Veterans Facing Long Waits to Receive Post 9-11 GI Bill Payments
The GI Bill that was proposed after 9/11 was finally signed last year and put into law this past August. The Bill basically allows for veterans to get free money for college, and it’s a well-deserved benefit that they’ve earned for serving our country. The problem, however, is that there is a huge backlog of veterans waiting to receive their GI bill payments to pay for school.
Of the estimated 275,000 veterans who have applied for the GI Bill assistance this year, 82,000 of them have actually enrolled in college and of those, 52,000 have actually received the financial assistance. The problem has been the lack of resources available to the Department of Veterans Affairs who has the job of processing all of the applications. And since this is the first year the new GI Bill has actually been put into law, there are going to be a few bugs that need to be worked out in order for the application process to run much more smoothly and efficiently. That being said, the Depart of Veteran Affairs is doing its best to keep up with the demand by processing approximately 3,000 applications per day (as of 11/11/2009) according to their website.
Because of the delays in receiving financial assistance, some veterans are being forced to take out student loans to supplement the ever-increasing cost of attending college. There is an alternative to taking out student loans for veterans waiting on their GI Bill financial assistance. You can go to a VA regional office and walk out with a check to $3,000 per visit as sort of a deferred payment for covering the costs of tuition, books, housing and other materials until you receive your full financial aid package.
There are also other financial aid options out there available to veterans that you can find at the VA website. Some of the programs that would be covered include: job training, cosmetology license, flight schools, apprenticeships, C++ certification, attorney license and much more. It’s worth taking a look at the many federal programs out there that are aimed at providing tuition-free education to veterans.
Happy Veteran’s Day everyone!
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