Veteran students Archives

Military Connection: Bill to Help GI Bill Vets: By Debbie Gregory

October 24, 2014/in Archived Blogs

With the influx of Veteran students on college campuses, many institutions of higher education have established a centralized location where GI bill students can have all of their academic needs met. Legislation currently making its way through the House would implement an incentive for all schools to create and maintain Veteran centers on their campuses.

The Veteran Education Empowerment Act, H.R. 5589, is a bipartisan bill that directs the Secretary of Education to create a system that awards four-year grants to colleges and universities that establish and maintain a center for their GI Bill students. In order to be eligible for the grants, the institutions would need to have a population of 15,000 students, with at least 1% of the population being Veteran students, active-duty military or military dependents. Further eligibility would require the schools be located in areas with significant Veteran populations, implementing programs that assist Veterans in the local community, and having a sustainability plan which demonstrates the schools’ plan for maintaining the center, even after the grant is expended.

H.R. 5589 defines a “Veteran Student Center” as a dedicated space that provides these students with a lounge or meeting place, or a centralized office that is staffed by trained employees that is dedicated to serving Veterans on campus. To meet the criteria for grant eligibility, the Veteran Education Empowerment act will require these centers to provide GI Bill students with the tools to succeed at school, transition into student life, and eventually, the civilian workforce. They are also required to assist their students with obtaining federal and state Veterans benefits, as well as networking with other students.

According to the American Council on Education, which represents over 1,700 colleges and universities, providing a dedicated space to serve Veterans on campus is critical to a school’s efforts to provide for Veteran students. The problem is that many schools find it difficult to fund such a resource. Grants that would be provided by the Veteran Education Empowerment Act would allow more schools to provide this invaluable resource to its Veteran student population.

H.R. 5589 is supported by many Veterans service organizations, Veteran advocates and educators, including The American Council on Education, the American Legion, Association of the United States Navy, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the National Guard Association of the United States, the Student Veterans of America (SVA) and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

The Veteran Education Empowerment Act was introduced in the House on September 18^th, and is currently in the hands of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Please contact your representative and urge them to support H.R. 5589 the Veteran Education Empowerment Act.

Military Connection proudly serves those who serve in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve, Veterans and their Families. We are the go to site for Veteran Employment and information on Veteran education. Militaryconnection.com provides Veterans with and Directory of Employers, a Job Board, information on the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and a blog that offers Veterans boundless information. Be sure to visit Militaryconnection.com, the go to site.

Military Connection: Bill to Help GI Bill Vets: By Debbie Gregory

Military Connection: Winning the GI Bill Invasion: By Joe Silva

September 19, 2014/in Education, GI Bill, Military Veteran, Veteran Schools, Veterans Benefits

Colleges and universities: be on the lookout…more than a million Veterans are flooding campuses nationwide. And even more Veterans are on the way. How can you prepare?

According to the Student Veterans of America (SVA), more than 1.2 million Veterans have gone back to school using the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The SVA also claims that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has issued $43.1 billion in Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to Veterans. Those numbers are set to continue to climb as more Iraq and Afghanistan-era service members separate from the military at a rate of around 250,000 each year.

I, myself, am a college graduate by way of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and can speak firsthand of the increasing presence of Veterans on campuses throughout the U.S. This should drive home the point that schools wanting the VA’s tuition money need to step up their efforts to accommodate the needs of military Veterans.

Most colleges have made major progress in providing for Veteran students since 2008. Now, almost three-quarters of them have at least one member of their staff specifically dedicated to assisting Veterans. But there is always more that can be done to provide for military Veteran students.

Many schools have created a common gathering space for their Veteran students. Veteran Resource Centers, Veterans Affairs offices, lounges and study areas are becoming more and more common. Make sure that your school’s space is known to your Veterans, while still encouraging them to mingle with the rest of the student population. Interacting with other students contributes to a well-rounded education through the exchange of knowledge.

Along the same line, many schools with large Veteran populations have introduced events, forums and even courses that focus on inclusion, and allow these students to field questions about the military from their classmates. Many Veterans won’t openly share with strangers what they have experienced, but if asked, they are happy to answer.

One final thing that schools can do for Veteran students is hire Veterans. With more than one million Veterans who have returned to college, there is a growing number of Veterans with degrees. The nation’s academic institutions can assist all students, especially Veteran students, by tapping in to this talent pool. From staffing administration offices and Veteran Resource offices, to tutoring centers and even classroom instructors, hiring qualified Veterans should be a top priority.

By showing Veterans that your school is dedicated to helping them succeed in their mission to earn a college degree, administrators can guarantee the continued enrollment of GI Bill students.

Military Connection proudly serves those who serve in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard &amp,amp, Reserve, Veterans and their Families. We are the go to site for Veteran Employment and information on Veteran education. Militaryconnection.com provides Veterans with and Directory of Employers, a Job Board, information on the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and a blog that offers Veterans boundless information. Be sure to visit Militaryconnection.com, the go to site.

Military Connection: Winning the GI Bill Invasion: By Joe Silva

Military Connection: Better Way to Research GI Bill: By Debbie Gregory

September 1, 2014/in Archived Blogs

On Thursday August 28, 2014, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced the launch of an upgraded version of the GI Bill^® Comparison Tool.

Since its initial release in February if this year, the GI Bill Comparison Tool has been making it easier for Veterans, service members, and military dependents to estimate their GI Bill education benefits and learn more about their prospective school. The tool has provided key information about the school and its tuition prices, as well as data on graduation&amp, borrowing rates for individual colleges and universities. The information provided by the GI Bill Comparison Tool helps Veterans choose the best education program to meet their needs and available benefit.

The VA estimates that over the past 6 months nearly 350,000 people have utilized the tool on VA’s GI Bill website.

The upgraded version of the GI Bill Comparison Tool provides the same wealth of information, but with added data. Along with the information already provided by the original tool, the new version is equipped with a more comprehensive benefits calculator.

The new GI Bill Comparison Tool now offers Veterans the ability to click on an option that says, “How much am I going to get?” after typing in their eligibility information and the name of their school of interest. This new option offers a complete breakdown of cost. It shows how much your education benefit will pay you per month (specific to the school’s zip code), how much book stipend a student can expect to receive, and the total of what is “paid to you” for the year.

The new option goes even further by calculating the school’s tuition &amp, fees cost and comparing the cost against your benefit, ultimately providing Veterans with the “out of pocket cost” that they would have to pay, if they attended the school with their benefit.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill will pay the entire tuition cost of a state school’s in-state tuition, or up to $20,235. Once that tuition cost is exceeded at a private college or out-of-state school, the rest of the tuition comes out of the Veteran student’s pocket. Knowing the information that the upgraded GI Bill Comparison Tool provides could save individual Veteran college students thousands of dollars each year.

Military Connection proudly serves those who serve in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve, Veterans and their Families. We are the go to site for Veteran Employment and information on Veteran education. Militaryconnection.com provides Veterans with and Directory of Employers, a Job Board, information on the Post-9/11 GI Bill, and a blog that offers Veterans boundless information. Be sure to visit Militaryconnection.com, the go to site.