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The Department of Veterans Affairs is preparing to implement a new GI Bill Aug. 1, 2009. This new GI Bill, officially named the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, is a new educational benefit program designed to assist individuals who have served on active duty on or after Sept. 11, 2001.
The bill is available to any individual who has served a minimum of 90 days on active duty after Sept. 10, 2001. Several other factors also determine eligibility:
if an individual is still on active duty;
Has been honorably discharged from active duty;
Has been released from active duty and placed on the retired list or the temporary disability retired list;
Has been released from active duty and transferred to the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve;
Has been released from active duty for continued service in a reserve component of the Armed Forces.
Any individual who has been honorably discharged from active duty for a service-connected disability and who has met the 90-day minimum service requirement after Sept. 10, 2001 is also eligible to receive benefits from the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
The amount an individual who qualifies to benefit from the bill may receive is based on the length of active duty service. For example, if an individual has served at least 90 days of continual active duty, then that individual is entitled to 40 percent of the maximum benefit.
Benefits of the bill include the cost of tuition and fees, and are paid directly to the school of choice.
Other benefits covered by the new bill extend to a monthly housing allowance, a yearly stipend of books and supplies of up to $1,000 per year, which are both paid directly to the individual, as well as a one-time payment of $500 available to certain individuals relocating from highly rural areas.
Another important feature of the new bill is that it gives members of the military, if an individual is a member by Aug. 1, 2009, an opportunity to transfer benefits to spouses and children. No official policy has been issued concerning the transfer of benefits, but the Department of Defense plans to issue a policy in the months to come.
C. COLT CRANE
Arbiter Journalist
