Roger_Dooley

Up to $78 billion will be spent over 10 years. Many recent veterans can receive full tuition and fees for four years at a state university, not to mention a monthly housing stipend and a book allowance of up to $1,000 annually. Private colleges will be covered up to the cost of in-state tuition at a state university.

New GI Bill sending veterans to school this fall - Yahoo! News

1down, 1 to go

You know what -- they deserve it -- having put their lives on the line for the rest of us -- I don't begrudge them one dime.

Stuckinthesand

Thanks to senator Webb and the new GI Bill, I am able to attend Brown University.

MidwestMom2Kids_

This is great.

BigG

Time to find out who voted against this and make a campaign contribution to their opponet in the next election.

Compared to the Wall Street bailouts this is a minor expenditure. Who has done more for the U.S.; veterans or Wall Street?

coollege

^^^^
Seriously.

hyakku

I feel the same BigG, finally these guys are getting looked out for. I find it ridiculous we can bailout companies who cost an entire nation TRILLIONS, but can't send the men who are dying for us to college. Whether you agree with the war or not, the soldiers are serving dutifully (for the most part) and completely deserve this and in my opinion more.

JustAMomOf4

Fantastic! I am sure they are thrilled to have you.

Opponents were mostly Republicans.

newmassdad

It is interesting that the Bush administration was strongly opposed to this. Wny? Because they felt it would encourage troops to leave the military for college, among other reasons. Thank goodness congress saw the light.

As a veteran who used GI Bill for grad school years ago, my biggest beef with the new plan is that it is just not generous enough.

With the demographics of the military these days, these kids need financial help for college far more than my generation did. I sure hope this is enough.

One other note is how some private unis have been rather strong armed to "contribute" to vets education. I applaud those that stepped up to the plate, but thing it could have been handled much better than it was.

USMC0311

The new GI Bill is fantastic. There is no way I would have ever been able to go to an expensive school California's UC system without it. I dont even have to work anymore because the housing allowance is more than enough to cover my monthly expenses. Not to mention I have a college fund kicker that adds 850 dollars a month to my housing allowance. I go to UC San Diego for free (normally about 10,000 a year), books paid for, and a monthly housing allowance of 2870 a month. What else could one really ask for? I live better than most my friends, and I dont have to work. I just go to school. Yea!!!

BaghDAD

Ok folks, sorry to rain on your wonderful Jim "Jarhead" Webb, bash Bush lovefest, but the new GI Bill isn't nearly so good.

The reason Bush held it up was Transferability, something Webb didn't address. Without it, dear 0311 Marine who gets killed on the battlefield (good chance being 0311) could not have elected to transfer his GI Bill benefits to his child. As it is, you can only do it if you just are now enlisting and the service gives you the option. Yes, all the veterans of OEF/OIF who have seperated or retired get NO option to transfer GI bill to a dependent.

Yes, so as far as transferability goes, we give it to new troops, those who may not serve in OIF/OEF. These troops have the ability to take their GI Bill and give it to their spouses after four years, but the recently retired SNCO/CPO, the glue that kept the military going, well he/she can't give a dime to their kid. The same kid who suffered through Mom/Dad's deployments, wondering if they would see them alive again. Most retired senior enlisted go get a new job, pay a mortgage and deal with the bills...including their kid's college expenses. Why did Webb not worry about them in addition to using this as a recruiting tool for more 0311 Marines?

USMC 0311, congrats on getting into UCSD and thank you for your service, I think this bill really shafts the retired enlisted as much as it helps you.

USMC0311

Transferability of benefits is supposed to be like an incentive for enlisting or re-enlisting. That is why not everyone can do it. I cant transfer my benefits to my kids either. I do believe they should allow those who served until retirement to transfer their benefits to their children if even if they dont sign on for another tour.

The bill is not perfect but for most veterans the bill is ten times better than anything we have seen since WWII. I suppose the military views transferability as more of a bonus than a right.

BigG

Its a good bill and far better than what the Republicans provided.

Just because a bill is not all things to all people does not make it a bad bill or provide sufficient rationale for voting against it. Deficiencies can be fixed by later legislation.

Saying you are voting against a bill because it fails to address all concens is just a thinly veiled excuse for doing nothing ; the Republican "perfect world".

Arguments against a healthcare bill are running in the same vein; "we cannot act until we can achieve perfection" is just an excuse to maintain the status quo, again a Republican ideal.

This is not to say I am always against the status quo or any particular competent Republican. There are a lot of things about the U.S. that are very good. There are some areas that need work. The new GI bill addresses some of the areas that need improvement.

Now if we could open more medical schools and train some of the veterans as physicians we would really be improving our society!

jym626

Here are some additional links to the program that I posted in June. As Bagdad said the bniggest change is that it is transferrabl to family members (spouse/children). Thats pretty cool. Agree tht the transferrability is an incentive. The new "post 9/11 G.I. Bill" is transferrable to family members

Roger_Dooley

Let's keep politics out of this thread and focus on how veterans can take advantage of it.