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GI Bill Information: Ask the Expert BlogPosts Tagged ‘Education Benefits’
February 6th, 2012
by Ron Kness
by Ron Kness
I received an honorable discharge from USAF 3 July 1978. I went straight to work and never did use my GI Bill. I am 57 now and have been laid off. Do they make exceptions to the 10-year rule? – David
Generally not David unless you can prove you were:
- detained by a foreign power.
- recalled to active duty.
- unable to attend classes due to health, family, or job issues.
The last one is very hard to support and very few cases are approved.
However, there is a new program starting that you may qualify for. It is the Veterans Opportunity to Work Act of 2011. You must meet the first requirement by being between the ages of 35 and 60 and not have any active GI Bill benefits left. The other requirements are:
- having an honorable discharge from your last tour of duty in the Armed Forces.
- having been unemployed for a specified period of time yet to be determined by the Secretary of Labor, but first consideration will go to veterans who have been unemployed for at least 26 weeks or more.
- Not eligible for other types of veterans’ educational assistance, including:
o Montgomery GI Bill (Chapter 33)
o Vocational Rehabilitation Program (Chapter 31)
o Post 9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33)
o Survivor and Dependents Education Assistance Program (Chapter 35)
o Certifying your enrollment in the program monthly.
o Applying prior to October 1, 2013 (but we do not know what the application procedures are at this time. Once known, we will post them on this blog.)
Only 55,000 veterans will be able to participate in the retraining program between October 1, 2012 and March 31, 2014, so if you qualify, it will be imperative to apply early.
Your retraining must occur at a community college or vocational-technical school and must lead to an associate’s degree, certificate, license or other type of program completion documentation and be in an occupation designated as in high demand by the Secretary of Labor.
Keep watching this blog for more information on how to apply becomes available.
February 2nd, 2012
by Ron Kness
by Ron Kness
I’m eligible for the Post 9-11 GI Bill. The right to transfer to dependents was denied because I was not active duty as of Aug 1, 2009, I retired in 2006. There was talk of that (transfer requirement date) being changed to 9-11-01 but I have not heard any more on the subject. Has this changed or are my congressmen / women / Representatives telling stories about it being changed? – Billy
That sucks doesn’t it Billy. Thousands of veterans were caught in this quagmire and nobody on Capital Hill seems to be in any hurry to fix this last remaining Post 9/11 GI Bill wrong against veterans. Over the past couple of years, two different pieces of legislation have been drafted that would have allowed qualified veterans a one-time opportunity to make a transfer request. However not only did neither piece of legislation pass, they never even made it to a vote.
In the drafted legislation, they were going to push the transfer of benefits eligibility back to 10 December 2001 and it would run up to 31 July 2009. They could not go any further back because it takes a minimum of 90 days of service to become eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill; the 10 December date is 90 days from the original GI Bill eligibility date of 10 September 2001. The only bright light in the sky is a new petition that was started to fix the very thing you are talking about.
I don’t envision anything else on the horizon that would change on this issue unless someone lights a fire under their Legislator’s butt and it gets hot enough to spur some legislation. The only way that could happen would be for the veterans to unite under a common cause and sign/support the petition. I’ve been doing this for some time now and I have not seen that solidarity yet. Hopefully this can be the vehicle to make that happen. With enough support, maybe we can make this happen together.
January 27th, 2012
by Ron Kness
by Ron Kness
My son was discharged from the Navy after 3 years and 8 months of service (2007 – 2011). His discharge was classified as “other.” Is he eligible for any benefits of the GI Bill? Thank you for taking our question. – Sara
I can’t speak for all of the GI Bill benefits, because they are not my specialty, but as far education, he will not be able to use his 36 months of entitlement. But, the good news (if there is any) is he did not lose his benefits – he still has them, but can’t use them.
So, the next step he should consider is does he have enough justification to support a discharge upgrade request. The Board will automatically consider his discharge correct, so his job is to convince the Board it is not correct and provide evidence to support his upgrade request.
That is usually best left to a lawyer experienced in military discharge upgrade proceedings. If he wants to pursue an upgrade request, he has to start by submitting DD Form 293 to the Navy Discharge Review Board.
Just as a warning, it can take up to a year to hear back and there isn’t a guarantee that it will be upgraded, but it is the only avenue of appeal he has. Plus if he hires a lawyer to represent him, he will have to pay for that expense also, whether his upgrade is approved of not. I don’t want to discourage him, but for Army soldiers, only 41% of the requests are approved. I don’t have statistics for Navy personnel, but I don’t imagine they are much different.
January 23rd, 2012
by Ron Kness
by Ron Kness
Are my children eligible to use my GI Bill benefits if I am not using them? –Paul
It depends on which GI Bill you are talking about Paul. If you have the Montgomery GI Bill, then the answer is no, as that particular Bill does not have any transfer rights to it.
If you have the Post 9/11 GI Bill, and meet the two service requirements, then yes, you could make a transfer of any or all of your months of eligibility transfer to your children. To get a transfer request approved, you first have to have served for at least six years. The second service requirement is you also have to agree to serve another four years (which means you are still serving), unless you are within four years of being “retirement eligible” in which case the required additional time is less than four years. If you are already separated from the military, then you are not eligible to make a transfer request. The way Congress wrote the rules, you had to be serving “on or after August 1, 2009″ to transfer benefits.
To make a transfer request, go to the TEB website. Enter in the number of months you would like to transfer into the child’s record. After submitting, the Status Block will show “Pending Review.” Come back periodically and look for a status change to “Approved”
Once that happens, then the child has to submit VA Form 22-1990e from the eBenefits website to get his/her Certificate of Eligibility, which is needed when enrolling in school.
January 6th, 2012
by Ron Kness
by Ron Kness
I am currently on active duty but I am getting a honorable discharge because of a chapter 5-17 (other disability/mental disability) I have been in currently 20 months (including basic and AIT), so I am wondering does my chapter get considered as a medical chapter? If so will I get 100% of the GI Bill? If not what percentage am I eligible for? Thanks for your help! I can’t seem to get an answer from anyone on my issue. – Corey
Your discharge might be considered a medical discharge Corey, but that alone does not guarantee you will get the Post 9/11 GI Bill. The Medical and Physical Evaluation Board could rule your condition was pre-existing and that would not qualify you for the GI Bill. Or they could rule that your condition was caused by your service or that it was pre-existing, but aggravated by serving.
In the latter case (caused or aggravated), if they rule it is service-connected, then you would get the full 36 months of Post 9/1l GI Bill at 100% eligibility. I would think a Chapter 5-17 would not be considered service-connected, but that is for the medical and physical evaluation board to determine.
With 20 months of service and non service-connected, you most likely would get around 16 months of the Post 9/11 GI Bill. That is assuming you had four months of Basic Training and AIT ,which do not count toward Post 9/11 GI bill eligibility until after you have 24 months of service; then that time does count. Sixteen months would put you at the 60% tier for Post 9/11 GI Bill purposes.
It is possible the VA will rate your disability differently than your service branch, which could change things too.
January 3rd, 2012
by Ron Kness
by Ron Kness
Hello Mr. Kness, I searched through the previous blog posts but didn’t find an answer that quite pertains to my situation. I was on active-duty four years post 9/11 (Mar 2003-Mar 2007) and subsequently used the majority of my Montgomery GI Bill benefits for undergrad. I verified through the VA I still have 2 months and 17 days of benefits remaining. Now, I am looking to go to grad school part-time, and after speaking with several certifying reps, I understand I can receive benefits for the remaining 2 months and 17 days under the Montgomery GI Bill. Once they are exhausted, I can then apply for a 12 month extension and receive Post 9/11 benefits. Is the 12 month extension under Post 9/11 correct? Thank you so much for your expertise. — Tim
Yes Tim it is correct, but you have to do it as stated in this post to get the additional 12 months. If you don’t exhaust your Montgomery GI Bill benefits first, when you switch to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, you would only get the 2 months and 17 days that you had left under the old GI Bill. If you first exhaust your remaining 2 months and 17 days, then switch to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, you will then get the additional 12 months of benefits.
However,if you switch with time left under the MGIB, you will get a little bit of your MGIB $1,200 contribution back once you exhaust your 2 months and 17 days of benefits. If you first exhaust your MGIB and then switch to get the additional 12 months, then you don’t get any of your MGIB contribution back.
If you are going to grad school part-time, your remaining GI Bill benefits will last longer. If your school considered 12 credits as full-time and you are only taking 7 credits, then you will use up 7/12ths of a month of benefits for each month in school. So under this scenario, your 14 months and 17 days of combined benefits would last almost 25 months.
December 23rd, 2011
by Ron Kness
by Ron Kness
I am currently an active duty military officer grade O-2 and commissioned from the United States Military Academy in May of 2010. I plan to seek a Masters degree in business administration from one of the nation’s more prestigious institutions after my military commitment is complete which will be sometime in 2015. My question is what type of benefits would I receive if I were to be accepted into one of these institutions? And furthermore, specifically what amount and for what duration would I receive these benefits? – Carson
Well first Carson, you incurred a four-year obligation when you accepted your commission from the Military Academy. While under obligation, you are not acquiring Post 9/11 GI Bill eligibility, so when you get out in 2015, you will only have about one year of Post 9/11 GI Bill eligibility. So what does that mean? It means that while you will have 36 months of entitlements, the New GI Bill will only pay 50% of your tuition and eligible fees.
Now let’s take that difference one step farther. If your “more prestigious institution” is a public, the VA will pay 50% of the resident tuition rate. If you attend a private school, the VA will pay 50% of the $17,500 per year maximum. Regardless if your school is private or public, you will also get 50% of the housing allowance and 50% of the book stipend. And one more thing, because you are not at the 100% Post 9/11 GI Bill tier, you won’t qualify for the Yellow Ribbon Program either.
My recommendation would be to stay for an additional two years or out to 2017. Those two years will save you thousands of dollars because the extra service will put you at the 100% tier plus qualify you for the Yellow Ribbon Program.
December 21st, 2011
by Ron Kness
by Ron Kness
My husband transferred his Montgomery GI Bill to the Post 9/11 Bill then transferred it to me to use. During this process, I was encouraged by the VA office (and the university VA office) to register and begin classes as long as I was certifying my enrollment. Now, the VA is refusing to pay for almost $800 in tuition because I began classes before my VA approval date. Do I have grounds for a successful appeal? — Chelsea
Most likely not Chelsea and here is why – your Post 9/11 GI Bill entitlements had not been approved yet for the time period you were using them. In other words, you were trying to use something you didn’t yet have.
However, if you had used them after your approval date, but before you had received your Certificate of Eligibility (COE), then you could have requested reimbursement from the VA as they can go back one year. Do you see the difference? In the first situation you were trying to use transferred benefits you did not have. In the second situation you would have been using benefits you did have, but not certified to use yet.
I’m am surprised the VA Office encouraged you to register when you did not have an approval yet. I’m thinking they misunderstood you thinking you already had your approval and was waiting on your COE. However, if your VA Certifying Official at your school had did some checking, s/he would have seen that you had not been approved for benefits.
While unfortunate, I don’t think and appeal would be approved, but you can try if you want.
December 16th, 2011
by Ron Kness
by Ron Kness
My husband is being let go of the Navy under the ERB program and he will be taking advantage of the GI bill for school. Can you tell us how the program will work as far as pay is concerned? The college is a community college and it’s $36 per unit with most classes being 3 units. To be a full time student he has to have 3 classes a semester so that’s $324 per semester so how will he be paid? Is it a monthly thing, does he get maximum of payment allowance since he paid maximum into it? There’s so many questions flying around tonight and before he goes to speak to his career counselor he wanted to have a little inside info. He is currently serving in Afghanistan but being released June 30. Also I’ve been reading that BAH is also included so would that be on top of any monthly stipend he would get? College is in Ventura, Ca. Thanks so much for any info as it’s a scary time for us right now. He has 13 years of service in. – M
Hi M. I can answer most of your questions. First, it depends on which GI Bill he will use. It sounds like he paid into the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB), so let’s cover that one first. The MGIB pays a full-time student $1,473 per month for up to 36 months. Out of that amount, he has to pay tuition, fees, books and other education expenses. But under that GI Bill, that is all he gets.
If he would choose to use the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which did not require any monetary contribution, he would get 36 months of entitlement, but the pay structure is entirely different. The VA would pay his tuition and fees directly to his school and he would get a monthly housing stipend based on the number of credits he takes each semester and the zip code of his school. For Ventura, CA, that is $1,911 per month. He also would get a book stipend paid at the rate of $41.67 per credit up to $1,000 per year.
The other thing you should know is that if he transfers to the New GI Bill with all 36 months of MGIB benefits intact, he will get his $1,200 MGIB contribution back, once he exhaust those 36 months of benefits. It will come as part of his last housing allowance payment.
December 8th, 2011
by Ron Kness
by Ron Kness
I am currently using my Post 9/11 GI Bill to go to school. After I exhaust all the 9/11 GI Bill benefits, will I be able to receive anything from the regular MGIB? I entered service on Jan 9, 2003 and paid the $1200 for the MGIB. I got out November 29, 2009, and get 100% of the Post 9/11 GI Bill. I read that I will be entitled to a $1200 payment on the last payment of my BAH under the Post 9/11. I also read that I can receive 12 extra months of benefits because I paid into the original MBIB. Can you confirms this? Also, if in fact I could receive 12 extra months of benefits after exhausting my post 9/11 benefits, how would I go about applying for it? Thanks So Much – Jeremy
Well Jeremy, some of what you heard is true and some is not. So let’s sort out the truth from fiction.
When you switched from the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, you relinquished your rights to the MGIB, so the answer to your first question is no, once you exhaust your Post 9/11 GI Bill, there is nothing left in your MGIB to use (because you moved it all over to the Post 9/11 GI Bill).
As far as getting your $1,200 back, it is true. If you transfer all 36 months of your MGIB entitlement to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, you will get your $1,200 MGIB contribution back, included in your last housing allowance (not BAH) payment.
If you would have stayed with the MGIB, you would have been entitled to an extra 12 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits, but only after you have used up all of your MGIB benefits. Being you converted your MGIB benefits to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, then you don’t get the additional 12 months.
So it comes down to two things – your educational goal (using the additional 12 months to continue your schooling) or getting your $1,200 back (and not continuing your schooling). Because you have already switched to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, you will have to settle for getting your MGIB contribution back as once you switch, you cannot switch back.
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