House panel approves expanding GI Bill eligibility p1 - GI Bill Benefits - Tuition Assistance for the Military - Military Times EDGE

Distance learning students could draw Post-9/11 GI Bill living stipends and people who retired as far back as 2001 could share their education benefits with their family members under bills approved March 4 by a House subcommittee.

The legislation also would expand opportunities to use the new program for vocational training.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., who chairs the House Veterans' Affairs Committee's economic opportunity panel that approved the education bills, said she cannot promise all of the proposals will become law.

Many hurdles are in their way, like how to pay for added benefits and how to resolve disagreements about some of the details.

Still, she said the approval of six education-related bills is an important step because it moves the legislation forward to the full veterans' committee. It also signals to Veterans Affairs and Defense Department officials - and to the veterans and academic groups pushing for change - which proposals have congressional support.

Eventually, she expects GI Bill-related legislation will be bundled into a single package.

The two most significant bills involve living stipends and transfer rights, both areas in which lawmakers are trying to provide benefits to people who felt left out when the Post-9/11 GI Bill took effect last year.

Living stipends, linked to local housing costs, are a key benefit, but students enrolled only in distance learning classes are ineligible. That would change under

HR 950, a bill sponsored by Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the veterans' committee chairman.

Under the version of the bill passed by the subcommittee, those enrolled in distance learning institutions as more than half-time students would be eligible for a monthly living stipend based on the basic housing allowance in the ZIP code where they lived when they applied for enrollment.

Living stipends for distance learning would not take effect until Feb. 1 to prevent the change from interfering with the December launch of a program to electronically process GI Bill claims.

The transfer rights bill,

HR 3577, sponsored by Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-Texas, would allow people who retired between Dec. 9, 2001, and August 1, 2009, with 20 or more years of service to have the same right to share Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits with family members as those who were still on active duty when the program took effect.