Before recessing for the summer, the U.S. Congress passed a new GI Bill, which was then signed by President Donald Trump, extending benefits to veterans and permitting more time to use them.
Daniel Hackley, the veterans certifying official for Registration and Records, says that the new bill is very similar to the old one.
“So it’s not really a new GI Bill or anything like that,” Hackley said. “Really what it has done is just added some things to the current law that is in place for veterans using GI benefits. They’ve made about 15 to 20 changes, but basically making ─ for the most part ─ making the GI Bill more usable for student[s] and dependents.”
According to Nick Drake, the director of Military and Veteran Services, about a third of all veterans and dependents are covered under the GI Bill.
“For the purpose of our area of Military and Veteran Services we’re kind of the umbrella for all things related to our military-affiliated students, and that includes the veteran who served or their spouse or dependents,” Drake said. “So, under this office there’s somewhere between seven and eight hundred specifically on the GI Bill.”
Justin Rigdon, former NC State student, Mathews Medal recipient and infantry team leader in the U.S. Marines with the Second Battalion, Ninth Marines, says he is eager for the implementation of the new bill.
“I was very excited for the veterans who will receive the new GI Bill,” Rigdon said. “Previously, there’s been a lot of issues with people running out of time. You see, the old version had a strict 48 months of usage only clause, and could only be used for 10-15 years after separation. So, people would get in trouble, especially those in STEM where it’s expected you may take more than four years to get your degree. This new version corrects these problems and should really help all new veterans to get a higher education.”
For new military enlistees, the bill removes the 15-year cap on when recipients can use their benefits, with the intent of providing more flexibility and opportunities for veterans to learn novel skills later in life.
It also expands benefits for reservists, Purple Heart recipients and dependents, which Hackley believes important.
“I think that the biggest thing is to also include dependents,” Hackley said. “This really affects both the veterans and the dependents. If you are a service member you have the option at a certain point in service to transfer benefits [to] dependents, and here at NC State about half of our benefit users are actual dependents.”
Drake also believes the transferable part of the bill is beneficial, especially to dependents.
“If they have children, or young children that would miss maybe that window or they still haven’t had children yet and are actively serving, being able to transfer that over or use it later down the road is going to be very helpful,” Drake said. “We’ve seen that in some cases, some of our older veterans, that benefit has sort of come and went. Now they don’t have to worry about that.”
While Hackley believes these changes are positive for veterans and dependents, he adds that they will not be affecting any current students.
“Basically they’re going to be already completing their degree program and will mostly exhaust their benefits while here at NC State,” Hackley said.
The GI Bill, or the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, was originally written to provide benefits to World War II veterans and ease the process of assimilating back into society.
In 2010, Congress passed the Post- 9/11 GI Bill as an education benefit program to those who served on active duty after Sept. 10, 2001. Recipients receive a tuition and fee payment that is paid to their university on their behalf, and are allotted a monthly housing allowance based on the location of their classes.
While the GI Bill makes the transition back into society more feasible, Rigdon does think there are inherent negative aspects of the bill.
“It is not retroactive, so no one who was separated before the date has any access to this new program,” Rigdon said. “The old-timers whose benefits are about to run out? Well, they are still going to run out. But it isn’t necessarily about them, it’s about leaving things better for the next generation.”
Many of the provisions of the bill will take effect Jan. 1. Others will start in August 2018, including the Yellow Ribbon Program, an initiative enabling veterans to attend private schools with costs surpassing the state tuition cap, with more being implemented in the following years.
“I think it will really be a boom to current and future NC State student veterans, especially those pursuing STEM as many of ours are,” Rigdon said. “Hopefully in the long run, it will encourage more veterans overall to attend college and use the benefits they earned through labor and service.”
