour. Because it is so high, that amonts covers any college in TX public or private. We live in Texas, so that is great; however, if my son decides to go to say MIT in MA where the amount allowed is a little over $70 a credit hour, too bad. VA covers the $70 a credit hour becaues the school he is attending is in MA. They same goes for the housing allowance he would get; it is based on the zip code of the school. If you have further questions, there is a lot of good information at the VA website [GI</a> Bill Home - (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)](<a href=“http://www.gibill.va.gov%5DGI”>http://www.gibill.va.gov).</p>
The home of record is not used in determining benefits - rather they are determined by the state in which the student will attend school.
So, for example, a student wants to go to Harvard - they will use the highest public school tuition as the reimbursement amount, even if the student’s home of record was CA.</p>
<p>bringbackpluto congratulations on your good luck with the timing of all this! For the once the government is spending money on something I TOTALLY support. Good luck to your son in school!!!</p>
<p>For Colorado, it’s over 43K per term??? It does not make sense at all. I don’t know of any PRIVATE school that charges 43K a year, let alone a semester. In Michigan, over 18K per term, and that’s 36K per year: that’s top private college tuition! I don’t believe Michigan public schools charge that much! And in Mississippi, it’s less than $500, followed by DC below $700. I just can see all the GI’s heading to Colorado so that they can attend any private or public college with that kind of allowance!!! Meanwhile, no great private schools at DC will get any GI students!</p>
<p>I can just see the state legislaturers playing games with their in state school tuition numbers to attract more out of state GI with hefty government funds. All they have to do is to create a tiny public college with stratospheric tuition for official filing, give 99% of the students “scholarship” to effectively bring the tuition back to the normal range</p>
<p>I take back a part of my post above: that is, DC private schools will get no GIs due to the very low DC public school tuition.</p>
<p>Turns out, there is such a thing as a yellow ribbon program. Schools with tuition well above the max allowed will volunteer to fund 50% of the tuition over the max in that state and the Gov will match the rest. This means, most of the DC school that are participating in this program (GWU, GTW, AU, etc) will be essentially tuition free to the students!</p>
<p>JustAMom-- I’m not talking about those activated for homeland defense, at least not specifically. I’m talking about "soldiers serving on Full-Time National Guard Duty (FTNGD) under provisions of section 502(f), title 32 United States Code, for the purpose of
organizing, administering, recruiting, instructing, or training the ARNG . " They are the ones that make sure units and soldiers are ready to deploy for federal missions. They are in federally-authorized positions; they live by federal regulations and meet federal standards; they are paid by the federal government and in the same manner as soldiers who serve under title 10. The soldiers who hold equivalent positions in the USAR (United States Army Reserve) are eligible for the benefit. </p>
<p>The National Guard has been used extensively post-9/11. Yet this one segment is left out of the post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.</p>