Department of Veteran Affairs

The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational

Assistance Act of 2008 (Chapter 33)
 Post-9/11 GI Bill

• Eligibility
• Elections
• Entitlement
• Benefits
• Transfer of Entitlement
• New Legislation
• Post-9/11 Bill Status
• Streamlining Measures
• Challenges

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 Eligibility

Individuals with active duty service after

09/10/01 who:
• Serve a period of 90 aggregate days
• Serve a period of 30 days and receive a
disability discharge

NOTE: Individuals are eligible while on

active duty after serving a period of 90 days

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 Eligibility

• Qualifying active duty includes:

– Full-time duty in the Armed Forces, other
than active duty for training
– A call or order to active duty under Title 10
• Active duty periods may begin at any time,
however, only the portion after 09/10/01 can
be used to establish eligibility

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 Eligibility Criteria

Service Requirements Payment Tiers

(after 9/10/01 an individual must serve an Percentage
aggregate of)
At least 36 months 100

At least 30 continuous days on active duty 100

(Must be discharged due to service-connected
disability)
At least 30 months, but less than 36 months 90

At least 24 months, but less than 30 months 80

*At least 18 months, but less than 24 months 70

*At least 12 months, but less than 18 months 60

*At least 06 months, but less than 12 months 50

*At least 90 days, but less than 6 months 40

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*Excludes time in Basic Military Training and/or Skill Training
 Period of Eligibility

• 15 years from last release from active duty of

at least:

− 90 consecutive days

− 30 consecutive days if released for disability

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 Elections

Individuals eligible for one of the following benefits

may be required to make an irrevocable election to
receive benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill
• Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty
• Montgomery GI Bill-Selected Reserve
• Reserve Educational Assistance Program

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 Entitlement

Generally, entitlement provisions under the Post-9/11

GI Bill are similar to those under other education
benefit programs:

• Individuals may receive 36 months of benefits

• If an individual’s entitlement exhausts during a
term, benefits may be extended until the end of
the term
• Individuals eligible for more than one program
administered by VA are limited to 48 months of
combined benefits
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 Benefits

• Tuition and Fees

• Monthly Housing Allowance
• Books and Supplies Stipend
• Yellow Ribbon
• Rural Benefit
• Licensing and Certification Tests

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 Tuition and Fees

• Individuals on active duty are eligible for tuition

and fees charged
• Individuals not on active duty are eligible for the
lesser of:
− Actual tuition and fees charged; or
− Tuition and fees charged for full-time,
undergraduate training at the most expensive
public institution of higher learning in the state
where the student is enrolled

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 Monthly Housing Allowance

• Equivalent to the Basic Allowance for Housing

for an E-5 with dependents
• Amount determined by zip code of the school
where the student is enrolled
• Payments issued directly to the student on a
monthly basis

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 Monthly Housing Allowance

Individuals are NOT eligible for the monthly

housing allowance if they are:
• On active duty
• Training at ½ time or less
• Pursuing training solely by distance
learning

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 Books and Supplies Stipend

Up to $1,000 per academic year

• Payments issued directly to the student in a
lump sum for each quarter, semester or term
• Active duty members are not eligible

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 Yellow Ribbon

• Institutions within the U.S. may voluntarily

enter into an agreement with VA to fund
tuition and fee costs that exceed the highest
public in-state undergraduate tuition and fees
• Provides additional funding for:
– Training at private institutions
– Graduate training
– Out-of-state tuition
• Only individuals entitled to the 100% benefit
rate may receive this funding
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 Yellow Ribbon

• VA will match each additional dollar that an

institution contributes, up to 50% of the difference
between the student’s tuition benefit and the total
cost of tuition and fees
• The combined amounts may not exceed the full cost
of the school’s established charges

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 Transfer of Entitlement

To be approved for Transfer of Entitlement a member

must:
– Have been in the Armed Forces on 08/01/09,
– Have completed 6 years in the Armed Forces, and
– Agree to serve 4 more years
– PHS and NOAA members are not eligible to transfer
benefits, as only the Secretaries above may offer
transfer of benefits

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 Transfer of Entitlement

An individual approved to transfer benefits may:

• Transfer up to 36 months of benefits (unless
DoD/DHS restricts number of months an
individual may transfer).
• Transfer to spouse, child, or children in any
amount up to amount transferor has available or
amount approved by DoD/DHS.
• Revoke or modify a transfer request of any unused
benefits unless the transferor’s 15-year eligibility
period has ended.

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 Transfer of Entitlement

An individual approved to transfer benefits may:

– Not transfer benefits to a new dependent once the

transferor is no longer a member of Armed Forces.
– Modify the number of months transferred amongst
dependents.

Liability
Transferor and individual using transferred
entitlement are jointly liable for any overpayment of
chapter 33 benefits

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 Transfer of Entitlement

Spouses:
• May use after transferor completes 6 years in
Armed Forces
• Paid at transferor’s rate - Cannot be paid monthly
housing allowance or books and supplies stipend if
the transferor is on active duty when the spouse is
receiving benefits
• Can continue to use benefits if divorced, unless the
transferor revokes remaining entitlement
• Can use benefits up to transferor’s 15-year
eligibility period, unless transferor specifies an
earlier ending date
• Not limited to highest in-State tuition and fee rates
while transferor in on active duty

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 Transfer of Entitlement

Children:
• Entitlement must be transferred to an unmarried child who
has not reached the age of 18 or, if in school, before child is
23 years of age
• May use benefits after transferor completes 10 years in
Armed Forces
• Must have:
― Reached age 18; or
― Completed requirements of secondary school diploma
(or equivalency certificate)
• Receives veteran rate, including housing allowance & book
stipend, even if transferor is on active duty
• May use until 26 years old even if transferor’s 15-year
eligibility period ended
• May continue to use benefits after marriage
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 New Legislation

• Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry

Scholarship
– amends the Post-9/11 GI Bill (chapter 33) to include
the children of service members who die in the line of
duty after Sept. 10, 2001.

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 Post-9/11 GI Bill Status Since Aug 1, 2009

• Over 518,300 students have applied for a

Certificate of Eligibility (C of E)
– Over 510,400 of those have received decisions
– They will be paid when enrolled in school
• 254,520 total beneficiaries paid to date
– $3.0 Billion in benefits payments
• $1.3 Billion to schools
• $1.7 Billion to students

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 Post-9/11 GI Bill Status for Spring 2010

• As of March 25, 2010

– 229,893 enrollment certifications received from schools
– 218,160 have been processed
– Average 21 days to process
– Processing approximately increased from 1,800
enrollments per day in August 2009 to 7,000 per day in
February 2010.

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 What VA has Experienced

• Longer processing times

– Inefficiency in IT systems beyond initial estimates
• Transaction functionality more limited than expected and
results in a highly manual process
• IT tools are complex and therefore training is time consuming
• Substantial Ch 33 workload increase
– Use of existing programs remains significant
– Ch 33 allows beneficiaries to exhaust other programs and
maintain eligibility to Ch 33 for 12 months (36/48 months)
– Transfer of entitlement

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 Post-911 GI Bill Challenges

• Use of maximum tuition and fee rate per state

to pay benefits
– Requires time consuming research to ensure
maximum possible rates – no authoritative source for
tuition and fee data
– Dependent upon state budget cycle that typically does
not start until July
– Prevented some claims from being processed early as
final rates were not available for all states prior to
program implementation

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 Post-911 GI Bill Challenges (Contd)

• Complicated Yellow Ribbon Program

development and implementation because
schools could contribute varying amounts
• Complicated claims processing because each
student could potentially have a different
payment amount that must be verified by
claims processor
• Add/Drop changes result in certification
changes

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 Post-911 GI Bill Challenges (Contd)

• Confusion over housing payment schedule

– Post-9/11 GI Bill pays each month in arrears,
consistent with other education benefits
– Students expect housing payments at the beginning of
each month instead of after each month of attendance,
or full payment after only partial month of attendance
• Contributed to financial hardships among students
• Increased demand on VA customer service
• Receipt of books and supplies stipend at the beginning of
each term contributes to complexity

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 Post-911 GI Bill Challenges (Contd)

• Complexities in program
– Payment differences between Ch 33 and other VA
programs required significant modifications to IT
systems and business processes
• Multiple benefit payments to multiple entities
• Lack of a set payment rate

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 New IT Systems Being Developed

• The new Chap 33 system will deliver an end to

end solution to support the delivery of Post-
9/11 GI Bill benefits. It will be:
– Released in 4-6 month intervals, delivering
incremental capability
– Developed in a distributed application architecture
framework
– Supportive of a service oriented architecture
– Developed using an agile architecture
– Rules-based to ensure reusability and flexibility

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 New IT System Results

• Release schedule:
– Version 1.1 – 2Q FY2010
– Version 1.2 – 3Q FY2010
– Version 1.3 – 4Q FY2010
– Version 1.4 – December 2010
• The result will be:
– Faster processing time
– More accurate decisions
– Less reliance on human intervention to pay benefits
– Student self-service

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