Student Vets Yet to Receive Benefits from GI Bill

By: Tim Hanrahan
Posted In: News

With the academic school year already well underway, many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have yet to receive benefits under the new Post 9/11 GI Bill.

Under the previous GI Bill, the Montgomery GI Bill, veterans were paid a reimbursement for student loans. The Post 9/11 GI Bill is an improvement of the older bill as the Department of Veteran Affairs pays the highest cost of instate tuition to the veteran’s school. The new benefit also provides veterans with up to $1,000 a year for books and a living stipend for food and rent. While switching from the older GI Bill to the new benefit is not mandatory, many veterans have decided to opt for the more generous Post 9/11 GI Bill.

But for veterans who have made the switch to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, many have yet to receive any benefits under the new program that went into effect in September 2009.

“I was previously drawing benefits from the Montgomery GI Bill. I received my certification late June, and turned it in to my school VA rep the first week of July,” said Justin Mullins, 24, a former Marine and Iraq War veteran of Wichita, Kan. “I still have not received a dime.”

Many veterans do not have a financial safety net other than their VA benefits. People like Mullins rely on these benefits just to survive.

“I have been unable to pay my insurance, rent, or gas and I had to borrow money from my brother, Mullins said. “I have been eating cereal and ramen noodles purchased using change I find wherever.”

“If I continue to not receive payments, I will likely be evicted and have my insurance canceled, not to mention the damage caused to my credit, because I will be unable to pay my auto loan or my credit card bill,” Mullins said.

According to the VA Web site, there has been an emergency fund set up for those veterans who have not received their payments on time. The Education Benefit Advance Payment is supposed to pay veterans up to $3,000 for any late payments. The VA Web site says that the payments will be made within three working days in the form of a check issued by the U.S. Treasury and will be sent through the U.S. Postal Service. Veterans can apply for the advance payment online or in person at any regional VA office. Checks will be issued immediately for those who apply in person.

Despite the new emergency fund, Travis Hunter, 27, also a former Marine, of Lubbock, Texas, remains skeptical.

“It’s hard to be optimistic at all when it comes to the government paying anyone, but I try to think positive,” Hunter said.

And there is a question of whether or not the VA could have seen the delays in payments coming.

“I think it’s ridiculous that its taking this long when they knew there would be a massive influx of applications for new benefits and for those individuals switching to the new GI Bill,” Hunter said.

However, the VA may not be the main culprit behind the late payments.

Paul Reichkoff, executive director and founder of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, posted an op-ed on the IAVA Website on Oct. 1, 2009, stating that Congress has failed to pass budget for the VA on time for “19 out of the last 22 years.”

Congress has yet to approve of a budget for the VA and according to Reichkoff, the budget is a part of the solution for veterans receiving their benefits.

Nevertheless, some veterans feel marginalized because of lack of public attention and an over exposure of other issues in the media.

“There are larger issues out there most of society is focused on, for example the current recession, health care, violence world wide, et cetera,” Mullins said. “Veterans’ education benefits affect a much smaller group of people.”

Today, many veterans rely on non-profit organizations for help when dealing with the government, “Right now our biggest advocate is the IAVA,” Hunter said. “They seem to be trying really hard to do a lot of good, but the average citizen does not know about veterans’ affairs, and possibly doesn’t care.”