When Do I Get My GI Bill Benefits?

Actually, both are true. The GI Bill pays you each month that you are enrolled in qualifying courses. If you are using the older Montgomery GI Bill, the whole amount goes to you. If you are using the new Post 9/11 GI Bill, you get the housing stipend each month (and a book stipend once a term), while the tuition and fees are paid directly to the college.

However, it can take some time these days to get your GI Bill payments started. The VA has a large back-log of applications that they have to work through; they keep a running report on how they are progressing on their GI Bill site. This is one of the reasons that they offered an advance payment in fall of 2009 to students who had begun school and hadn’t yet received their GI Bill payments. If you fall into a situation like this, I recommend that you contact the VA and see if you qualify for and advance.

Once your benefits payments start, they should keep coming smoothly.