Veterans

By Jon Oberg

Congress deserves ample credit for approving a significant expansion in the GI Bill education benefits that veterans can use to pay for college. But as a veteran myself, I fear that the benefits are being oversold. Take a recent statement about the GI Bill made by a representative of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America: "It made going to school your full-time job. You worry about getting into school and you worry about getting as many degrees as you can but the government will worry about paying for it."

Fellow veterans: don't count on it. Although billions more will be spent annually in your name, you may not get as much help as you think. A lot of the money will disappear before you see it.

I used data from the most recent student aid databases (the 2004 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study) to see how veterans fared at four-year public and private colleges, as compared to other undergraduates. The results confirmed my suspicions that despite the government's help, most veterans have been stuck with large amounts of student loan debt and received little in the way of institutional financial aid (the country's largest source of grants) from the colleges themselves.

In short, many colleges have treated veterans as an afterthought. Some institutions have clearly used veterans' GI benefits to replace institutional aid dollar-for-dollar, and shifted the money they saved into merit aid for the kind of high-achieving students that improve their rankings. In such situations there has been no remedy for veterans, as the federal government has largely looked the other way. Many veterans have gotten the message and lowered their educational ambitions.

By Robert Mackey

In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the “Servicemen’s Readjustment Act,” what would be commonly called the “GI Bill.” It was a model of success, educating future presidents, Nobel Prize winners, writers, poets, musicians, and teachers, as well as a generation of mechanics, farmers, and technicians. By the time it expired in 1956, it had changed the face of American higher education and boosted a generation into the middle class.

On June 30, President Bush signed into law the newest version of the GI Bill, legislation that promised to reward the service of the men and women who have worn the uniform since September 11, 2001. This measure, which would significantly expand higher education benefits for veterans, has won bipartisan acclaim, with only a slight ripple from those concerned that the recipients of said governmental largesse will flee from the military in droves, cash in hand, ready to actually go to college.

These critics need not worry because, despite the hype, this bill is not really a new version of the World War II bill at all, but in many ways a repackaged enlistment benefit meant to tie the individual servicemember to the military for decades before full privileges are earned.

The original GI Bill was simply a reward for service. It was intended to ensure that troops coming back from World War II were able to get an education, move into the middle class, and contribute to the system, in stark contrast to how veterans had been treated since the American Revolution (a small "separation" pay if you were lucky, your likely ragged uniform and out the door). Most importantly, the original bill was not tied to future service—you didn’t enlist to gain the benefits; your past service was the only deciding factor. And the actual amount of money involved could be substantial: full tuition, books, room and board were covered until 1952, when an amendment to the act changed it to a simple stipend ($110 a month, the equivalent of about $900 in 2007).

Compromise Reached on Major Expansion of G.I. Benefits

Bill Would Prevent Lender Discrimination

New SAT Little Better than the Old One

Looming Showdown Over G.I. Benefits

College Board Selling Data on Needy Students to Help Schools Diversify

First-Generation College Students Face Graduation Gap

If you've seen an action film this summer, odds are you've also seen a slick advertisement touting the benefits of joining the Army or Marines-including help paying for college. You won't hear the word "Iraq," and as the Washington Post reported last week, it…

Note: This post pre-dates Higher Ed Watch's shift to a new publishing system. For the complete original post, including any comments, please click here.