Last week the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a hearing on the implementation of the new Post-9/11 G.I. Bill.

The focus of the hearing was to identify problems encountered to date with the implementation of the legislation and learn how they were addressed. In addition, committee members focused on understanding what needs to occur to ensure the benefits are delivered in a timely and accurate way.

Those who testsified at the hearing highlighted several key issues with regard to the  implemenation of the legislation including:

• Long delays
• Financial strain while waiting for education benefits
• Difficulty for higher education institutions to accomodate veterans while waiting for funding
• Variations in tuition benefits by state and student enrollment
• Short-turn around for implementation of legislation

Some of the solutions that were taken to address these problems included the issuance of emergency advance payments and redirection of staffing within the Veterans’ Administration (VA) to processing claims.

In addition, the Veterans’ Administration has partnered with Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic to develop an end-to-end claims processing solution that utilizes rules-based, industry-standard technologies for the delivery of education benefits.  This is the VA’s long-term strategy for implementation of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill.