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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.

UPDATES

Higher Ed Groups Urge Congress to Make Corrections to Veterans Benefits Law

Dec 2, 2021, 12:12 PM
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Summary : AACRAO presses lawmakers to quickly pass legislation to address a number of time-sensitive issues to prevent future harm to student veterans.
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AACRAO along with 33 other organizations sent a letter to the U.S. House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees regarding the need to make certain changes to the Responsible Education Mitigating Options and Technical Extensions (REMOTE) Act, H.R. 5545, and pass the bill as quickly as possible.

The REMOTE Act, introduced in October, contains important technical corrections to the recent Isakson-Roe legislation that made sweeping changes to the administration and oversight of GI Bill benefits. The legislation also includes provisions to extend certain COVID-19-related flexibilities and ensure that veterans' benefits are not negatively impacted during the spring semester should an in-person program need to convert to online.

However, the REMOTE Act currently omits language to fix the Department of Veterans Affairs' rounding out policy, which helps veterans receive full time benefits during the last term of their education program. 

The organizations urge committee leaders to include the rounding out language and move quickly to pass legislation that addresses that issue along with the other COVID extensions and technical fixes.

Related Link

Letter on the REMOTE Act for Veterans

https://www.aacrao.org/docs/default-source/statements-and-letters/letter-va-committees-remote-act-111821.pdf?sfvrsn=3d66dd18_1 


Michelle Mott
Categories :
  • Advocacy
  • Online and Distance Learning
  • Veterans and Service Members
Tags :
  • covid-19
  • Federal relations
  • gi bill
  • VA Programs
  • Veterans and service members issues
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