Colleges in NNY digesting new GI Bill
On Aug. 1, educational benefits for veterans are set for their biggest increase in more than a half-century.
And to get ready for the expanded GI Bill, colleges across the north country are preparing their staffs and student-veteran populations for the changes to come.
"We've extended our application deadline throughout the summer. There's still a lot of uncertainty about the bill," said Brian T. Grant, director of admissions at Clarkson University, Potsdam. "We will take as many veterans as we can, just because we think they bring a different perspective and enthusiasm and background to our campus."
Passed by Congress last year, the Post-9/11 GI Bill offers more opportunities to student veterans — it includes a housing and book stipend and tuition support equal to the highest public in-state rate and allows the transfer of benefits to a spouse or child. The Montgomery GI Bill that began after World War II, pays a flat rate every month and does not cover the cost of living.
"It allows a veteran the ability to close the gap and pay for living expenses," said Andrew D. Davis, senior trainer for the state Department of Veterans Affairs. "The quality of education a veteran can now afford is much greater. It really opens up the choices."
In order to be eligible for the benefits, a veteran must have served since Sept. 11, 2001, for a minimum of 90 days. The benefit amount is based on time of active-duty service. A veteran who served for 90 days would get 40 percent. Someone who served for 36 months would get up to 100 percent of the highest in-state public tuition paid, whether they go to public or private school. The highest tuition at a public college or university in New York is currently $970 per credit hour.
In order to transfer benefits to a spouse or child, a veteran must still be serving on Aug. 1, when the new benefits take effect, have been in the military for six years and have agreed to serve another four.
Unlike the original GI Bill, in which the benefits were paid to the veteran as a monthly check, the money now will be paid directly to the college or university. The housing stipend also is paid to the school if the veteran is a resident on campus. The housing allowance varies by region and is equal to what an active-duty, married sergeant would receive — $1,121 a month for the Fort Drum region.
Congress last year also created the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program, which allows colleges and universities to voluntarily partner with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to pay for some or all of the tuition costs above the highest-in-state threshold. The program, designed to help veterans attend private institutions, includes VA matching funds for tuition assistance to schools that participate.
Clarkson and St. Lawrence University, Canton, both plan to take part in the program.
Mr. Davis said that in the first five weeks the applications for the new GI Bill were available, 85,000 veterans across the country applied. He did not have an estimate for how many veterans in New York had filled out the application, but said that there are 18,000 student veterans receiving federal benefits and another 2,900 receiving state benefits. There could be a 30 percent increase in the number of veterans who apply to colleges as a result of the new GI Bill, he said.
SUNY Canton and Clarkson are working to attract more veterans and their family members to enroll through the benefits provided by the new GI Bill. Officials at the two colleges said they take pride in their military traditions and see their technical degrees as being a great fit for veterans.
"Our goal is to be recognized as one of the top military-friendly campuses in the country," said Robert L. Edwards, a professor of criminal justice at SUNY Canton who also is an advisor to the college's Veterans Association.
About 75 soldiers are enrolled at SUNY Canton, while about 250 dependents — either children or spouses of veterans — take courses there, college spokesman Gregory E. Kie said. Those numbers are expected to increase because of the GI Bill and the number of returning troops.
"Due to the career-driven nature of our programs, we have always had a fairly high percentage of veterans attending our college," Mr. Kie said.
Soldiers also can use their GI Bill benefits to take advantage of the college's Web course offerings via SUNY Canton OnLine while serving overseas, Mr. Edwards said.
"In the last few years, we've had soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan take an online course or two. You're not going to be in theater and take a full load, but some take one class to keep plodding toward their degree," he said.
Mr. Grant said the Yellow Ribbon Program, which along with the GI Bill support will cover all tuition costs for veterans who attend Clarkson, will help open opportunities at the private college to soldiers who might not have taken advantage of them before.
"In the past, we've been on the periphery," he said. "We couldn't be more excited. We're going to certainly partner with Fort Drum to get the word out about Clarkson and fully support this initiative."
Eligible veterans and dependents will be covered for the full cost of tuition and fees in more than 50 programs of study at Clarkson, including undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs. The college has not put a limit on the number of veterans it will admit through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Clarkson will provide $3,115 for undergraduates and $3,375 for graduate and doctoral students, in addition to the GI Bill benefits.
SUNY Potsdam hopes to see an uptick in the number of troops taking courses through its distance-learning partnership with Jefferson Community College, spokeswoman Deidre L. Kelly said. SUNY Potsdam also offers a master's degree in organizational leadership that is ideal for people with military experience, she said.
"We're not doing anything special to recruit veterans, but we're certainly open to helping them attend SUNY Potsdam, if this is the place they want to be," Ms. Kelly said. "We have the resources to help people make that transition from full-time work to student life."
St. Lawrence University plans to admit up to 10 undergraduate students through the Yellow Ribbon Program, and will provide $6,292 toward their tuition through the program. After adding their GI Bill benefits, students would have to seek scholarships and aid to cover the rest of the $49,680 annual tuition and room-and-board costs. SLU spokeswoman Macreena A. Doyle said the college doesn't expect to have a large influx of veterans, simply because its program is designed for students who can live on campus and take classes full-time.
"The kind of education we offer is geared toward the traditional college undergraduate experience. We do require students to live on campus; that's not to say that a veteran can't do it if they choose to," she said. "Every year, we have some non-traditional students and they are very motivated."
Many student veterans are asking whether they should switch their educational benefits from the older Montgomery GI Bill to the Post-9/11 GI Bill — a common question being fielded by Mariya E. Clemons, the veterans benefits counselor at JCC.
"The first question is have they used the benefits before, because eligibility is an issue. If they have consumed a large portion of their eligibility, then it needs to be in the best interest of the student for them to switch," she said. "The other big question is if the student plans on taking courses online. They need at least one in-house class in order to receive the housing stipend."
Under both bills, a veteran is entitled to only 36 months of undergraduate study — even if the veteran were to switch to the new benefit system, the clock would not restart. Switching benefits is something many veterans might want to do if they are the very beginning of their college careers, said Ms. Clemons and Mr. Davis. But if a veteran already has completed the majority of courses, it might not be worthwhile to switch, because they could be close to exhausting their educational benefits.
As part of the effort to keep staff and students up to date on the changes, JCC is hosting an educational panel from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 4 on campus.
ON THE NET
GI Bill: www.gibill.va.gov
