aacrao-logo_transparent

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.

Capitol

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.

UPDATES

Congress Requests an Update on the Army IgnitED Program

Jan 19, 2022, 19:38 PM
legacy id :
Summary : Issues with migrating data from the old tuition assistance platform to the new system left the service unable to reimburse schools for soldiers' tuition.
Url :

After nearly a year of troubles for Army IgnitED, the service's new platform for troops to access their education benefits, Congress has requested an update on how many soldiers and colleges are still affected by the site's troubled rollout, Army Times reported. Issues with migrating data from the old tuition assistance platform left the service unable to reimburse schools for soldiers' tuition. 

A section of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was signed into law in December, requires the Department of the Army to submit a report to Congress within two months answering the following questions:

  • When will the program be fully functional?
  • Estimated date when military-connected students will be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses due to delays and errors.
  • Estimated date when postsecondary institutions will be reimbursed for costs typically provided through the Tuition Assistance Program but delayed due to processing delays and errors.

While most soldiers are now able to request new courses using the platform, the report will offer the most accurate glimpse into how many service members are still suffering after the website's troubled launch in March 2021.

Related Link

Army Times

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2022/01/04/congress-demands-answers-on-armys-tuition-assistance-failure/ 


Michelle Mott
Categories :
  • Advocacy
  • Financial Aid and FAFSA
  • Veterans and Service Members
Tags :
  • Federal relations
  • tuition assistance program
  • Veterans and service members issues
Related people

STATEMENTS/LETTERS

ARTICLES