Post-9/11 GI Bill: The Truth About Transferring Benefits and the Housing Allowance

Since the launch of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, lots of misinformation and speculation about transferring benefits and the new housing allowance is causing confusion amongst veterans. These two features of the New GI Bill come with a little fine print, of course, but here is a breakdown of the basics:

Transferring Benefits

• To transfer education benefits, the servicemember must:
  • Have been on active duty on or after August 1, 2009
  • Served at least six years
  • Agreed to serve an additional four years
• Any, or all, education benefits may be transferred to a spouse, a dependent child or both
• While on active duty, the servicemember may transfer to a new dependent. Once retired, the veteran may not add new dependents; however, he/she still retains the right to revoke from, and reassign to, existing transfer recipients
• A spouse has 15 years from the date of his or her spouse’s discharge to use transferred benefits
• A dependent child may start using his/her education benefits at age 18, or upon receiving a high school diploma. Benefits expire when the dependent turns 26

Housing Allowance

• A housing allowance is not paid to less-than-half-time students or those taking only online classes
• The housing allowance is calculated on the E-5-with-dependents rate for the zip code of the school
• Spouses will not receive a housing allowance or book stipend while the servicemember is still on active duty
• A dependent child will receive both the housing allowance and book stipend regardless of whether or not the sponsor is still serving

While additional rules exist, the above information covers the main points of confusion many veterans seem to be experiencing. Those who have additional questions should considering submitting them to the GIBill.com experts to be answered on our Ask the Expert Blog.

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