Veterans Education Benefits
The following fact sheet provides a quick reference to answer the questions you may have about Senator Webb’s Post 9/11 GI Bill.
New GI Bill Overview - from www.military.com
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many veterans are there on your colleges campuses at present?
- Do you expect that number to increase as a result of the new GI bill?
- What are the biggest problems or challenges veterans face at your institutions?
- How will you deal with these situations?
Q: How many veterans are there on your colleges campuses at present?
A: The number changes constantly, but in 2007, we know that there were about 700 veterans and dependents using VA benefits at our campuses. That was just about 60% of the number for the entire state.
Q: Do you expect that number to increase as a result of the new GI bill?
A: Yes, we think it could increase significantly. Surveys show that enlistees cite college education benefits as the number one reason for enlisting, and a recent Congressional Budget Office report predicted a 16% increase in overall recruitment levels because of the new GI Bill. That all points to increasing numbers of veterans at our state institutions.
Q: What are the biggest problems or challenges veterans face at your institutions?
A: Every situation is different, depending on the individual. But, in general, veterans face issues along the lines of the following:
- frustration at getting shuffled from office to office to complete their paperwork and have it filed correctly with the VA office.
- flexibility on financial issues (Most benefit payments are not received by an institution until well after the veteran enrolls because it takes months for the VA to certify eligibility. That means veterans have to find a way to pay tuition and fees out of their own pockets and then wait to be reimbursed. For some veterans, it is a significant barrier to enrollment.)
- problems bridging the campus and military cultures whether those involve differing views on Iraq or Afghanistan conflicts and socioeconomic differences between some veteran students and their classmates. There is also in some cases, a complete naivete about the types of experiences a veteran may have endured. For example, you may have a 25 yr. old veteran sitting in class next to an 18 yr. old freshman asking questions like, "Hey, did you ever have to kill anybody?" when the veteran has seen horrible examples of pain and suffering.
Q: How will you deal with these situations?
A: Well, the paperwork issue is something that can be addressed through proper training of the people we put on the front lines. That is an increasingly difficult situation for us as money is tight and retirements have thinned our ranks considerable, taking some institutional and procedural knowledge with it. But we are doing our best to work through that.
We're also doing what we can to support student veteran clubs and organizations on campus. It is important for student veterans to have a place to go and others to talk to who have shared their experiences and who understand what they may be dealing with emotionally. So peer support groups are something we definite need to encourage support as best we can.
Page last updated: Monday, May 18, 2009
