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Obama: New GI Bill renews commitment to troops

  • Published
  • By Gerry J. Gilmore
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  President Barack Obama today saluted the implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill Aug. 4 during a ceremony at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

Signed into law June 20, 2008, the new GI Bill is a Department of Veteran Affairs-sponsored program that provides the most comprehensive educational benefit package for veterans since the original GI Bill, the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was authorized toward the end of World War II.

Today's new GI Bill was implemented "to renew our commitment to ensure that the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America get the opportunities that they have earned," President Obama said.

President Obama observed that his grandfather, who served under Army Gen. George S. Patton during World War II, was a beneficiary of the original 1944 to 1956 GI Bill, which helped to produce a strong post-war economy, as well as the largest middle class in U.S. history. By 1947, President Obama noted, half of all Americans enrolled in colleges were military veterans.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill is just as important as the original, President Obama said, as it also recognizes servicemembers for their wartime service and represents "an investment in our own country."

The president said the new program will provide today's veterans "the skills and training they need to fill the jobs of tomorrow."

"Education is the currency that can purchase success in the 21st century," the president said, "and this is the opportunity that our troops have earned."

With the Post-9/11 GI Bill, qualified active-duty and selected Reserve servicemembers who have served after Sept. 10, 2001, are eligible for 36 months of state-school educational benefits, the equivalent of four nine-month academic years. Benefits include tuition and fees that are paid directly to the school, a monthly living allowance paid to the participant, and a books and supplies stipend paid to the individual.

As of Aug. 1, qualified career servicemembers have the option to transfer benefits to their spouses or children. Most servicemembers who have at least six years of military service and are in the armed forces on or after Aug. 1 and agree to serve an additional four years qualify to transfer their benefits.

"We are including the family members who have sacrificed so much by allowing the transfer of unused benefits to family members," President Obama said. "And we are including those who pay the ultimate price by making this benefit available to the children of those who lost their life in service to their country."

Eric K. Shinseki, the Veterans Affairs secretary, who also spoke at the ceremony, exhorted Post-9/11 GI Bill participants to "make it count. Make it count for all of us. Make it count for our country."

Mr. Shinseki observed that more than 1,100 private educational institutions have elected to participate in the supplemental Yellow Ribbon Program that permits eligible servicemembers and veterans to attend private colleges and universities whose costs exceed the highest in-state rates at public undergraduate institutions.

Under the Yellow Ribbon Program, VA officials "will match whatever is contributed by those private colleges and universities, up to 50 percent of those total costs," Mr. Shinseki said. "We are grateful that so many schools have joined this effort and we thank them for their support of our veterans."

Former Marine Staff Sgt. James Miller, an Iraqi war veteran who introduced President Obama at the ceremony, is taking Mr. Shinseki's advice. Mr. Miller has enrolled as a full-time student at George Mason University under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. He is pursuing a bachelor's degree in business communications.

"Thanks to the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the young veterans of the wars in the Middle East are united here," Mr. Miller said. "We have come to gain new skills and to learn new subjects. We are here to pursue educational goals that will prepare us for success in our professional careers."

Below is the process to transfer GI Bill benefits to a family member:

1. Using your CAC card or DFAS pin, log on to the DoD Transferability of Education Benefits Web page located at https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/TEB/.  

2. The family members eligible for benefits under DEERS will be shown. (If a dependent's name is grayed out or the edit button does not work, it means that the member is not eligible for DEERS benefits and thus is not eligible to receive transferred benefits.)

3. Click the edit button for each family member you want to transfer benefits to. Choose the start date and end date, and number of months of benefit. (Spouses can use for 15 years after the member separates/retires; children can use until their 26th birthday)

4. Once you've added your family members, check all the boxes to indicate you've read and understand each statement on the transfer request page.

5. After you have submitted your request to transfer benefits, in the upper left corner of the TEB site, you will see your name, status submitted, and the date of status will be blank.

6. To track the status of your request, you will have to return to the TEB page and monitor the status.

7. After a request is approved, the status of your request will change to 'approved' and the date of status (approval) will be the date you submitted your request. The TEB site will automatically transfer the data to the VA, so that they can process a family member's request for a certificate of eligibility.

8. Once your request is approved, your family member has to submit a request for a certificate of eligibility to the VA. They should use VA Form 22-1990e, and can do so via the VA Web site: http://vabenefits.vba.va.gov/vonapp/main.asp.  

9. After receiving the certificate of eligibility from the VA, family members will provide the certificate to the school.

10. Tuition funds will be sent direct from the VA to the school. Children using transferred benefits will receive the monthly living stipend and the books and supplies stipend. Spouses using transferred benefits will only receive the monthly living stipend and the books and supplies stipend if they use the benefits after you separate from active duty.