Bush signs new GI Bill

President Bush signed a new GI Bill on Monday aimed at providing the full cost for college or job training for those who served after Sept. 11, 2001. The GI Bill will extend to activated reservists and National Guardsmen with benefits paid proportionally to the number of months in active duty.

Jacob Meeks, the president of the Student Veteran Association (SVA) at PSU, an organization recently responsible for helping to raise money for scholarships for veterans and a summer retreat for new association leadership, has spoken with both Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) about the GI Bill.

By holding round-table discussions with both senators and lobbying for the new GI Bill through the National Student Veteran Association, the PSU chapter is trying to help bring a voice to student veterans.

“It would give our members an easier way to go to college,” Meeks said in an interview before the bill passed.

The bill provides $63 billion extended over the next 10 years. The bill covers full in-state tuition and fees at a public university, a housing stipend and $1,000 annually for books. Veterans must serve three or more years to receive full benefits. Shorter enlistment times receive between 40 to 90 percent, and the benefits can be transferred to a service member’s spouse or children.

Shane Herman, a current student veteran at PSU, said in an e-mail, “Had this been [in] effect when I first started going to school, it would have helped out a lot. I probably wouldn’t have had to get so many student loans ($20,000-plus) and it would have covered my whole education.”

Originally known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, the World War II-era GI Bill that passed in 1944, covered tuition, fees and books, and gave veterans a stipend while earning their education.

Current educational benefits accessible to veterans are far lower than the original GI Bill. According to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Web site, troops receive just under $40,000 toward their education under the original bill, covering 60 to 70 percent of the average cost of four years at a public college or university, or less than two years at a private college.

All veterans pay a nonrefundable contribution to their benefits while many do not come to see any benefits because of delays in processing veteran information. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs Education Services Division Web site, veterans have contributed about $230 million to the national treasury through contributions of $1,200 per veteran, some receiving nothing in return.

Daniel Standbridge is a student veteran concerned about where the funds to support veteran benefits will be coming from. Currently, Standbridge is able to cover all of his financial needs via the GI Bill, however, he is concerned that the increasing benefits of the bill will require more money to keep the benefits coming.

“If you increase the benefits, you require more money to make it work and more people will undoubtedly utilize it. This could lead to some problems in the future,” Standbridge said. “If we have enough money to make this program work properly, it would greatly help all veterans who have given themselves to maintain and protect that which we know and love about America.”

With a strong fellowship of the SVA at PSU, the impact on veterans is a key contributor to their education. “In my opinion, if the country goes to war it should be something we’re all a part of,” Meeks said. “If we’re not going to do that we should provided the proper incentives and proper means for people to better themselves afterwards, which is what this GI Bill does. It also says that you’re not a throwaway person by providing for their education.”

-Additional information obtained from the Associated Press