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Can I Use My Father’s GI Bill Benefits to Pay Off My Student Loans?

March 25th, 2010
by Ron Kness
Sir, My father was enlisted active duty for 25 years before going through the Army’s Physician Assistant School last year. He is now commissioned and in PA OBC. I am a few months from graduating from Law School. I am an ROTC graduate about to start serving my first term of active duty service but used my own Army Reserve GI Bill in undergrad. I received $10,000 in GI Bill Benefits when I enlisted in the Reserves in 2002. My only active duty time was for Basic and AIT. My parents asked me to find out if there is anyway we could use all of his unused GI Bill and apply it to my outstanding student loan debt. He won’t need it anymore because he went through the Army’s School and got a Master’s from it and they paid for it all.I would appreciate any help or guidance you can provide. Thank you. — Justin

For some odd reason Justin, I’m starting to get this question a lot lately and I’m not sure why. Anyway, the short answer is no.

To get the Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP), you have to sign up for it when you enlist or re-enlist.  When you do so, you incur a three-year service obligation. At the end of three years, you can then start accumulating service time to qualify for the GI Bill. When you have SLRP, you can’t have the GI Bill and when you have the GI Bill, you can’t have SLRP.

The only way you could use your father’s GI Bill benefit to pay off your student loans would be for your father to go back to school and use his monthly GI Bill pay and apply that money to your student loans.

A couple more options to keep watch for down the road (and they are kinda of long shots) is if you get a Student Loan Repayment Program offer as a re-enlistment incentive, or if you get a re-enlistment bonus and then apply that money to your student loans.

If those offers come about, it won’t be for awhile as you incurred either a three-year or six-year service obligation of your own when you graduated from ROTC. The obligation depends on how much money they paid you while you were in the ROTC program.

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Posted in Veterans Education Benefits | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Can I Use My Father’s GI Bill Benefits to Pay Off My Student Loans?”

  1. Phillip Craig says:
    May 9, 2010 at 8:27 pm

    Hi Sir,
    My Father left me when I was about 6 mnths old and stopped paying child support when I turned 18. I am currently enrolled in college and I am wondering if there is any way that I can access and use my fathers GI bill without his consent? If so, what steps do I have to take to get it underway? He is still living from my knowledge but we have never been in contact. I am his first Son.

  2. Ron Kness says:
    May 11, 2010 at 10:47 am

    No, your father would have to transfer education benefits to you if he has the Post 9/11 GI Bill. If he has the older Montgomery GI Bill, there is nothing to transfer.

  3. nastia liukin says:
    October 4, 2010 at 11:14 pm

    Brilliant paragraph,gratitude besieged putting that together! “This really is openly one wondrous column. Merit for your worthy information as well as insights you have so provided here. Keep it up!”

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