{"id":28534,"date":"2017-08-17T22:13:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-18T02:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.cedsolutions.com\/?p=28534"},"modified":"2017-08-17T22:13:54","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T02:13:54","slug":"trump-signed-the-forever-gi-bill-here-are-11-things-you-should-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cedsolutions.com\/28534\/trump-signed-the-forever-gi-bill-here-are-11-things-you-should-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump signed the \u2018Forever GI Bill.\u2019 Here are 11 things you should know."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"President Trump has just put his signature on a new law that will bring significant changes to education benefits for service members, veterans and their families.\u00a0 The legislation known as the \u201cForever GI Bill\u201d garnered strong bipartisan support in Congress, passing unanimously in both the House<\/a> and Senate<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cToday our commitment to support and care for the men and women who have served our great nation has been reinforced with the signing of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017,\u201d Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., chair of the House Committee on Veterans\u2019 Affairs, said in a statement. \u201cThis legislation will enable veterans to use the education benefits they\u2019ve earned through the GI Bill when and how it suits them best, setting them up for future success in whatever career they pursue.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOur student veterans are some of the very best of this country,\u201d he added, \u201cand I\u2019m proud we can support them with this new law.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Here are 11 things you should know about the new GI Bill benefits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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1. There\u2019s no longer an expiration date.<\/b><\/p>\n

Previously, veterans had to use their Post-9\/11 GI Bill within 15 years of their last 90-day period of active-duty service. That requirement is going away.<\/a><\/p>\n

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This portion of the law will apply to anyone who left the military after January 1, 2013. It will also apply to spouses who are receiving education benefits through the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship for family members of service members who have been killed in the line of duty since Sept. 10, 2001.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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2. Purple Heart recipients will get more benefits.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The new GI Bill allows anyone who has received a Purple Heart on or after Sept. 11, 2001 to receive 100 percent of the benefits offered under the Post-9\/11 GI Bill, which includes coverage of tuition costs at a public school\u2019s in-state rate for 36 months and stipends for textbooks and housing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Previously, Purple Heart recipients were beholden to the same time-in-service qualifications for the GI Bill as other service members. This meant that Purple Heart recipients without a service-connected disability who did not reach 36 months of service were only eligible for a percentage of the benefits and not the full amount.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Aleks Morosky, national legislative director for Military Order of the Purple Heart, said there have been 52,598 Purple Heart recipients who were wounded in action during post-9\/11 conflicts, though it\u2019s unclear how many would immediately benefit from this provision. An estimated 660 Purple Heart recipients each year over the next 10 years will be able to take advantage of the increased benefits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe think that anybody who has shed blood for this country has met the service requirement by virtue of that fact,\u201d Morosky said. \u201cEverybody sacrifices, everybody puts themselves in harm\u2019s way, but Purple Heart recipients are certainly among the service members who have sacrificed the most.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This provision will go into effect in August 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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3. More people are eligible for Yellow Ribbon.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Yellow Ribbon Program is a voluntary agreement between schools and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to split school costs not covered by the GI Bill, reducing or eliminating the amount students must pay themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Forever GI Bill will expand eligibility for this program to surviving spouses or children of service members in August 2018 and active-duty service members in August 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Previously, only veterans eligible for GI Bill benefits at the 100 percent level or their dependents using transferred benefits were eligible for Yellow Ribbon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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4. There\u2019s some extra money \u2014 and time \u2014 for STEM degrees.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Some college degrees in science, technology, engineering and math fields take longer than four years to complete, which is why the new law authorizes an additional school year of GI Bill funds on a first-come, first-serve basis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Scholarships of up to $30,000 will be available for eligible GI Bill users starting in August 2018. Only veterans or surviving family members of deceased service members are eligible for this scholarship \u2014 not dependents using transferred benefits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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5. Vets hurt by school shutdowns will get benefits back.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A provision in the new GI Bill that will restore benefits to victims of school closures<\/a> has been a long-time coming for the staff at Student Veterans of America.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve been getting calls for several years now, beginning with the collapse of Corinthian (Colleges), from student veterans whose lives were put on hold,\u201d said Will Hubbard, vice president of government affairs for the nonprofit, which has more than 500,000 student members. \u201cEvery day we wasted until it passed was another day that they had to wait.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This provision will retroactively apply to GI Bill users whose schools have abruptly closed since January 2015, for credits earned at the shuttered institutions that did not transfer to new schools. This will include the thousands of veteran students who were attending the national for-profit chains Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute when they closed in 2015 and 2016, respectively. It would also provide a semester\u2019s worth of reimbursement for GI Bill users affected by future school closures, as well as up to four months of a housing stipend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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6. The VA will measure eligibility for benefits differently.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Starting August 2020, this bill changes the way the VA uses time in service to calculate eligibility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Previously, service members with at least 90 days but less than six months of active-duty service would be eligible for up to 40 percent of the full GI Bill benefits. Under new regulations, the same 90-days-to-six-month window is equal to 50 percent of benefits. Service members with at least six months and less than 18 months of service will be eligible for 60 percent of benefits.<\/p>\n

This change will tend to benefit reservists more due to the nature of their service, according to a spokeswoman for the Senate Committee on Veterans\u2019 Affairs.<\/p>\n

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7. Reservists can count more of their service toward eligibility.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Starting next August, members of the National Guard and Reserve will be able to count time spent receiving medical care or recovering from injuries received while on active duty toward their GI Bill eligibility. This will apply to all who have been activated since 9\/11.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Forever GI Bill also allows individuals who lost their Reserve Educational Assistance Program when the program ended in 2015 to credit their previous service toward their eligibility for the Post-9\/11 GI Bill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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8. Housing stipends will decrease slightly.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The government will pay for the expansions represented in the Forever GI Bill through a 1 percent decrease in housing stipends over the next five years. This will bring veterans\u2019 housing stipends on par with what active-duty service members receive at the E-5 with dependents rate. (Veterans on the GI Bill currently receive a slightly higher housing allowance rate than active-duty E-5s with dependents.) This change will take effect on Jan. 1, 2018 and will only apply to service members who enroll in GI Bill benefits after that date. No one currently receiving a housing stipend from the VA will see a reduction in benefits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cOn a month-to-month basis, they would never see less money,\u201d said SVA\u2019s Hubbard, explaining that the 1 percent reduction will come off of the total the VA would have spent over five years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Starting in August 2018, housing stipends previously calculated based on the ZIP code of a student\u2019s school will be based on where a student takes the most classes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Also in August 2018, reservists will continue to receive their monthly housing allowance under the GI Bill on a prorated rate for any month during which they are activated, preventing them from losing a whole month\u2019s worth of funds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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9. Benefits can get transferred after death.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A provision of the new GI Bill offers more flexibility with the transfer and distribution of benefits in case of death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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If a dependent who received transferred benefits dies before using all of the benefits, this provision gives the service member or veteran the ability to transfer remaining benefits to another dependent. This will go into effect August 2018 and apply to all deaths since 2009.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This provision also gives dependents of deceased service members the ability to make changes to their deceased loved one\u2019s transferred benefits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ashlynne Haycock, senior coordinator of education support services for the nonprofit Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, explains that currently, only a service member has the authority to make changes to the benefits they\u2019d like to transfer. So, if a service member dies after transferring 35 months of benefits to one child and one month of benefits to another, for example, the family would not be able to make future changes to the GI Bill\u2019s distribution among that service member\u2019s dependents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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10. Surviving family members will get more money, but less time.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Surviving spouses and children of service members who are receiving benefits through the Survivors\u2019 and Dependents\u2019 Educational Assistance Program will see their monthly education stipend increase by $200.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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There\u2019s a downside, however. Though the same program has previously provided 45 months of education benefits, that will decrease to 36 months in August 2018 to bring it in line with the provisions of the GI Bill.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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11. School certifying officials must be trained.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Individuals who certify veteran student enrollment at schools with more than 20 veteran students will be required to undergo training. Previously, training was not mandatory.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/education-transition\/education\/2017\/08\/16\/trump-signed-the-forever-gi-bill-here-are-11-things-you-should-know\/<\/p>\n

About Natalie Gross<\/a><\/p>\n

Natalie Gross covers higher education and employment for Military Times.<\/p>\n

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President Trump has just put his signature on a new law that will bring significant changes to education benefits for service members, veterans and their families.\u00a0 The legislation known as the \u201cForever GI Bill\u201d garnered strong bipartisan support in Congress, passing unanimously in both the House and Senate.\u00a0 \u201cToday our commitment to support and care […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[5,7,9,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cedsolutions.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}