Veterans & Service Members

AACRAO recognizes and honors the sacrifices these men and women have made and its members are proud to assist them and meet their educational needs. Veterans and students on active military duty and their families face special circumstances and challenges.

Changes in federal statute and executive actions have greatly promoted the expansion of services toward veterans and their families. Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill was passed in 2009, close to 1 million veterans, service members, and eligible dependents have taken advantage of the educational benefits available to them. With the passage of more recent legislation, such as the Forever GI Bill in 2017 and the Isakson Roe and THRIVE Acts in 2021, there will be significant changes to military education benefits over the coming years.

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Latest Actions

AACRAO recently hosted a webinar to discuss the implementation of veteran legislation passed in December 2020, also known as the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act. This law will have a transformative effect on the mission of Education Service to provide ready access to, and timely and accurate delivery of, education benefits to Veterans, Service members, and their families, as well as further enable the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to empower GI Bill beneficiaries to achieve their vocational and career goals.

Other recent legislation introduced in both the House and Senate include important provisions to help ensure veterans can continue to receive their education benefits as well as technical corrections to the legislation passed last year.

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Announcing AACRAO’s New Veteran and Active Service Members Group

Dec 13, 2021, 09:53 AM
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Summary : New AACRAO Google Group aims at building a space for Veteran and Service Member interests.
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On November 10, 2021, AACRAO held a coffee break to discuss AACRAO’s engagement in veteran and active service member’s regulatory and legislative issues.  In specific, AACRAO Board members Rock McCaskill and Philip Hunt, along with AACRAO’s government relations team, discussed the implementation of the Isakson Roe Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvements Act. Over 260 individuals registered for the coffee break. If you didn’t get the chance to view the discussion, here is a link to the recorded conversation.

The Isakson Roe Act, which took effect August 1, is a sweeping legislative package that provides important protections for student veterans to help ensure that they can use their GI Bill benefits to complete a quality postsecondary education. However, several provisions could create unintended consequences for veterans and institutions. In particular, the new law includes language requiring institutions to submit dual certification for verification of enrollment, provide estimates of costs and aid for the entire duration of the student's program, and establish eligibility under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) in order to participate in the GI Bill program.

Over the past year, AACRAO has actively engaged in an advocacy campaign to voice concerns about the problematic parts of the law. Most recently, the association is pressing for technical changes to the legislation. The coffee break discussion included updates on bills introduced in the House and the Senate to address these time-sensitive issues and also touched on a range of other topics raised by the attendees.

As a result of the interest, robust discussion, and the  various veteran and active service member issues that continue to impact institutions and many of our members, AACRAO created a forum where individuals can interact, share ideas, and request the support of others when working with this student population. 

Want to join? Click here to learn how to join this new Google group.

Categories :
  • Veterans and Service Members
Tags :
  • government
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