New GI bill might finally deliver promise of paid college for vets

Todd Finkelmeyer  —  7/09/2008 5:38 am

Over time, more and more people started questioning if anything less than complete funding is any way to reward those who had put their lives at risk to serve their country.

Elizabeth O'Herrin, executive director of Student Veterans of America, noted that the Montgomery GI Bill -- which provides education funding for those who have served in the military at any point since July 1, 1985 -- was created during a relatively peaceful time, near the end of the Cold War.

"There was a feeling that the Montgomery GI Bill wasn't a sufficient education benefit -- especially when one considers what service we are now asking of our military since the advent of the war" in Iraq, said O'Herrin, a 2007 UW-Madison graduate and a member of the Wisconsin Air National Guard.

That's part of the reason the Wisconsin Legislature took the unusual step of enacting its own version of the GI Bill, which was signed by Gov. Jim Doyle in 2005. For the first time last year, the Wisconsin GI Bill waived 100 percent of tuition and fees for state veterans who attended a UW System or Wisconsin Technical College System school.

"Wisconsin is really unique and really sets an example as far as state veterans benefits go," said Matthew Cryer, a UW-Platteville student who is chair of the Wisconsin Student Veteran Coalition.

Veterans' pleas for more support nationally were finally answered on June 30 when President Bush signed a supplemental war spending package that includes nearly $162 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus a dramatic expansion of GI Bill benefits for veterans who have served on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001.

The new federal GI Bill, which was championed by Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, and received wide bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, is modeled after the highly successful post-World War II Servicemen's Readjustment Act, or GI Bill, which is credited with making education affordable for eight million World War II veterans. Expected to cost $62.8 billion over the next 11 years, the new bill will pay for tuition and fees up to the cost of the most expensive in-state public university, and cover housing and books for any veteran who has served three years of active duty. Yet even those who have served as little as 90 days of active duty are eligible for some benefits.

"There are several issues that veterans face in obtaining a higher education," said O'Herrin, who now works in Washington, D.C. "But with this new bill, affordability is no longer an issue and that is the No. 1 obstacle for a lot of veterans."

Most see the new GI bill, officially known as the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008, as a major victory for vets across the nation. But it remains to be seen exactly how it will impact veterans and institutions of higher education, especially in Wisconsin, which still has its own GI Bill.

"I think the important thing to realize is that we, as a country, pride ourselves in having this all-volunteer military," said Cryer, a member of the Wisconsin Air National Guard who finished seven years of active duty with the Air Force in 2007. "The subtext of the all-volunteer military is we have a type of a mercenary army, where people join the military for incentive. And the majority of people who join the military -- and this is clear by watching recruiting commercials and everything else -- they're joining to better themselves and their way of life, to improve themselves socially, to find bootstraps to pull themselves up with."

Over the long term, the bill will improve recruiting and, Cryer said, provide well-deserved opportunities for veterans. "It's a necessary reward for the people who have served in the military because they do give up so much," he said.

TODAY it's common for supporters of higher education to stress the importance of making college accessible to every American, regardless of background.

That sense of entitlement dates to the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, which was signed by President Franklin Roosevelt in June of 1944.

"To sell this package to Congress and the public, the architects and chief supporters of the proposed legislation invented a new American right," said UW-Madison history emeritus professor Stan Schultz. "Supporters of the GI Bill propagandized that every American had a right to higher education."

And because of that new right, higher education in America hasn't been the same since.

Of the 16 million U.S. soldiers who served in World War II, about half used the GI Bill for education or work training of some sort, with 2.2 million going to college.

Locally, the surge in students was dramatic.

As World War II started to wind down, UW-Madison's enrollment dipped to 5,904 for the 1943-44 school year, its lowest since 1918-19. But within three years, enrollment spiked to 19,882 for the 1946-47 school year, and it stayed above 19,000 students through 1949-50. Veterans made up nearly 56 percent of UW-Madison's student body in 1946-47, and 60, 48 and 45 percent over the following three years.

"It's kind of insane how the UW, almost overnight, changes," said Beth Stransky, a project assistant at the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education. She has done extensive research on the GI Bill and its impact on universities. "Imagine if today, within just a year or two, the enrollment at UW tripled."

Stransky said veterans simply started showing up in Madison to go to school, even though student housing couldn't accommodate them all. Among other things, UW-Madison created special housing called Badger Village, meant for married veterans and their children, on the grounds of the Badger Army Ammunition Plant between Sauk City and Baraboo on U.S. 12. Students would take a bus one hour each way for classes.

UW-Madison also started shortening the time it took to earn some degrees, added summer courses and gave veterans retroactive credits for classes like physical education to help alleviate the logjam of students and speed the returning soldiers through school.

"I think in a lot of ways, if you read newspaper accounts from the time, the UW leaders really stood up and basically welcomed the veterans," said Stransky. "And that's important, because they could have been jerks or been like, 'We don't have the money to pay for this or that; we don't have the space for you.' "

By rolling out the welcome mat, UW leaders showed they were determined to help the state, Stransky added. "That really put the UW in a good light with the public and the UW was able to ask the state for more money and was able to grow," she said.

Although the GI Bill had a significant impact on higher education across the country, the true goal of the legislation -- which also provided things like job training and low-interest loans for returning soldiers' homes, farms and businesses -- was to slowly transition the country from a wartime economy to a peacetime, consumer goods-oriented one, said Schultz.

National officials were hoping to avoid a catastrophic replay of post-World War I America, in which returning soldiers faced massive unemployment rates and a tanking economy. The theory was that if large numbers of returning vets were in school rather than searching for jobs, the nation could avoid another economic crisis.

IN the end, the GI Bill not only helped America avert an economic crisis, but the economy boomed and veterans climbed the proverbial social and economic ladder, sparking "The Greatest Generation" to unimagined success. Today, historians generally view that first GI Bill as one of the most successful pieces of social legislation in the nation's history.

Said Stransky: "The funny thing is, most of those things were totally unintended."

It's unrealistic to expect the recently signed legislation to have anywhere near the same impact as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act. For starters, more than 16 million Americans served during World War II, while fewer than 2 million since Sept. 11, 2001, have served in the military, including the Reserves and National Guard.

"I don't know that you're going to see a massive influx of veterans going to college," said O'Herrin, who has been with the Wisconsin Air National Guard for the past seven years. "But knocking down that wall to affordability is still very important."

Wisconsin Student Veteran Coalition's Cryer, a native of Mineral Point, knows firsthand how important that financial freedom can be.

"I was right on the line of staying in the military or getting out," said Cryer, who needs one more year to finish his political science degree at UW-Platteville. "And the Wisconsin GI Bill is helping me pursue my life dream of going to law school -- because tuition was free."

Given that the country's volunteer army now draws large numbers of people of color into its ranks, the new federal GI bill could also conceivably act as a de facto affirmative action plan by helping to attract more minorities to college.

"We believe the GI Bill is an important way to expand access to higher education for a number of people -- including first-generation college students of all kinds," said UW System spokesperson David Giroux. "For people from lower-income families from across Wisconsin and, yes, people who are representing minority families.

"The express purpose of the GI Bill is to recognize veterans for the sacrifices and the service that they have made for their country. And if, as an offshoot of that, we're able improve access to the university for a wider range of the population, that is a win-win for everyone."

That said, Cryer doesn't expect to see a surge of minority students going to college on the GI Bill in Wisconsin.

"I think the military is sort of a cross section of the society as a whole," he said. "There are a lot of minorities in the U.S. military as a whole, but based on my experience dealing with people in Wisconsin, the veterans right now are a pretty Anglo group of people."

In Wisconsin, with its own version of the GI Bill, nearly 4,000 veterans attended one of the UW System schools in 2007-08, and system officials say they expect that number to grow by at least 10 percent each year for the next several years.

So while the Wisconsin GI bill has been a boon to the state's veterans, the schools themselves have shouldered the costs since the state has refused to supply enough money to fund the program.

For the 2008-09 school year, for instance, the UW System increased tuition for most students to raise the estimated $18 million it will need to cover the program next year.

The Wisconsin Technical College System, on the other hand, did not raise tuition but made cuts elsewhere to cover the veterans' benefits. More than 3,000 veterans or dependents used Wisconsin GI Bill benefits this past year to attend a technical college system school, more than double the number who used the benefit just two years ago when the program provided just 50 percent tuition remission.

"The obvious advantage of the new federal GI Bill is it's going to save the (UW System) money," said Cryer, who noted his group worked with the UW System Board of Regents in June on veterans' programs funding issues. "They hoped to continue funding state veterans going to school only until a federal law takes precedence."

That said, most everyone agrees it is far too early to tell exactly what impact the federal GI Bill will have on Wisconsin's own veterans' education law, how the program might be reworked or how the federal and state programs might mesh together.

Among other things, local veterans are hoping Wisconsin will find a way to help state vets who might actually be hurt somewhat by the new federal legislation, which won't officially be implemented until August of 2009.

For example, the Wisconsin GI Bill offers full tuition remission after only 90 days of active duty service during a wartime period, while the new federal bill requires three years of active duty since Sept. 11, 2001, for full benefits.

That means dependents, guard members and reservists who are now eligible for benefits under the Wisconsin GI Bill might no longer qualify for them under the federal program.

Chuck Goranson, a Vietnam veteran and the founder and current adviser to Vets for Vets, said ideally the state would cover any funding gap between the current state and new federal programs.

"Something will happen with the Wisconsin GI Bill before next year," Goranson said. "We just don't know what."

HOW THE OLD AND NEW GI BILLS STACK UP

Montgomery GI Bill

Eligibility: All soldiers who pay a $1,200 buy-in at the start of their service.

Benefit: Up to $1,100 per month, and up to $39,600 total.

Benefits for National Guard/Reserves: Determined based on single longest active-duty tour -- not the cumulative amount of active-duty tour. Maximum monthly benefit is $880; unactivated National Guard/Reservists get $317 per month.

Linked to Cost of College? No. Education benefits are linked to the Consumer Price Index.

Time limit: Ten years from last day of active duty.

Extras: None.

Post 9/11 Veteran Education Assistance Act of 2008

Eligibility: All veterans who have served at least 90 days of active duty service, post Sept. 11, 2001.

Benefit: Full cost of in-state tuition and fees at any public school, a living stipend (based on the Department of Defense's "Basic Allowance for Housing" rates, which are scaled to the zip code where one attends school) and $1,000 per year for books.

Benefits for National Guard/Reserves: Cumulative benefit based on the number of months on active-duty; reservists serving 36 months on active-duty earn 100% of active duty educational benefits

Linked to cost of college? Yes. Linking education benefits to the cost of education ensures that the new GI Bill would always pay for the cost of a public school education.

Buy-in: None. In addition, for anyone who has served after Sept. 11, 2001, and has already bought into their GI Bill benefits, the new legislation will refund the amount of their buy-in.

Time limit: Fifteen years from last day of active duty.

Extras: If a veteran wishes to attend a private school, tuition and fees will be paid at the rate of the most expensive in-state public school where they will be attending college. Tuition costs will also be paid directly to the school.

Note: The Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits won't go into effect until Aug. 1, 2009

Source: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

WISCONSIN GI BILL PRIMER

The Wisconsin GI Bill currently provides a full waiver of tuition and fees for eligible veterans for up to eight full-time semesters or 128 credits at any University of Wisconsin System or Wisconsin Technical College System institution for continuing education, or for study at the undergraduate or graduate level.

The Wisconsin GI Bill is a state program that is entirely separate from the federal GI Bill. There is no post-service time limitation on the use of the benefit, and veterans may attend school full-time or part-time.

The Wisconsin bill also provides 100 percent remission for spouses and children of veterans who were disabled or killed in the line of duty while on active, reserve or guard duty. To qualify, a veteran must have been a Wisconsin resident at the time of entry into active duty, and the benefit recipient must now reside in Wisconsin.

The recently completed 2007-08 school year was the first in which state veterans received a 100 percent waiver of tuition and fees. However, although Gov. Doyle signed the Wisconsin GI Bill into law, the state has not provided nearly enough money to the UW System or technical college system to cover the costs of the program, which has placed a financial burden on these higher education systems.

UW System and state leaders say it is not currently clear how the newly signed federal bill -- the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008, which takes effect Aug. 1, 2009 -- will impact the Wisconsin GI Bill.

Todd Finkelmeyer  —  7/09/2008 5:38 am