VA Benefits (Veteran Voices)
VA Benefits (Veteran Voices)
Transcript
So I think the three most-- the three main pieces of financial data, I guess you could say, or points that I've looked at was, how large is the GI Bill that's going to be funding at this specific school-- my education? Do they have a Yellow Ribbon Program that the school is matching?
If it's a private school and they're doing Yellow Ribbon, how much is that going to compensate on the surplus of money that's kind of above the cap from the private GI Bill cap? And then also, as far as the expenses in that city go, what is that housing allowance like?
And you can go on to all these different places and look at average apartment rates. And you can get a very good idea of what you're looking at prior to ever stepping foot in the city, just by looking at the GI Bill website and then looking at really the status of that school and how they fund veterans through the GI Bill program.
If there's one thing that veterans can do that I wish I had known, that I think is very important to considering your finances when going to school is that your pay that you've been receiving in the military is about to get disrupted, and that you're not getting it ever. You're not being paid every two weeks.
You're being paid a housing stipend at the beginning of each month that you're in school. The summers-- you will not be receiving income on the GI Bill. If you're not going to school, you should plan ahead. It shouldn't be a mission. It shouldn't sway you away from going to a place, just because it's going to be different financially.
But at the same time, you should have the foresight to understand the limitations of where your housing allowances and where your income is going to come. And in general, it's going to be a very, very different situation than what you were used to for however many years you were in the military.
I was a disabled veteran, so my situation is a little different. I had access to vocational rehabilitation. It's an employment program. So if you've used up your GI Bill or getting close to it, you can apply for vocational rehab. And again, their job is to get you employed, not get you educated.
So if you can sell that you need this education, which you shouldn't have a problem with, they will complete your education, really no matter how much you have left of it. So I would consider vocational rehab if you have a service-connected disability.
So I learned that when you're looking to finance your education, it is never too early to start applying or doing the legwork about researching what is out there. I only knew that I could use the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Yellow Ribbon that the schools offered.
But it wasn't until halfway through my first semester that I learned from another female veteran on campus that there was this thing called Vocational Rehab and that possibly some veterans that have a disability rating could take advantage of.
I wish I would have known about it before starting school, simply because it would have saved me a whole semester of my GI Bill that I could use towards grad school or something. But nevertheless, as soon as I found out, I applied, and I was successful in my application.
And so that carried me through the rest of the way. But as soon as I found out about it, I told everybody and their mother about it, because I felt like this is the best thing. And I could not believe that after serving 11 years in an HR setting in the military, I had no idea that this existed.
And it kind of reminded me that if I'm in the HR world of the military and I didn't know, I can't imagine fellow service members like grunts, artillery men, people that are kind of far removed from the administrative side of the house. They probably also had no idea about it.
So one of the most important things, I think, is to know-- is how your school handles the GI Bill benefits, because not every school is the same. Private schools are different than public schools. And even just it's your responsibility to certify each semester to make sure that you get-- receive your GI Bill benefits and the tuition is paid out to the school.
Some veterans just think, I'm a veteran, I go to school, and everything is taken care of. But that's really not how it is. So you got to make sure that you're on top of it, and that you make sure that you're certifying, and that you know how your school handles the GI Bill and how it recognizes VA benefits.
Because I know some students at the school that I'm at that didn't realize that tuition wasn't completely covered. And they wound up with an overpowering bill, and they can't return to school. So it's definitely something that can become a big obstacle for you if you're not paying attention to it.
Yes, I utilize my Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for community college, which obviously I needed to do. But it also kind of set me back. Because when I transferred to my university, they threw out 24 of my credits that I completed at a community college. That was like two semester's worth of the GI Bill, which equates to like seven months off of your entitlement.
So that means I had to pursue my degree at a more aggressive rate when I got to university, rather than just taking 12 semesters or 12 credits per semester. I had to up that in order to complete my degree before my GI Bill expired. And right now, I'm actually going to be at one day or a couple of days left on my GI Bill from my last semester.
And as long as you have at least one day on your entitlement, they'll allow you to take a full semester. So I'm cutting it close. But I'll be able to complete it without having to. Because if you don't have any GI Bill, the entire semester's tuition is on you
I mean, you'll get benefits if you apply for them, but you're not going to get any GI Bill benefits. So that was definitely important for me to know when I was making the transition. And it's something that you should be aware of. And that's definitely a factor when you're deciding which college you want to go to.
Because you want to know how many credits you're going to transfer with if you're coming from a community college. Because that might be an important factor when you're making your decision. If you don't have enough-- if they don't take enough of your credits, then you're not going to have enough GI Bill to graduate. You should definitely think about that.
If it's a private school and they're doing Yellow Ribbon, how much is that going to compensate on the surplus of money that's kind of above the cap from the private GI Bill cap? And then also, as far as the expenses in that city go, what is that housing allowance like?
And you can go on to all these different places and look at average apartment rates. And you can get a very good idea of what you're looking at prior to ever stepping foot in the city, just by looking at the GI Bill website and then looking at really the status of that school and how they fund veterans through the GI Bill program.
If there's one thing that veterans can do that I wish I had known, that I think is very important to considering your finances when going to school is that your pay that you've been receiving in the military is about to get disrupted, and that you're not getting it ever. You're not being paid every two weeks.
You're being paid a housing stipend at the beginning of each month that you're in school. The summers-- you will not be receiving income on the GI Bill. If you're not going to school, you should plan ahead. It shouldn't be a mission. It shouldn't sway you away from going to a place, just because it's going to be different financially.
But at the same time, you should have the foresight to understand the limitations of where your housing allowances and where your income is going to come. And in general, it's going to be a very, very different situation than what you were used to for however many years you were in the military.
I was a disabled veteran, so my situation is a little different. I had access to vocational rehabilitation. It's an employment program. So if you've used up your GI Bill or getting close to it, you can apply for vocational rehab. And again, their job is to get you employed, not get you educated.
So if you can sell that you need this education, which you shouldn't have a problem with, they will complete your education, really no matter how much you have left of it. So I would consider vocational rehab if you have a service-connected disability.
So I learned that when you're looking to finance your education, it is never too early to start applying or doing the legwork about researching what is out there. I only knew that I could use the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Yellow Ribbon that the schools offered.
But it wasn't until halfway through my first semester that I learned from another female veteran on campus that there was this thing called Vocational Rehab and that possibly some veterans that have a disability rating could take advantage of.
I wish I would have known about it before starting school, simply because it would have saved me a whole semester of my GI Bill that I could use towards grad school or something. But nevertheless, as soon as I found out, I applied, and I was successful in my application.
And so that carried me through the rest of the way. But as soon as I found out about it, I told everybody and their mother about it, because I felt like this is the best thing. And I could not believe that after serving 11 years in an HR setting in the military, I had no idea that this existed.
And it kind of reminded me that if I'm in the HR world of the military and I didn't know, I can't imagine fellow service members like grunts, artillery men, people that are kind of far removed from the administrative side of the house. They probably also had no idea about it.
So one of the most important things, I think, is to know-- is how your school handles the GI Bill benefits, because not every school is the same. Private schools are different than public schools. And even just it's your responsibility to certify each semester to make sure that you get-- receive your GI Bill benefits and the tuition is paid out to the school.
Some veterans just think, I'm a veteran, I go to school, and everything is taken care of. But that's really not how it is. So you got to make sure that you're on top of it, and that you make sure that you're certifying, and that you know how your school handles the GI Bill and how it recognizes VA benefits.
Because I know some students at the school that I'm at that didn't realize that tuition wasn't completely covered. And they wound up with an overpowering bill, and they can't return to school. So it's definitely something that can become a big obstacle for you if you're not paying attention to it.
Yes, I utilize my Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for community college, which obviously I needed to do. But it also kind of set me back. Because when I transferred to my university, they threw out 24 of my credits that I completed at a community college. That was like two semester's worth of the GI Bill, which equates to like seven months off of your entitlement.
So that means I had to pursue my degree at a more aggressive rate when I got to university, rather than just taking 12 semesters or 12 credits per semester. I had to up that in order to complete my degree before my GI Bill expired. And right now, I'm actually going to be at one day or a couple of days left on my GI Bill from my last semester.
And as long as you have at least one day on your entitlement, they'll allow you to take a full semester. So I'm cutting it close. But I'll be able to complete it without having to. Because if you don't have any GI Bill, the entire semester's tuition is on you
I mean, you'll get benefits if you apply for them, but you're not going to get any GI Bill benefits. So that was definitely important for me to know when I was making the transition. And it's something that you should be aware of. And that's definitely a factor when you're deciding which college you want to go to.
Because you want to know how many credits you're going to transfer with if you're coming from a community college. Because that might be an important factor when you're making your decision. If you don't have enough-- if they don't take enough of your credits, then you're not going to have enough GI Bill to graduate. You should definitely think about that.