GI Bill Information: Ask the Expert Blog

March 12th, 2010 by - GIBillExpert

What Does a School Have to Do for the GI Bill?

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According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police department I am supposed to have GI Bill reimbursement while attending the Police or Corrections Academy. I talked to my instructors and they were not sure on how to apply for the GI bill. My instructors were also new to training and my academy was their second one. I want to know how do I apply for this benefit or how to have my academy instructors submit a form for the benefit. Thanks for your help and time. Gregory L.

From your end, applying for the GI Bill is pretty straightforward. Go to the Veterans Affairs department’s web site and find the GI Bill application page. Take the time to complete the online forms, and the VA will send you a form that verifies for your school that you are eligible for the GI Bill. Then, when you are in the program, you need to go to the WAVE page to verify your enrollment each month.

From your school’s end, it is a bit more involved. First, the educational program that you are taking must be approved by the proper state approving agency, which in Nevada is the Commission of Postsecondary Education. If the program is already approved, no problem; otherwise, the school has to apply for approval.

For each student that is using the GI Bill, the school must sent in appropriate forms to the VA, as described on this informational paper. All of the forms required are available for download from the VA web-site.

Although your instructors may not know, the financial office and the veterans affairs office at the school through which your program is run should know the details.

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March 12th, 2010 by - GIBillExpert

Can a Veteran Married to an Active Duty Service-member Get the GI Bill Housing Stipend?

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My fiance is prior military and I’m currently active duty living in privatized base housing. If we marry, will he still qualify for the Post 9/11 GI Bill? Will he still qualify for the BAH? – Sanora H.

If your fiance is currently eligible for the new Post 9/11 GI Bill, then getting married will not make him ineligible. In fact, whether he is married, and to whom he is married, military or civilian, is completely irrelevant to the new GI Bill.

Likewise, if he is eligible for the housing stipend that can be included with the new GI Bill, then the fact that he is married to an active duty service-member will not make him ineligible to receive the allowance. In order to receive the housing stipend, he must be eligible for the new GI Bill, and be enrolled in classroom courses. If he is taking only on-line or other distance-learning courses, then he is not eligible for the housing stipend.

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March 12th, 2010 by - Ron Kness

Is the Delimiting Date Figured off of the Separation or Discharge Date?

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I am a little confused on the expiration of my Montgomery GI Bill benefits. I was under the impression that I had 10 years from my Honorable Discharge paperwork. I recently submitted an application for GI benefits which was denied stating that my benefits ended in Aug 2009. While my DD214 does say that my separation date was Aug 1999, my actual DD245 says that I was Honorably Discharged on the 18th day of July 2002. I also have a letter from the Air Reserve HQ stating that I was relieved from assignment from them and honorably discharged effective 1 July 2002. Why does it seem like I have been misled and whom do I write to plead my case? If something was to have happened after Aug 2000 I still could have been called back to active duty since I was still under contract for the inactive reserve until 2002. Thanks for any input or guidance that you can provide. Your proud military veteran who feels slighted. — Mike

Mike, I can see how you are confused, however, the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) delimiting date is calculated off of the separation date – the date you left active duty. Here is the exact wording:

“Your eligibility for the MGIB (including the College Fund, if you qualify for the College Fund), generally ends 10 years from the date of your last separation from active duty, or when you use all your months of entitlement, whichever is earlier.”

The MGIB link above also states the last date of discharge from active duty. The key here is active duty.Your IRR service discharge date does not effect your delimiting date. I’m sorry news wasn’t better.

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March 12th, 2010 by - Jeffery Anderson

Can Our Son Use My Husband’s GI Bill Benefits for College?

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Hello, My husband served 14 years active duty Navy and retired Reserves as a Captain in May 2007. Am I correct in assuming that my 17 year old can use the GI Bill for his college in a year and a half? What if we move to California from New Hampshire his senior year? Thank you, Kriss

Hi Kriss, I’m afraid that your assumption is not correct. It sounds like your husband is eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill, and probably the Post 9/11 GI Bill as well, but he is not eligible for the transfer of benefits provision in the Post 9/11 GI Bill. For him to be eligible for that provision, he would have had to be on active duty as of 1 August 2009. The provision was added at that time, and only service members who were on active duty then, or came onto active duty since then, can become eligible to transfer their GI Bill Benefits. It was not retroactive.

I looked at the websites for the California and New Hampshire Departments of Veterans Affairs, and I don’t believe either state has any education benefits available for dependents of veterans, unless the service member was disabled or killed while on active duty. You might check on the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society website, they have grants and scholarships for the dependents of Navy veterans, and your son may be eligible. They also have links to other sites which offer education benefits to children of Navy veterans. You might also consider ROTC scholarships, which can take care of all of your son’s education expenses.

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March 12th, 2010 by - Jeffery Anderson

How Do I Transfer My GI Bill Benefits To My Husband?

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How do I transfer my GI Bill to my husband? I need step by step instructions on how to do so. I’ve talked to some people and they gave me a website that doesn’t seem to give me any info. It’s www.dmdc.osd.mil/TEB/I don’t think it was the right email address. Maybe you can help me out with this. I’m kinda pushing for time because I’m deploying any day now. So if you can help me as soon as possible, I would really appreciate it. Thank you so much, Lashara

Hi Lashara, First I’m assuming that you know the eligibility requirements for being able to transfer your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits. You have to be eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and you have to have served at least 6 years on active duty. In order for your request to be approved, you will have to agree to serve at least four years of active duty service after transfer of benefits approval.

Your husband will need to be registered in the DEERS system before he will be approved to receive the benefits. The website address you were given is the correct address, www.dmdc.osd.mil/TEB/. This is a secure Department of Defense website, so you may need to adjust the settings on your browser to access the site. You will go to that website and fill out an online application requesting that your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits be transferred to your husband. The request will go through the various channels, so it might be awhile before you hear anything back.

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March 12th, 2010 by - Ron Kness

Why Is My Army College Fund Payment Less Than I Expected?

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How exactly is the Army College Fund (ACF) paid out when using the Post-9/11 GI Bill? After nearly 2 semesters of waiting, the VA finally processed my ACF back-pay. I was excited as I had been scraping by for months, though I was shocked to see the amount was significantly less than the amount expected when I had made my education plans. These plans were made well in advance of deciding to go back to school, using different sources found on the Internet as a guide as well as a veterans representative from my planned school. All guides had shown that to figure the monthly ACF rate, you’d take the Total ACF amount divided by term of the GI Bill, which in my case was $40,000 / 36 months for a rate of $1111.11. All references to the the Post 9/11 GI Bill I have found say this formula remains the same and that the “kicker” amount is added each month onto the BAH stipend. After talking to several VA representatives, they informed me they do not calculate the rate, but that it is sent to them from the Army, and they figured this out by when I signed the contract. The rate in this case came to $461.11, which is dramatically less than expected. They also informed me this kicker is paid lump sum with the book allowance at the beginning of each term, and that these College funds are not “in addition to” the GI Bill but rather an “average” and that my kicker amount was actually quite high. Now, this is contrary to what I was told back when I enlisted 10 years ago, and if this is true I feel somehow cheated as I took the “extra college money” over a large enlistment bonus because I saw it as an investment. — Nicholas

Nicholas, from everything I’ve read, you are correct in your calculations – Total ACF divided by 36 months. I’m assuming you went the full term of your enlistment. If not, then your ACF was reduced on a month-by-month basis and that could account for the lesser amount you are receiving.

As a recourse, you can send a copy of your college fund contract to the VA Regional Office servicing your area. They are right in saying they do not calculate the amount, they receive that figure from the Army, however, the Army may have calculated it wrong or sent the VA the wrong paperwork. I would pursue it and let the VA tell you whether your amount is correct or not according to your paperwork.

As far as when you should get your kicker money Nickolas, it should come monthly as part of your Post 9/11 GI Bill housing allowance payment, however, under the MGIB, it is paid in a lump sum – different GI Bill, different rules.

This might be also something you want to look at. Even though the expiration date was the end of 2009, you don’t have anything to lose by trying it.

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March 11th, 2010 by - GIBillExpert

Can I Get the College Fund “Kicker” with the New GI Bill?

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I have 2 questions. 1.) If I paid into the Montgomery GI Bill but switch to the Post 9/11 GI Bill does that pay-in fee get reimbursed since they don’t require a fee for the new bill? 2.) If I got the $67,000 seasonal army college fund bonus does that still apply to the new bill or is it only usable with the Montgomery GI Bill? — Robert G.

Good questions. To answer the first one, if you switch from the Montgomery GI Bill to the new Post 9/11 GI Bill, you receive a refund of the $1,200 that you paid into the Montgomery GI Bill with your final housing stipend check when you use up the last month of benefits. If you never completely exhaust your benefits, you never get the refund.

As far as the second question goes, the short answer is that yes, you still get the college fund bonus on top of the new GI Bill benefits. The extra money you are talking about is the up to $950 per month that the services are authorized to offer to encourage enlistment in critical job fields. If you are due a college fund bonus (or “kicker”), it is added onto your housing allowance each month that you are in the GI Bill program taking courses.

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March 11th, 2010 by - GIBillExpert

Can I Use the New GI Bill if I Get Free Tuition?

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If you switch to the Post 9/11 GI Bill they say the money gets sent directly to the school unlike the Montgomery GI Bill which is sent to the service member. Now if your school has a tuition fee waiver for vets after 9/11 does the service member still get the payment not used by the school or do they just not send any money at all? — Robert G.

Your first guess is right. If you get free tuition for any reason (including tuition waivers for veteran service), then you either not benefit, or much less benefit from the new Post 9/11 GI Bill.

The new GI Bill pays for the actual cost of your tuition, up to a maximum, and sends the money directly to your school, as you mentioned. So, if the tuition is zero, the money from the GI Bill is zero. However, if you do use the GI Bill, while you won’t get the tuition money, you may still be able to get the book stipend, which is up to $1,000 per year, and the housing stipend, if you are taking classroom courses as opposed to online courses.

Note that this is only an issue if you are in a program that eliminates tuition; if you are using a scholarship that pays to you, then you can use that on top of the new GI Bill.

This is one example of a situation in which the Montgomery GI Bill may be a better choice than the new GI Bill. Of course, one possibility is to use the GI Bill first, and then apply for the tuition waiver for courses after you use the GI Bill up.

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March 11th, 2010 by - Ron Kness

Can I Get an Extension Beyond the Montgomery GI Bill Ten-Year Mark?

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I served in the Navy from 89 Jan until 95 Nov and I am a gulf war veteran. I contributed to the Montgomery GI Bill, I am a full time student and I want to use my benefits but have been out of the military for more than the ten year mark. I have been told that there is special conditions in which you can still receive benefits after the ten year mark. Can you please help me with this? — Jeff

Jeff, the VA rarely issues GI Bill extensions, however, they will under three conditions. If you:

served at least 90 days of active duty since the discharge on record,
were prevented from going to school by injuries or health problems, or
were detained by a foreign government or power.

If you claim the first one, provide a copy of your orders ordering you to active duty or a copy of your DD214 releasing you from active duty.

If you are claiming the second one, send the VA as much information as possible about the condition that kept you from training, specifically telling them:

the type of disability or illness;

the exact beginning and ending dates (mm-dd-yyyy) of the period during which you couldn’t go to school or attend training because of your disability;

the reason(s) you were unable to begin or continue a training program;

the type of each job you held during the period of your disability;

the name and address of each employer, and the beginning and ending dates and the weekly hours of each job.

Also, it is very important that you send them a statement from the doctor who treated you. The doctor should tell the VA:

his or her diagnosis and treatment;

how long you’ve had the disability or illness;

the exact beginning and ending dates (mm-dd-yyyy) of the period during which your disability prevented you from training or going to school.

also send any other medical evidence you have, such as hospital reports or laboratory test results relating to your condition.

If you are claiming the last situation, then you should send any paperwork you have documenting your detainment and release.

If you qualify, send your package to the VA Regional Office servicing your State or area.

As you can see, this is a complex process and for good reason. The VA will only extend the GI Bill delimiting date to those who can specifically document they warrant an extension and weed out those who don’t.

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March 11th, 2010 by - Jeffery Anderson

I Heard I May Be Eligible for Another 12 Months of GI Bill Benefits, Is That True?

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I used all 36 months of my Montgomery GI Bill benefits going to school to get my undergraduate degree. A co-worker is telling me even though I used my 36 months of benefits, under the new Post 9/11 Bill I am still eligible to collect benefits for 12 more months. I can’t seem to find any information to support his claims. I do meet the eligibility requirements for the Post 9/11 Bill, but do I still qualify for any more assistance since I have already used 36 months of benefits under the MGIB? I am considering going to get a graduate degree, and this would be extremely helpful if this were true. Thank you for your time, Richard

Hi Richard, What your co-worker told you is correct. Service members who qualified for the Montgomery GI Bill and also the Post 9/11 GI Bill are eligible to receive up to a total of 48 months of benefits from the two GI Bill programs. That means that if you are eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill, then you do indeed have another 12 months of education benefits that you may use. Go to the VONAPP website, and register for the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and you should receive a Certificate of Eligibility if you are eligible for the benefits.

Take that Certificate to the Registrar’s office at the graduate school you plan on attending, and they should fill out the paperwork, and submit it to the VA. If you pick a school that is a member of the Yellow Ribbon Program, and the school selects you for the program, you may have most or all of your graduate school tuition covered for 12 months.

The Post 9/11 GI Bill is different than the Montgomery GI Bill, the tuition will be sent directly to the school, and you will receive a check for any housing or book allowances you may be eligible for.

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