G.I. Bill Payments Still Haven't Arrived
Thursday, 07 January 2010 12:22
The post-9/11 GI Bill, which was heralded in August as an opportunity to transform the lives of a new generation of veterans, is designed to be the most comprehensive education benefit for veterans since World War II.
But the complexity of the formula used to establish what the veteran receives, and an unwieldy information technology system used by the VA to process claims, means that each claim takes about an hour and a half to process and it has to be manually processed in four different IT systems.
Many veterans have also had to wait for funds paid directly to them for housing and books. To help cushion the blow, the VA issued $3,000 emergency checks to more than 68,000 veterans, but for some the money has run out.
The maximum benefit allows eligible veterans to attend a public college or university for free for four years, provides a monthly housing stipend, and up to $1,000 a year for books. Active duty service members can transfer the benefit to their spouse or kids.
It’s estimated that $78 billion will be paid, but so far the VA has only paid about $1 billion to almost 150,000 veterans.
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