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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

House Veterans' Committee Chair Urges VA to Fix GI Bill Benefit Backlog

Nov 12, 2018, 15:37 PM
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Summary : AACRAO also chimes in on numerous issues related to the processing of GI Bill education benefits that could impact student veterans for months to come.
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U.S. House Veterans' Affairs Chairman Phil Roe (R-TN) sent a letter last week to Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert Wilkie urging the agency to fix numerous issues related to the processing of GI Bill education benefits that could "impact student veterans for months to come," Politico reported.

Information technology (IT)-related challenges at the VA as well as a delayed implementation of the Forever GI Bill, which was passed last year, contributed to a recent backlog of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits. Rep. Roe said in his letter that he fears more problems are ahead when the VA seeks to reprocess many claims once an expected IT system change is made.

"I implore you to personally oversee the implementation of these modifications and ensure student veterans and schools are informed about these changes and delays as quickly as possible," Roe told Wilkie in the letter.

The House Veterans' Affairs Committee will hold a hearing, rescheduled from an earlier date, on November 15 to discuss the issue. Roe said he wants to know how much the system failures are costing taxpayers, reported Politico.

Ahead of the hearing, AACRAO also joined a group of higher education groups in a letter to the committee expressing concern about the implementation of the Forever GI Bill. 

"The VA's interpretation of section 107 to require class-by-class ZIP code level determinations, and the extensive IT changes necessitated by this interpretation, have resulted in inexcusable delays in the payment of veterans’ housing and tuition benefits. These delays have caused anxiety, confusion, and hardship for thousands of veterans pursuing higher education at our institutions," the groups wrote. "We believe the time has come for VA to abandon this flawed effort. We urge Congress to direct the VA to develop a better approach that will ensure veterans receive their benefits in a timely and consistent manner."

Related Links

Politico

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-education/2018/11/09/democratic-state-gains-could-spark-more-scrutiny-of-student-loan-industry-407277

Michelle Mott
Categories :
  • Advocacy
  • Financial Aid and FAFSA
  • Veterans and Service Members
Tags :
  • Federal relations
  • gi bill
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