The GI Bill decision p1 - GI Bill Benefits - Tuition Assistance for the Military - Military Times EDGE

By now, a year after it went into effect, you probably know the benefits of the Post-9/11 GI Bill by heart: full tuition and fees (up to a cap), book stipend, living allowance, matching funds for private schools, transfer privileges for some.

But as with most good things, there is a catch. Once you decide to enroll in the new program, also known as the Chapter 33 GI Bill for the section of law that covers it, there’s no going back. And as generous as the new GI Bill is, it’s not for everyone. Depending on how long you served, where you live, what you’d like to study and how settled your education plans are, you might not want to sign up — at least not right away.

The GI Bill is a complicated law, and whether to enroll can be a complicated decision. You need to research your options thoroughly with authoritative information from the Veterans Affairs Department. But it’s not a bad idea to talk to other veterans to get a sense of how abstract rules play out in individual situations. To get you started, here’s a look at four veterans, and why they chose the benefits they did.

The (almost) $105K oversight

Brandon Bodnár thought he had covered all his bases when researching which GI Bill would best suit his needs. But an oversight nearly cost him $105,000 in benefits.

The former Air Force staff sergeant, 27, joined the military in 2002. With an eye toward a college degree, Bodnár elected to buy into the Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty (also known as the Chapter 30 GI Bill) and contributed an additional $600 in the Buy-up Program to receive larger monthly benefits.

After separating from the service in 2006, Bodnár began using his Montgomery GI Bill benefits toward a computer science degree from Iowa State University.

Then along came the Post-9/11 GI Bill. When it went into effect last Aug. 1, Bodnár had less than four months of Montgomery GI Bill benefits remaining. He did the math and calculated that he’d receive about $7,100 for three months of the new GI Bill, compared to about $4,500 for three months under the Montgomery version. So he filled out the forms to switch.

It didn’t take him long to realize he had made a mistake.

“About five minutes after I submitted [the forms], I read that anyone who had used up all of his [Montgomery] benefits could get an extra year of benefits” under the Post-9/11 program, Bodnár said.

Making the change before his Montgomery benefits ran out meant he would receive only three months of Post-9/11 benefits instead of 12 months.

Talk about sinking feelings.

“I called up VA immediately and begged and pleaded my case,” Bodnár said.

VA officials told Bodnár to fax them a letter requesting that his application for Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits not be processed, allowing him to undo the damage, he said.

Bodnár went on to use his remaining months of Montgomery benefits, and funded his last semester with subsidized loans and a job. He graduated with his bachelor’s from Iowa State in May, and now he’s headed off to Cornell University Law School with 12 months of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits still in the bank. The school’s participation in VA’s Yellow Ribbon Program means that nearly half of his $210,000 law school tab will be paid for.

And, Bodnár points out, the new GI Bill saves him from taking out — and paying interest on — $100,000 in loans for the first half of law school.

“I almost made a $105,000 mistake by not doing enough research before making my choice,” Bodnár said. “Ever since then, every time I talk to somebody, I explain to them about the extra year.”

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By the numbers: Brandon Bodnár

Paid: Montgomery GI Bill Buy-Up Program: $1,800

Used: 36 months of Chapter 30 benefits: $48,600 ($1,350/month on average)

Remaining: 12 months of Chapter 33 benefits: $70,000

• Tuition: $50,000

• Fees: $3,500

• Housing allowance (for Ithaca, N.Y.): $15,000

• Books: $1,500

• Yellow Ribbon Program: $30,000 (School: $15,000; VA: $15,000)

Lesson learned: You can get 12 additional months of Post-9/11 benefits if you use up your Montgomery benefits completely. If you switch to the Post-9/11 GI Bill from other education benefit programs, such as the Reserve Education Assistance program, also known as Chapter 1607, you can get up to 48 months of benefits total, but no more than 36 months in any one program.

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Sticking with Chapter 30

Former Marine Sgt. Keith Bogdanovich did his homework with regard to the Post-9/11 GI Bill — and what he learned convinced him to stick with his Montgomery GI Bill benefits.

“I live in Illinois, so the tuition is 100 percent paid by the Illinois Veterans Grant [Program],” said Bogdanovich, 27, a criminal justice major at Illinois State University.

IVG is a state entitlement that pays tuition and some fees for the equivalent of four full-time academic years to eligible veterans who attend public colleges or community colleges, according to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission.

Veterans can combine state benefits such as IVG with the Montgomery GI Bill, which pays its benefits directly to them, but not with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which pays tuition directly to the school.

Because his tuition is covered, Bogdanovich looked into the new GI Bill — for which he is 100 percent eligible — only to see if the Basic Allowance for Housing offered was greater than the $1,321 a month he receives from his Montgomery GI Bill benefits. It wasn’t.

“The BAH on the new GI Bill for Central Illinois is really low —around $900 or $1,000,” he said.

Bogdanovich had thought about using the new GI Bill now and saving his IVG money for a graduate degree, but the difference in BAH payments convinced him to stick with Montgomery — at least for now. As Brandon Bodnár could tell him, he can still switch to the Post-9/11 program once he’s maxed out the Montgomery GI Bill to receive 12 additional months of benefits.

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By the numbers: Keith Bogdanovich

Paid: $1,200

Used: 12 months of Chapter 30 benefits: $16,416

Remaining:

• 24 months of Chapter 30 benefits: $32,832

• 12 months of Chapter 33 benefits (if he switches after exhausting Chapter 30)

Lesson learned: Connecticut, Montana, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Florida also give tuition waivers to certain veterans. Eligibility and rules vary by state.

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31, 33 or 1607?

Perhaps few student veterans know the different education benefits better — and are eligible for more of them — than Brian Hawthorne. The Army Reserve staff sergeant is legislative director of Student Veterans of America, a position that has made him an expert on the GI Bills and other options.

Hawthorne, who deployed twice to Iraq after enlisting in 2003, was eligible for three programs: the Reserve Education Assistance Program (Chapter 1607), the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment VetSuccess Program (Chapter 31) and the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

The VetSuccess program assists veterans with service-connected disabilities to prepare for, find and keep jobs. Hawthorne said this option had its appeal — but was not without drawbacks.

The vocational program “takes a long time to get into,” Hawthorne said. “It is a thorough program that may ultimately result in more benefits, but they want a lot of information upfront. It takes a lot more time to set up, even if you get approved for it.”

So he was using Chapter 1607, or REAP, toward his bachelor’s degree in geography at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., when the Post-9/11 GI Bill took effect.

For Hawthorne, the real advantage of switching to the Post-9/11 GI Bill was not tuition. D.C. has one of the lowest tuition and fees caps in the country, and he couldn’t receive one of GWU’s Yellow Ribbon scholarships, worth $36,000 a year, because he is not eligible for 100 percent benefits.

In the end, it came down to the housing allowance.

The Post-9/11 program “was going to be more generous with that than the others,” Hawthorne said. In fact, he got more every month from the new GI Bill just for housing — $1,500 — than he received from REAP.

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By the numbers: Brian Hawthorne

Used:

• 12 months of Chapter 1607 benefits: $9,400 ($800/month)

• 9 months of Chapter 33 benefits at 80 percent: $21,520

-- Tuition: $7,020

-- Housing allowance: $13,500 (for Washington, D.C.)

-- Books: $1,000

Remaining: About 16 months of Chapter 33 benefits at 80 percent level

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‘It afforded me a quality of life’

Former Marine Cpl. Milton Barrera, 33, has switched education benefits more than once since enlisting in the Reserve in 1999.

Barrera began using Montgomery GI Bill-Selected Reserve (Chapter 1606) benefits almost immediately at Montgomery College, Md. But he put his education on hold when he joined the Active Reserve in October 2001, logging long hours as a helicopter mechanic.

Barrera’s stint in the Active Reserve made him eligible for Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty benefits at the completion of his service in February 2006. Although he used some of those benefits to take classes at University of Maryland University College after leaving uniform, Barrera said it was a “no-brainer” to switch to the Post-9/11 GI Bill when it came out.

As it was for Hawthorne, the living stipend was the all-important factor. At an inexpensive two-year school like Montgomery College, tuition for a 15-credit semester for area residents is about $2,500 — significantly less than four months of Montgomery GI Bill payments, which would come to $5,472. But, living in suburban Washington, D.C., Barrera receives a housing allowance of about $1,900 a month with the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

“Did I want to go back to … work and going to school at night, [with] weekends tied up studying, having no life?” Barrera said. By essentially paying him to go to school, the Post-9/11 GI Bill “afforded me a quality of life,” he said.

He returned to Montgomery College last fall and earned an associate of science in business administration in May. He is now applying to transfer schools.

“I can get my education done in the traditional timeline, as opposed to going part time at night,” he said. “This is my job. I have no excuse not to get excellent grades. I put in at least eight hours a day. It would be a wasted resource if I didn’t approach it that way.”

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By the numbers: Milton Barrera

Used:

• A few months of Chapter 1606 benefits

• A few months of Chapter 30 benefits

• 9 months of Chapter 33 benefits: $21,600

-- Tuition: $3,500

-- Fees: $860

-- Housing allowance: $17,100 (Montgomery County, Md.)

-- Books: $1,000

Remaining: 18 months of Chapter 33 benefits