Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 7 (September)
Changes Proposed to Post-9/11 GI Bill
Proposed changes to the Post-9/11 GI Bill would improve military readiness, Robert E. Clark, assistant director for accessions policy in the office of the defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness, said in his testimony before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
In discussing the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Improvement Act of 2010 and how it would affect the Department of Defense, Clark emphasized that education benefits are crucial to military recruiting and retention efforts.
One of the more notable options in the bill is transferability, which was approved in the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Improvement Act of 2008 and took effect in June 2008. Servicemembers who have served on active duty or in the selected reserve on or after August 1, 2009, have the option to transfer their education benefits to family members. Panel members are debating the option for the 2010 bill. Some argue that transferability should not be available for every servicemember, because of budget constraints. They say the option should be reserved for specific military specialties that are difficult to fill.
“We had concerns about the generous benefit being more of a draw for firstterm members to leave [the military] in order to use this benefit,” Clark said. “[But] we were very pleased to see the transferability ... to share this benefit that [servicemembers] have earned with their family members. We did not believe this benefit for family members was to be limited to any specific targeting. We believe that every soldier, sailor, airmen and Marine who chooses to stay should have the same opportunity to share their earned benefits with their family members.”
Other proposed changes include new rules for entitlement, modifications of the amount and types of assistant covered, methods of education payment and transferring unused benefits.
The proposed bill would enhance provisions of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, as well as make improvements in other Veterans Affairs Department education programs, said Keith M. Wilson, director of education service for VA.
The proposed bill also clarifies eligibility for reserve component troops. Troops activated for training and other purposes in support of reserve component forces or in support of contingency operations qualify for the bill benefits, according to Wilson. In addition, full-time citizen servicemembers and members activated for national emergency responses are eligible.
Wilson also pointed out that individuals released from active duty for medical or hardship conditions must be released under honorable conditions. “The amendments regarding qualifying Title 10 service and extending coverage to Guard members ... would be consistent with qualifying active service under the Montgomery GI Bill and the Reserve Educational Assistance Program,” he explained. “The proposed amendment clarifying that certain service must result in an honorable discharge is similar to the honorable discharge requirements applicable to other covered individuals.”
As far as tuition payment under the proposed bill, VA would pay fees based on charges reported by the institution, including out-of-state tuition. For foreign or private institutions, VA would pay fees according to statistics obtained from the Department of Education. The figures used would be of the “average of established charges at all institutions in the U.S. for a baccalaureate degree for the most recent year,” noted Wilson.
Meanwhile, he said, the housing stipend will be calculated based on attendance in school. This means, for example, students enrolled in 50 percent of a full course load will receive 50 percent of the stipend. Also, housing stipends under the proposed 2010 bill will expand to vocational schools, correspondence training, on-the-job training and apprenticeships and flight schools. Stipends are based on the area’s housing allowance rates for an E-5 with dependents, Wilson explained.
He went on to point out that VA supports streamlining the tuition and fee benefits for students attending public institutions and establishing a maximum payment cap for private school students.
“The manner in which institutions assess charges varies widely from state to state and from school to school,” he said. “VA also does not object to expansion of the program to permit payment for vocational, flight, correspondence ... subject to Congress identifying appropriate [cost savings].”
Additional amendments in the proposed bill include the types of methods VA uses to pay various institutions and training facilities. Although VA supports the intent to improve the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the department does not support some of these provisions, Wilson clarified.
These provisions would “severely hamper” payment methods, he said, as the bill’s amendments would take effect as if the 2008 bill never existed. VA proposes to postpone “significant changes” to the law until August 2011 to ensure the improvements do not have a negative impact on service delivery, he explained.
Since the inception of the 2008 legislation, VA has awarded nearly $4 billion to more than 295,000 veterans and their education institutions.
State College Systems Welcome Federal Assistance
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that would provide $16.1-billion in additional Medicaid assistance. While that money will not directly benefit colleges, it will help plug states’ budget gaps and avert cuts to other areas, including education. More than half of state legislatures have already approved budgets, assuming Congress would come through with the aid.
The federal assistance comes as a relief to state college systems, many of which would have suffered substantial cuts if the money had fallen through. California is expected to receive between $1.2 billion and $1.8 billion under the bill. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a speech in June that the money was “critical to preventing deeper pain and deeper job losses” in the state. “If Congress fails to extend the full amount of Medicaid payments for states, we will have no other choice than to make even more drastic cuts,” cautioned Schwarzenegger.
According to Rebecca M. Wyke, vice chancellor for finance and administration for the University of Maine system, Maine’s public universities were facing an $8.4 million cut if the bill failed. That would have come on top of an $8 million reduction in state appropriations since the 2008 fiscal year. Since October 2007, the system has shed 300 jobs, about 6 percent of its work force.
Wyke said colleges were relieved about the funding. “We know it’s probably not the end of the troubles we’ll have to face, but we’re all very thankful Congress has come through with this,” she said.
In Pennsylvania, state leaders had warned that they would ask U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan for a waiver from a requirement that states maintain their higher education budgets to be eligible for federal aid. Now, they’re less likely to do so, according to John C. Cavanaugh, chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
All told, most states won’t get all the federal help they had expected. Maine, for instance, had budgeted for $100 million in Medicaid money but will probably get $77 million. In Pennsylvania, lawmakers were banking on $850 million, but are likely to receive closer to $600 million.
In California, the federal money could help prevent further cuts to higher education, but according to Patrick J. Lenz, vice president for budget and capital resources for the UC system, the governor and the state legislature must still reach agreement on how to restore the $610 million that was cut from the budgets of the University of California and California State University systems last year.
While the governor has proposed cutting other programs, the Democrats in the State Senate and Assembly support tax and fee increases instead. “Will the federal funds be helpful? Absolutely,” Lenz said. “But there’s another component to this.”
In Massachusetts, lawmakers assumed that Congress would not act and voted to slash spending on the state’s public colleges by 12 percent. Although they are not scheduled to reconvene formally until January, lawmakers and the governor must decide when and how to appropriate the $655 million the state is expected to receive from Washington. According to the State House News Service, Governor Deval Patrick told reporters that he’d like to see $75 million of the money go to higher education.
CGS Looks at Graduate School Acceptance
According to a report by the Council of Graduate Schools, American graduate schools accepted more international applicants from 2009 to 2010 than the previous year, marking a 3 percent increase and reversing a 1 percent decline. The report also found that offers of graduate admission to applicants from China are up 16 percent, the fifth consecutive year of double-digit gains.
According to Nathan Bell, the council’s director of research and policy analysis, the growth in applications and admissions from China reflects the continued capacity shortfall in China for those seeking advanced degrees. Bell also recognized that another factor may be the increasing numbers of Chinese students who enroll as undergraduates in American colleges and universities, students who may be particularly strong candidates for admission to graduate programs in the United States.
While China’s numbers have been increasing year after year, India has been relatively flat. By field of study, applications were up across the board, but the changes in admissions offers were minimal except in business and the physical sciences. Also, although India and South Korea experienced decreases in admissions offers, the declines were smaller than those of a year before, when both countries saw drops of 14 percent.
The survey also found that large institutions with considerable concentrations of graduate students are seeing some of the biggest percentage increases this year. Patrick Osmer, the graduate dean at Ohio State University, noted that international applications were up 15 percent and admissions offers up 19 percent at OSU this year. About a quarter of Ohio State’s graduate students are from outside the United States, so attracting the best applicants is a major priority for the university, acknowledged Osmer. While the university has stepped up recruiting, especially in China, graduate admissions is highly decentralized, he observed, and much depends on the efforts of individual graduate programs. ♦