GI Bill travel allowance aimed at rural veterans p1 - GI Bill Benefits - Tuition Assistance for the Military - Military Times EDGE

A $500 travel allowance for veterans in rural areas included in the Post-9/11 GI Bill could end up helping people in 23 states, according to new data from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The one-time reimbursement would be paid to people in highly rural areas — defined as having seven or fewer people per square mile — who must travel 500 miles or more to attend college, or who can get to school only by air because no roads are available.

VA officials said some Alaska veterans as well as veterans in many Western states, Maine and even upstate New York could qualify.

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a decorated World War II veteran who served on the Senate Appropriations Committee before losing his 2008 re-election bid, said he asked for the travel benefit to be included in the Post-9/11 GI Bill because he didn’t want distance to prevent a veteran from using benefits.

“It was necessary to take into account the extra difficulties rural veterans face in taking that first step, literally, toward furthering their education,” Stevens said in a statement.

The Office of Rural Health, an arm of the Veterans Health Administration that is working on programs to provide health care and other benefits to veterans who live far from VA facilities, reports that 1.5 percent of veterans in the VA system live in highly rural counties.

This includes regions where one might expect rural areas, but also some highly populated states. A VA list of states with some highly rural counties includes Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Maine, Montana, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The $500 travel assistance will not take effect until Aug. 1, the same time as the other improvements in veterans’ education benefits.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill of Rights is part of Public Law 110-252. The travel allowance is created by Section 3318 of the law.

Under the provision, the travel benefit will be paid to a veteran otherwise eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill who lives in a highly rural area, based on the most recent national census, who physically relocates to use the benefits. Distance learning or correspondence courses taken from a faraway school would not be enough to qualify.

Under the provision of law creating the benefit, the $500 would be a one-time flat payment from VA, not linked to reimbursement of actual expenses, as long as the person relocated at least 500 miles or had to travel by air. VA will set rules on how veterans can prove they live in a rural area covered by the benefit.