Can You Get The Gi Bill?

[MrFreedomforAll]

Do you get any education benefits if you are rated at 100%

How about 80%.

What is the cut off?

[broncovet]

I think I have this right, someone correct me if I am wrong.

1. You can get education benefits depending on when you were originally in the service..Gi Bill, Montgomery GI bill, etc.

2. You can ALSO apply to Voc Rehab, and probably get Voc rehab education benefits.

Your dependents can get CH 35 (Dependents Educational Assistance) from your 100% P and T. No, I dont think you can collect multiple education benefits at once, such as GI bill and VOC REhab.

[Jayg]

I think I have this right, someone correct me if I am wrong.

1. You can get education benefits depending on when you were originally in the service..Gi Bill, Montgomery GI bill, etc.

2. You can ALSO apply to Voc Rehab, and probably get Voc rehab education benefits.

Your dependents can get CH 35 (Dependents Educational Assistance) from your 100% P and T. No, I don't think you can collect multiple education benefits at once, such as GI bill and VOC REhab.

1. Yes but most definitely as you said, "Depending on when you were in service." I'm a V/N era vet and I had a GI Bill once. It was a heck of a deal too. We knew it would always be there to use... until they took it away from us. B) (If I sound bitter, that's because I am. :P ) That was, ummm, what? About 1985?

I don't know about those other benefits. One thing to consider is that many states have programs available that may be better than the National, available when National is not, or concurrent with National.

Edited August 24, 2009 by Jayg (see edit history)

[sixthscents]

You cannot use Chapter 31 (GI Bill) and Voc Rehab at the same time. Sorry, but just call vocational rehab to verify this. In fact there is a form you must sign that states exactly this.

The supposed cutoff for Voc rehab is 30%, but I have seen them approve vets at 20%. It just depends upon the funding available. Early in the fiscal year I would expect 20% to get approved.

I qualify for the new post 9/11 GI Bill, but to be honest Voc Rehab pays almost as much (depending upon where you live) and I was really happy with the attention and care they gave me. It made sense to me to save my GI Bill for either a period when Voc Rehab might not pay, or... whatever (like now).

My wife got her Masters on Chapter 35, and I gotta say its a great program, if a bit of a hassle to get started. Once you have it started though its easy to verify attendance etc. Also there are a lot of grants, scholarships and partial scholarships to children of disabled vets, each state being different of course.

Further new veterans qualify for a program thru the department of human services that I simply cannot remember the name of. It used to be called JTPA - Job Training Partnership Act, but it has a new title now - Workforce something or other maybe? Anyway, any veteran qualifies for it, and it pays for all costs of either a vocational or traditional college program with some per diem etc. Check with the dept of Labor for the name and contacts. They would know as well as the on post ed advisors.

Bob Smith

[sixthscents]

Oh, and I was taking an online course. I already have a degree, but cannot pursue it due to my physical constraints (EE). I have a lot of IT training though, so I was basically recertifying for database design and management. Voc Rehab will pay for the online courses, the books and any necessary certification testing. IT requires a bunch of different certs, and some of the tests cost major money. Yet they didn't flinch.

mm. early on, before I did voc rehab, I did ILS and they paid for a computer etc. I thnk they were willing to do so again if necessary, but I didn't need one. ILS or Independent Living Services is also a wicked cool program, again depending upon the quality of your case manager. I gotta say though, everyone at voc rehab was really incredible at the Nashville VA.

Bob Smith

[broncovet]

As far as the "cut off" goes, it is not going to make much difference for your education benefits if you are 80% or 100%. The "cut off" is when you were in the service. Your period of military service defines which, if any, education chapter you qualify for.

You can try to figure it out here, but good luck:

http://www.gibill.va.gov/

[Berta]

My daughter has the GI bill and as I recall she had to pay towards it.

The site Military.com should have a better explanation of all of the educational benefits then the VA does.

[broncovet]

The post 9-11 GI bill will serve to further frustate Veterans. The VA knew about this new bill coming up for some time, so what did they do to prepare for it? Hire more people to process claims? No..they "decided" to frustrate at least 200,000 MORE Veterans to add their backlog to the already growing one million claim backlog for disabled Veterans claims.

My son is trying to get Chapter 35 benefits, and the VA is whining that they cant process his claim in a timely manner because of the new GI bill. So, its even worse than we thought.

[sixthscents]

Well to qualify for the post 9/11 GI Bill veterans had to serve during or after 9/11/2001 I think... check the VA website for more info. I know I qualify as I went thru the process and filed for it with the VA months and months ago. I don't understand why they are having problems now, but I guess I just got lucky and my claim got processed instead of getting filed.

In any case the cut off percentage to qualify for Voc Rehab (I have just learned from another post) is actually 10% with a provable vocational handicap. with 20 and 30% I dont think you have to prove any handicap, its assumed. Lots of people seem to have had problems with theur ed reps, and all I can say is keep trying. There are good and bad ones.

Also to qualify for the post 9/11 GI Bill I think a servicemember had to already be enrolled or enroll in the mongomery GI Bill program, which does cost $1200 ($100 a month for 12 months) at least thats what it used to cost, I am not certain but it could have changed in the last few months.

Anyway like I said the Chapter 35 program is a hassle to get started, they also were late with my wifes first semester. However once it is started its really simple to keep going as long as they attend the same institution.

In the end this is the VA, so I really am not suprised to hear of delays, problems with councilors, and incompetence.... (sigh) I wish I could fix it, but we just have to keep plugging away. You will get what you deserve, never doubt it, but you have to keep at it. Good Luck and blessings.

Bob Smith