Why Do I Have Less than 36 Months of GI Bill Benefits?

I can’t tell you a lot about the manner in which the VA charged your GI Bill account for your OJT course, although I will wish you luck with your appeal. However, I can tell you why you seem to have fewer than 36 months of GI Bill benefits under the new Post 9/11 GI Bill. While the two programs are separate GI Bills, they are limited by each other. If you have used any of the Montgomery GI Bill, then the months of benefits for which you are eligible under the new GI Bill is equal to your months of benefits remaining under the Montgomery GI Bill.

However, if you have completely exhausted all 36 months of your Montgomery GI Bill benefits, then this changes. In that case, you can still get another 12 months of benefits under the new Post 9/11 GI Bill. Under no conditions can you get more than 48 months of benefits total from combined VA educational assistance programs.

If you plan to transfer your GI Bill benefits to your dependents, remember that you need to do so before you leave the service, and that you may be required to agree to serve up to 4 years more to make the transfer, as per the rules for Transfer of Educational Benefits under the new GI Bill.