Proud that I’ve helped update GI Bill benefits

One of the proudest moments of my time in Congress is my role as the
former chairman and now ranking Republican on the House Committee on
Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity. As part of the
leadership in the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I am most proud to have
played a leading role in modernizing GI Bill education benefits through
the Post-9/11 GI Bill. This legislation includes the largest increase
in veterans’ education benefits since World War II. As a result of this
legislation, the VA estimates 100,000 more veterans will seek higher
education benefits than under the old Montgomery GI Bill.

Like healthcare, the cost of education has skyrocketed. According to
the College Board, the folks who administer things like the SAT, the
average cost for tuition, fees, books, and room and board at public,
four-year institutions is now about $18,000. A community college costs
about $14,000 and private, four-year schools now average about $37,000.
Much like the World War II generation, today’s veterans will have a
benefit that matches the cost of education and training.

I can’t think of a more deserving group of men and women who are worthy
of these benefits. We worked hard to accomplish this major milestone
for our veterans, but passage of the legislation into law is just one
hurdle to giving our veterans the benefits they have earned and
deserve. Although this relatively complex new benefit formula presents
a significant administrative challenge to VA, as well as its fair share
of logistical challenges, Chairwoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.)
of the Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity and I are
committed to identifying the problems and fixing them. Together, we
have aggressively led the effort to ensure proper implementation. We
have conducted three oversight hearings thus far to hear how the VA is
progressing toward the Aug. 1 implementation date. Testimony presented
at those hearings has allowed us to understand the demands of getting
this program up and running

One of the biggest obstacles we face is the technical ability of the VA
to process the benefits of each veteran seeking education or training.
The agency is developing a new information technology system to manage
the data but officials don’t expect it to be up and running for at
least 18 months. We don’t have that time to wait for implementation of
the program, so I’m happy to see that the VA has been proactive at
hiring over 500 temporary employees to manually process the benefit
program in the short term. The VA has also contracted with two
respected organizations, MITRE and the Naval Space Warfare Command
(SPAWAR) to help them with developing the new IT system, but the
challenges are not limited to the VA.

We have to use these next few months to do our best to educate our
college and university veterans’ program administrators and counselors
about the pros and cons of the program so they can answer veterans’
questions accurately and make sure they are enrolled in the program
that best meets their needs. Under the law, veterans will be able to
enroll in one of two programs: Chapter 30, the old Montgomery GI Bill,
or Chapter 33, and the best option depends on many factors. For
example, the Post-9/11 benefit only pays for programs at
degree-granting institutions of higher learning and does not pay for
on-the-job-training or apprenticeship programs. A veteran would need to
access those types of training through the Montgomery program.

The VA is offering training courses at the four regional offices to
teach institution staff about the differences in programs because we
need to make sure school officials have a better understanding of what
our veterans are eligible for under the new law. There is nothing more
frustrating as a lawmaker than to see a benefit program like this put
in place that ends up having unintended consequences such as backlogs
to process and misinformed veterans.

The framework for the updated program requires additional steps by our
veterans and increases the possibility of problems we’ll need to
troubleshoot. Instead of giving one lump sum to students, the VA will
pay the cost of tuition directly to the school. We hope that in the
long run this will be more efficient and reliable, but if problems
occur we may have to reconsider the structure of the program.

We must expect the unexpected and we want to know about any setbacks
immediately so we can avoid big problems and continue moving in the
right direction. We are working to identify those issues and solve them
by working with the VA, veterans’ service organizations, and
professional organizations representing schools and training providers.

Ultimately, the most important thing for all Americans to remember is
the reason we are working to improve this education benefit: the men
and women of our Armed Forces and their families who have given and
risked so much to protect our nation from its enemies and made the
United States a safer place to live. They have heard our nation’s call
and met the challenge with their service. It is now up to us to ensure
our veterans have unfettered access to all the opportunities this great
nation has to offer, starting with generous education and training
benefits.

Boozman is a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.