Akaka unveils plan for big changes to GI Bill - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Akaka unveils plan for big changes to GI Bill

The chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee has unveiled his plans for improving the Post-9/11 GI Bill, including one change certain to please active-duty members using the new education benefits program.

Under the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010, introduced Thursday, active-duty users of the new GI Bill would be eligible for a $1,000-a-year book allowance, which is currently paid to veterans but denied to active-duty service members and their spouses using transferred benefits.

The measure was introduced by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, one of the few lawmakers who received his college degree using veterans benefits.

“With 10 months of experience under the new program, I believe it is time to look at what improvements and modifications need to be made in order for the program to reach its potential,” Akaka said.

Active-duty service members and their spouses do not receive book allowances or housing stipends under the current benefits program.

The main reason that they don’t get the book allowance is that it is linked to the program’s housing payments, and they don’t get the housing payments because the government already provides them either housing or a housing allowance.

Akaka’s proposal would make the $1,000 book allowance available by de-linking the book and housing payments.

That is still not the biggest change he is contemplating.

Akaka’s bill, S 3447, also would overhaul living stipends so that payments are pro-rated based on the number of credits taken. Current law provides a full living stipend — based on the military housing allowance for a married E-5 for the ZIP code of the institution where the student is enrolled — for those taking a course load that makes them more than a half-time student.

Under Akaka’s change, more part-time students would receive payments, but some taking less than a full load of courses might be paid less.

In another big change, he proposes to eliminate the state-by-state cap on tuition and fees, replacing it with a national average of tuition and fees. With the change, the GI Bill would cover the full cost of tuition and fees for almost everyone taking undergraduate classes at a public college or university.

Those attending private schools, paying out-of-state tuition at public institutions, or enrolled in graduate or doctoral classes, would be paid up to the national cap, based on the average cost of tuition and fees for full-time undergraduates at in-state rates for four-year public colleges and universities.

Other provisions of Akaka’s bill include:

• Adding vocational training, flight training, on-the-job training and apprenticeships to the types of education covered by the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Currently, coverage is limited to courses offered by a degree-granting institution.

• Giving credit toward earning benefits to National Guard and reserve members on full-time active duty, whose service currently does not count. Akaka said these people were “inadvertently omitted” when Congress approved the benefits program last year.

• Providing a reduced living stipend to distance-learning students, who under current law receive the benefit only if they are taking at least one on-campus course. Those who enrolled only in distance-learning classes would receive a payment that is 50 percent of the payment for on-campus students carrying the same number of credits.