VA Struggling With Post-9/11 GI Bill Program

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs has encountered numerous hurdles in implementing the Post-9/11 GI Bill program, says a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Inadequate information systems, staffing, and program guidance hindered the processing of program benefits. In particular, the GAO reported that “some schools told us that a lack of critical program information, such as information about students' eligibility levels and how payments were determined, affected their ability to timely and accurately process program benefits.”

With mistakes such as emergency payments to ineligible recipients, VA has been forced to pay increased overtime to staff members to deal with the claims and divert some of them from processing other types of benefit claims.

Although VA has met “some” of its performance goals for processing Post-9/11 GI Bill claims and responding to Education Call Center inquiries, there are still delays during peak processing times, the report says. And while VA “has met its accuracy targets for education benefit claims, the amount of improper payments for education benefits has significantly increased” – in part, officials say, because the new program pays out more than other VA education benefits, and some of the payments (such as tuition and fees) are paid before courses have been completed.

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