| I don't like to play the victim. However, occasionally I have a situation that is a perfect example of something being done wrong (see my work on transition woes). Such is the case with the Post-9/11 GI Bill. We worked hard here at VoteVets and VetVoice to push this bill through, and with the help of some motivated elected officials on the Hill, we accomplished that mission. I remember still the day of the Senate vote when the e-mail traffic started to spike, and we were all excited and felt we had done something important, not only for ourselves, but for all Veterans and those currently serving.
When the final draft of the bill was signed, we were told the benefits would not be effective until August of this year. We would have preferred something earlier, but we were still ecstatic. So what if we had to spend a couple semesters on the old benefit? We could make it till the following fall semester to take advantage of benefits we'd never seen before, like living stipends and the Yellow Ribbon Program.
August has come and gone. Like I said, I don't like to play the victim. So, first, here is GI Kate's story:
I submitted my application (through VONAPP) for Post 9/11 benefits in May. I heard nothing for eight weeks. I figured everything was backed up and I had time before school started, so I decided to wait a few more weeks before calling. It's now the end of July and still nothing. I call and call and call...I get hung up on, "All operators are busy at this time." I picked up my phone at around six o'clock one night and was finally ablt to get through. A sweet southern voice was at the other end..."We just got your application two weeks ago." What? I told her I submitted my information in May, log onto VONAPP and look for yourself. She insisted I sent it in two weeks ago and seemed annoyed I was calling. It's now late August (August 27) and I get a letter in the mail..Congratulations you're entitled to receive 60% of the benefits payable under the Post 9/11 GI Bill program. Great! Now tell me why the hell when I go to verify my school attendance I can't and my benefit status is still REAP, Chapter 1607? Side note, it took the Department of VA a YEAR to give me my Chapter 1607 benefits. So thank you Dept. of VA, it now looks like I'll be turning tricks on campus for school supplies.
Of course, this isn't an isolated incident. I attend a state school full time. After two semesters here, with a 3.9 GPA to make up for my far less than stellar high school transcripts, I decided to apply for transfer admission at a larger private institution in Washington, DC. I was accepted to that school, and was really looking forward to attending for free, as the school is a participant in the Yellow Ribbon Program.
Except the school is only offering Yellow Ribbon benefits to four undergraduates, on a first come first serve basis. The financial aid office informed me of the time that the Yellow Ribbon application would be put online. On that date and time, I sat in front of my computer screen hitting refresh in my browser window again and again, until the link appeared. A month before classes were to start, I applied for the program. I waited and waited for a response. After a couple of weeks I called financial aid again. I was told that notifications of acceptance into the program would not be sent until a week before classes began. Great. A week to pack my shit, find a place to live, find affordable childcare in the DC-metro area for my two year old, and execute the move.
For all of those problems, the blame falls on the school. But what happened next, and continues to burden me today, is all on the VA. Not knowing if I'd be accepted into the Yellow Ribbon Program at the DC school, I went ahead and submitted my benefit paperwork at my state school, just to be safe. When I asked the VA representative how I would get my check for books, she informed me I'd receive it sometime in October, more than likely. I was confused. What about tuition and the living stipend? Oh, those would begin in October as well. So would the school allow me to attend classes while waiting for the VA to send them their money? No, I'd have to pay tuition up front, out of pocket.
I was quite disappointed. Not so much from all the out of pocket expenses, but the implications for my transfer to the DC school. My state school is cheap. Private schools in DC are not. I can max out my credit card to pay tuition and books here. I have no such option in Washington.
So, here its is September 16th, and as promised I have not seem one dime of my GI Bill benefits I was told would be available on the first of August. I took out loans to pay my tuition over the Summer, which was not covered in full by the Chapter 30 GI Bill, and some of Fall's tuition and books. Between loans, credit cards and working I'm covering my rent, full-time tuition, books, and providing for my daughter. I'm getting by.
The problem is, it was never supposed to work this way. The idea of an affordable education played a part in all of us making the decision to serve, I'm sure. We weren't supposed to rack up debt to attend college, because Uncle Sam would take care us in exchange for the sacrifice we gave him.
Because of the VAs complete ineptitude, this is not the case. The overwhelming majority of Vets, not just Kate and I, will have to find some alternate means to pay for their education until the VA can get their shit fixed:
The new education benefits program, in which tuition and fee payments go directly to institutions of higher learning while allowances for books and living expenses go directly to students, took effect Aug. 1. About 260,000 students have applied for payments, but tuition payments have been made for only about 12,000 eligible beneficiaries, while about 8,000 have received living stipends.
20,000 receiving some, not all, of their benefits out of 260,000 who have applied is clearly an Epic FAIL on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs. |
