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If I Transfer My GI Bill Benefits to My Children, Will They Receive Enough to Attend College For 4 Years?

March 8th, 2010
by Jeffery Anderson
I have been on active duty in the U.S. Navy since 2001, and deployed to Afghanistan for a year.  I have two children.  I am wondering if 4 years of tuition will be covered for both children, if I transfer my Post 9/11 GI Bill to them.  Lt H.

Hi Lt H., You can become eligible to transfer all 36 months of your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to your children.  If you divide them equally, each child would receive 18 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits.  They will have the ability to combine those benefits with benefits provided by the Yellow Ribbon Program, if they attend schools which are participating in the Yellow Ribbon Program.  That could give them a lot of tuition assistance for 18 months of college, but will not be enough for a 4 year college degree program.

However, as children of a Navy veteran, they will have access to other education benefits programs.  Some states offer education benefits to the children of veterans, you can find out more at your state’s Department of Veterans Affairs.  In addition, the Navy/Marine Corps Relief Society has grants and scholarships available to eligible children of Navy veterans.  And don’t forget about ROTC scholarships, which can pay for up to 4 years of a participant’s college expenses.

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Posted in New GI Bill, Veterans Education Benefits, Yellow Ribbon Program | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “If I Transfer My GI Bill Benefits to My Children, Will They Receive Enough to Attend College For 4 Years?”

  1. Tim says:
    March 8, 2010 at 3:39 pm

    I retired active duty in 2006. Under this New GI Bill can I transfer my education benefits to my dependent children? I am have a 40% disability rating and am currently using some of the GI Bill benefits in the VOC REHAB program. If not, are there any other programs I can use for my kids’ educations? Thanks

  2. Jeffery Anderson says:
    March 8, 2010 at 7:30 pm

    Hi Tim, You are not going to be able to transfer your GI Bill benefits to your dependent children. The transfer provision was added in August 2009, and only service members who were on active duty then, or have come onto active duty since then, are eligible for the provision. I don’t believe your 40% disability will qualify your children for any DEA benefits, either. You might want to think about ROTC scholarships, they pay for just about everything. Your state’s Department of Veterans Affairs may have some education programs for dependent children of veterans, and the relief society that supports the branch of the military you were in may have some grants and scholarships your children could qualify for. I have links to these organizations in some of my blog posts.

  3. Suzanne Toole says:
    November 2, 2010 at 3:46 pm

    I if transferred my benefits to my two children (18 months each) under the post 9/11 and am now elibigle for VOC REHAB, will I use up my VA 48 months of benefits and ‘dip into’ each of my children’s 18 months? The VA 1-800 number reps tell me I only have 48 months total, no matter what VA chapter benefits I utilize and when the 48 months are gone, they are gone. Doesn’t matter if they were utilized by me for VOC Rehab, my kids used 36 months for education benefits or a combination. The key is total of 48 months total. Could you please clarify? Voc Rehab counselor says I have 48 months and the kids have 36 months by the National VA # that I called to see how many months the VA system database has for me says it is everyone utilizing benefits under me for a total of 48 only. HELP. This is a huge decision as to who uses the months of benefits. Thank you.

  4. Jeffery Anderson says:
    November 3, 2010 at 8:18 am

    Hi Suzanne, What you are being told by the VA reps is correct; you have a total of 48 months of GI Bill education benefits between all the programs and Chapter 35 VOC REHAB is considered to be an education benefit. If you use 36 months of Chapter 35 benefits, then you should have 12 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits that you can transfer to your children. There was some confusion as to how Chapter 35 was being classified and I’ve talked to a number of veterans who used VOC REHAB benefits thinking they would have 36 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to use at a later date and that turned out to not be the case.

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