Misinformation clouds new GI Bill

Misinformation clouds new GI Bill

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jul 7, 2008 18:10:15 EDT

Full-tuition educational benefits included in a new veterans’ program signed into law on June 30 will not take effect until Aug. 1, 2009, unless Congress approves a change in the new law.

There will be a 20 percent increase, effective this Aug. 1, in Montgomery GI Bill benefits for active-duty veterans and veterans who have served two or more years of active duty, raising the maximum benefit to $1,321 for a full-time student who has three or more years of active service, under terms of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008.

Full tuition benefits, plus stipends for living expenses and books, will not take effect under the law until Aug. 1, 2009, despite earlier claims by aides to the bill’s chief sponsor that those payments would be retroactive to when the bill is signed.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Jim Webb, D.Va., chief sponsor of the new benefits package, said the fact that the benefits are not retroactive came as a surprise; the final bill passed by Congress omitted crucial paragraphs of Webb’s legislation.
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