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How Long Do I Have to Apply for My 12 Months of Post 9/11 GI Bill Benefits?

August 24th, 2010
by Jeffery Anderson
Hi, I honorably served six years on active duty and have been separated for two years.  I am about to exhaust my Chapter 30 and know that I can receive another 12 months afterwards.  My question is: do I still qualify for the BAH payment even though I married an active military member within the past 12 months?  ( I am not asking about transferring service from him to me, only my own eligibility for being a prior service member).  Also, do I have to transfer to the Post 9/11 GI Bill within a certain time frame, like one day before the Chapter 30 runs out or immediately thereafter? Thank you, Rita

Hi Rita, I’m afraid you are not going to be eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill housing allowance while your spouse is on active duty.  I realize that you are using your own benefits that were earned by your service, but the VA only pays BAH to military families that are not already receiving BAH from the military.  Your spouse should already be receiving BAH, so they are not going to pay it twice.  The good news is that you are eligible for the Yellow Ribbon Program while using your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits, and that can be a big help with your tuition.

You have 15 years from the time you left active duty to use your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits so you don’t have to apply for them right away.  In fact, you might want to wait until your spouse leaves the military if it is going to happen in the next several years.

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Posted in Housing Stipend, Montgomery G I Bill, New GI Bill, Veterans Education Benefits, Yellow Ribbon Program | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “How Long Do I Have to Apply for My 12 Months of Post 9/11 GI Bill Benefits?”

  1. alan says:
    March 7, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    Yes Rita, You will receive the monthly Housing Allowance. The Department of VA will base your payments off of your Active Duty service and will not know nor will they care that you are married to an Active Duty Service Member.

    This is because the Department of VA does not pay BAH for the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Only Department of Defense pays BAH under Federal Law – no other Federal Agency is authorized to pay BAH. The Dept. of VA pays a monthly Housing Allowance based on the rate of BAH for E5 with dependents not BAH.

  2. alan says:
    March 7, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    Forgot to answer the original question Rita, Sorry. You should wait until the semester AFTER you have exhausted your MGIB Chapter 30 benefits. The reason is that if you start a semester with even one day of benefits remaining under MGIB, the Dept of VA will pay you benefits for the entire semester. If you apply prior to exhausting your MGIB, you will not receive the UP TO an additional 12 months under the Post 9/11 GI Bill. I have seen people at my IHL apply with 3 days remaining MGIB benefits and because they applied too soon, they were only given 3 days of benefits under Post 9/11 GI Bill. So please EXHAUST all of your MGIB benefits before you apply for Post 9/11 GI bill.

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