This afternoon Governor Inslee signed into law two pieces of legislation that will ease the transition from military service to higher education.
Senate Bill 5318 removes the one-year waiting period for veterans or active members of the military for purposes of eligibility for resident tuition and Senate Bill 5969 provides for awarding academic credit for military training.
Serving veterans is a critical component of Evergreen’s outreach. This was the central message relayed by Randy Kelley, Director of the Veterans Resource Center before the Senate Higher Education Committee.
Kelley presented as part of panel focused on the work in Washington to ease the transition from military service to higher education. Kelley joined colleagues from the University of Washington and the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges to share the work at Washington’s public higher education institutions.
This afternoon the Washington Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee held a public hearing on legislation referred to committee.
Among the legislation heard, was HB 1221, regarding the rights of certain higher education students involved in military service. In particular the bill would allow a student at an institution of higher education who is a member of the Washington National Guard or other military reserve component and is ordered for 30 days or less into active or inactive service is entitled to make up any missed class, test, exam, lab, or event without affecting the final course grade or evaluation.
Students currently called for active service are able to make up any assignments without affecting the final course grade or evaluation.
The Evergreen State College testified in support of HB 1221, advocating for the predictability and stability this bill would offer veterans attending higher education institutions in Washington.
The Obama administration announced today the beginning of a series of efforts to help increase support for military families, including higher grants from the Department of Education.
Specific details are not yet clear, but a White House news release says the department will examine ways to customize financial-aid programs to fit the needs of military families, and to be “more sensitive to the financial fluctuations of Guard and Reserve personnel.”
Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 (S. 3447).
The Act updates the original Post-9/11 GI Bill by addressing current implementation problems and making the policies more relevant to the needs of today’s veterans.
The final bill makes several changes to the current legislation.
The Act now goes to the President for his signature.
Fall 2010 marked the second anniversary of the implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The bill was passed on June 30, 2008 and went into effect on Augsut 1, 2009. The bill greatly expanded higher education benefits to veterans who served since September 11, 2001.
Earlier this year, both the U.S. House and Senate introduced legislation to improve and clarify the legislation. The Post-9/11 Veteran’s Education Improvement Act of 2010 (S. 3447 and H.R. 5933) offers changes to current law in response to criticisms and implementation problems as well as the need to ensure the bill is relevant to the needs of today’s veteran students.
The bills introduced in 2010 do not dramatically change the funding of public education for veterans, but instead focus on changes to the contribution to private education. Students attending public institutions would have their tuition and fees fully covered, effectively the same as current law .
The Senate version however would require a cap at private institutions to be a national average of the tuition and fees for both public and private programs, rather than the highest public program in a student’s state. The House version would require a $20,000 cap.
Both changes differ from current law. Current law allows the state to set the base benefit; the maximum benefit equates to the most expensive in-state undergraduate tuition and fees at a public institution of higher education in the state’s system. Veterans who attend a public institution as an out-of-state student or who attend a private institution may apply the maximum base benefit toward the out-of-state tuition public or private institution tuition and fees. To cover any remaining expenses for veterans the Yellow Ribbon Program matches institutuional dollars put forth to reduce the remaining expenses with dollars from the federal government to eliminate the funding gap.
The changes proposed in the new legislation have both challenges and strengths. The challenge emerges the inclusion of caps, which would likely result in a lower amount that veterans would receive at private instituitons and would necessitate that institutions contribute more funds towards the Yellow Ribbon Program. The strengths the changes offer include the creation of a national standard and a level playing field for all veterans across all states.
In addition to a cap, both bills provide additional changes. Among these changes are an eligibility extension to those who have served full-time in the National Guard and Reserve and an expansion of the types of institutions at which veterans can receive benefits. Finally, both bills call for an increase in the adminstrative cost allowance to accomodate the procedures involved in implementation.
Yesterday the U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee approved S. 3447 to expand benefits in the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
The bill would increase the number of people who could receive benefits and expand the list of programs/training for which veterans could use the aid.
In addition, the bill changes how allowances for textbooks and housing are calculated and provides in-state tuition/fees at public colleges or up to $20,000 adjusted annually and based on the national average cost.
In the U.S. House similar legislation is scheduled to be considered on September 16.
Late this week, a compromise veterans’ education bill is expected to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sponsored by Rep. Minnick (D-ID), the bill is an agreement between major veterans’ service organizations and the Veterans Affairs Department on ways to fix, improve or otherwise modify the benefits program that was launched in August 2009.
The changes proposed in the bill would not take effect until 2011.
Many of the provisions in the compromise bill are similar to provisions in S. 3447. Senate Bill 3447 is being refined and is expected to be brought to a vote in the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in early August.
The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which will receive the compromise bill, has scheduled a hearing on veterans’ education benefits on September 16.
This fall the Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts program (MyCAA) will be available again beginning October 25.
This past winter (February 2010) MyCAA was paused after a surge of applications threatened to drain its budget. At the time the program provided tuition of up to $6,000 for any military spouse to train for a portable career, one capable of enduring frequent military moves.
When the program returns the benefits will top out at $4,000. In addition, only spouses of junior service members “E1-E5, W1-W2, and O1-O2” will be eligible and those eligible for the program will be restricted to pursuing associate degrees,certificates, and licenses.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held another hearing on legislation that would streamline benefits for veterans under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
S. 3447 would revamp the benefit formula that has been in place since the Post-9/11 GI Bill took effect last year. The bill, as currently written, would establish a new national cap on benefits for private colleges – both for- and non-profit.
The new cap would be derived from the average tuition and fees of all private and public baccalaureate institutions across the nation, instead of the maximum benefit on the highest tuition of any public program in a given state.
Many higher education officials are supportive of the concept of setting a national standard of benefits and agree with the goal of erasing inequities between states. However, there is concern that the currrent discussion regarding a cap would result inveterans at private institutions receiving less funding in nearly 25 states. Language for the bill is still being hammered out.
In addition, the bill would make small changes with regards to funding for undergraduate education at public institutions and extend benefits to more members of the National Guard and Active Guard Reserve. This could potentially lead to coverage for an additional 30,000 whom were not covered by the original law.
Finally, the bill extends housing allowances to students taking courses purely online. Though the current GI Bill provides no allowance to students taking on distance education courses, the legislation under consideration would provide those students with 50 percent of the allowance given to residential students.