Giving veterans school benefits for life

This is from the http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ website.

Giving veterans school benefits for life
Larsen, Cantwell promoting bill

By JENNIFER A. DLOUHY
HEARST NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON -- As a career counselor for the state of Washington, Vietnam veteran Thomas Noel frequently advises other former service members on how to get ahead in the work force.

Whether they have just returned from tours in Iraq or have been out of the military for decades, Noel's main message to the veterans is always the same: Get an education.

"I see these people every day -- men and women who served our country," says Noel, a veterans employment representative for Washington state. "I tell them, 'You have to go to school.' "

But it's too late for many of these veterans.

Under the Montgomery GI Bill, the federal government picks up some of the tab for veterans to go to college and attend training programs -- but only for 10 years after they were discharged.

The law, first passed in 1944 as a way to help World War II veterans, is now named after former Mississippi Rep. Gillespie "Sonny" Montgomery, who helped lead an update of the statute in 1984.

Some lawmakers in Congress now want to get rid of that 10-year use-it-or-lose-it deadline.

Washington Democratic Rep. Rick Larsen and Sen. Maria Cantwell are sponsoring legislation that would allow veterans to use the GI Bill's education benefits anytime after leaving military service.

Dubbed the "GI Bill for Life," their measure has drawn support from a wide variety of veterans groups, including the American Legion and the Military Officers Association of America. It is co-sponsored in the House by Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Ron Paul, R-Texas. In the Senate, co-sponsors include Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.

Larsen said the deadline for using educational benefits under the GI Bill is "arbitrary" and doesn't meet the needs of recent and longtime veterans. Returning veterans may put off their post-military education so they can begin new jobs or because they are recovering from injuries -- even while the GI Bill clock is running.

"These are veterans who are coming back to the U.S. to whom we owe a great debt," Larsen said in an interview. "And the debt we owe them shouldn't expire because of an artificial timeline."

Cantwell said veterans who want to keep up with a rapidly changing work force should be able to use their GI Bill education benefits long after being discharged.

Under the current law, veterans can get up to 36 months of payments for college, technical or vocational training and apprenticeship programs. The benefits top out at $1,075 per month.

Service members who wish to take advantage of the GI Bill agree to have $1,200 deducted from their pay during their first year in the military. That money cannot be refunded.

Noel said the time limits catch many veterans off guard.

Larsen and Cantwell's legislation could become part of a broader bill revamping benefits for veterans.

The Bush administration has opposed the measure as too expensive.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said it cannot estimate the proposal's price tag because there is no way to predict how many people would go to school or get training more than 10 years after leaving military service.

At the State of the Union Address in January, President Bush called for some changes to the GI Bill -- including allowing veterans to transfer their benefits to other immediate family members. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, immediately introduced legislation that would allow the benefit transfers.


NOW THESE ARE SOME OF THE COMMENTS...

Posted by DonnaWanna at 2/19/08 9:42 p.m.

Our serice members pay for this benefit out of their miserly pay checks. I see no reason to cut them off because they were unable, for whatever reason, to take advantage of this benefit within 10 years from separating from service.

I support our service members. I think we should give them the benefit they have paid for.

Posted by Jazz Fan at 2/19/08 11:14 p.m.

Good idea. It's senseless to limit the time in which a vet can continue his or her education.

Posted by Wonk at 2/20/08 11:57 a.m.

The average cost of a four-year degree at a public university is about $50,000--including books, tuition, fees, transportation, and housing. That same four-year degree increases an individual's yearly income from ~$30k to about $52k annually.

A hypothetical veteran is separated from service on his 22nd birthday. He takes 12 years to go back to school. He is 38 when he graduates from college and returns to the workforce. He works for 29.5 years, making $52,500 per year, never once getting a pay increase.

At retirement, he has paid about $166,000 more tax than he would have had he not gotten his degree. So, for every "gimme, gimme, gimme" tax dollar that paid for his education, he paid back three--more if you include salary increases.

That seems like a pretty good investment to me.

NOW THERE IS ALWAYS AN IDIOT...

Posted by Ze_Germans at 2/20/08 9:20 p.m.

I disagree, ten years is long enough. If they do extend it beyond that, the veteran should still be restricted to four years of benefits, just like it is now. No free handouts for life.


MY RESPONSE

I served in the Air Force for four years. I did my time and got an Honorable Discharge. I also paid into the GI Bill, as well as a few other options that have gone by the wayside. It was hard earned money that went into that bill, for what I thought at that time, I knew I would need in the future when I finally settled on a career path and needed to go back to school. I never thought that it would have an expiration date. Let alone be expiring two months before I planned to go back to school.

In all honest truth, I feel as if I was robbed. Yes, there are some of you out there who agree with what the last person said, but it is not a free hand out. I as well as countless military members and veterans have invested years of their lives in the hope of their future education only to have it expire before they can use it.
"10 years is enough time. You should have used it already."
Let's see. When I left the military, I had no idea that I'd be getting divorced. That I'd have to work 3 jobs just to scrape by. Or that I'd have to relocate, forget about school, get married again and raise two children, all while working full time. And now that gas is forcing every price across the board to sky rocket, its to the point that driving far to work isn't worth the job.

For those of you who are veterans please go to this HERE and
and contact your state representative and tell them this is an important issue that needs to be passed.

Reality TV

American Idol
Project Runway
Big Brother
Survivor
All the Judge shows
Cops
America's Next Top Model
Flavor of Love
The Real World

Do I have to go on?
That's all thats on TV now a days. Yeah, I know that the writer's strike had alot to do with it, but this beats all. There are a few of these shows that are any good. The rest are just plain garbage. I mean, come on! Flavor of Love?! Its trash. He's supposedly looking for the love of his life...every season. The Bachelor? The Bachlorette? Junk.
I have a great idea for a Reality TV series. Lock seven people in a rooms with TV's that show nothing but reality crap and see how long it takes before they kill each other.
I'll call it The Real World : Murder Box.

Its TV like this that makes me thankful for Playstation, XBox, books, an outdoors, etc. Who's up for a game of Halo 3?

DoomsdayVault/Chrono Trigger

Read this article first...

Now, doesn't that sound a little familiar? Like an part of an old Super Nintendo Game called Chrono Trigger?

After WW3, sometime in the future, a valiant group is sent to recover the seeds.

They face a number of puzzles and eventually have to defeat the Guardian of the facility to complete their quest.

Only to find that something has gone wrong a long time ago.
Only one seed of HOPE survives. Will that be enough?

Now drive off in your hovercar...

$3.25 and Up for Gas!

This morning I stopped at a local convenience store to get some gas. I got to reminiscing about the days when my $20.00 would fill up my car AND allow me to purchase other things like, coffee or food or whatever. Now $20.00 gives me a paltry 6.15 gallons of gas. Meaning, in my 30 mile a day to and from work I will use up approximately 2 gallons of that twenty dollar "fill up" a day, making have to refill around a day and a half later, if I don't want to take it down to empty.
I don't believe that I have filled up my gas tank to full ever since gas has gone to $3.00 and up. It has to do with seeing $50 on the gas pump that would most likely freak me out to the point I'd probably begin shouting at the machine, fruitlessly, and my last string of sanity would finally break, sending me into a downward spiral of rage that would most likely end up on the 5 o'clock news, showing my car on the highway being chased by the police and helicopters.
The news says that the price is only going to escalate as the summer wears on. Personally, I find it more than coincidental that the prices have gone up around the time tax refunds are going out. And I guarantee that they will be going up when this $600 rebate hits the mail around the end of May.

I FIND IT AMAZING...

that in this day and age of high technology, where anyone can reach anyone at anytime and anywhere, there are those few people in areas of business that do not answer emails, respond to phone calls, or check their voice mail. In this time sensitive day and age its is just inconceivable that people would do that. Call it irresponsibility or just plain ineptitude. Personally, I've about had it. Even though there is really nothing that can be done besides get the person into trouble and then if its not their fault you end up being the bad guy and depending on what the business is it throws that into jeopardy.
Gotta love the modern age!

FOOLED AGAIN!

Last year when I played McDonald's Monopoly online I noticed a bug. When you entered a code and the site crashed, your code became lost and unusable. After a year you think they would have fixed this issue.
Nope.
Their website is still very twitchy and prone to crashes, and its funny how if you enter a invalid code it picks it up right-a-way. But, if the code is valid and you have to sign in, sometimes the screen just hangs forcing you to have to close out and start over hoping you code wasn't entered. Another catch are the coupon codes they tell you to enter. Now tell me, how can you enter a 12 digit code in a 10 digit slot? Am I doing something wrong? Or has McDonald's duped us all again?

All In The Family

Go back far enough and everybody is related,
I guess.