On Aug. 1, Congress’ new Post-9/11 GI Bill was launched in an effort to increase the benefits package Uncle Sam makes available to veterans returning home from war.
According to a study published by the Chronicle of Higher Education last week, schools such as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln can expect an influx of veterans as full-time, four-year students.
The study shows a small reversal of a long-running trend among veterans to choose to attend community colleges or other two-year schools that may be more accommodating.
Because most veterans are nontraditional students older than the age of 22, many find it difficult to fit a full-time load of classes into their daily schedules.
“(Attending college) is a common aspiration,” said Drew Nelson, a senior geology major, of his fellow servicemen. Nelson served with the Navy as part of a special operations unit. “It depends on what (jobs) people did in the military.”
Nelson, who served in the first Gulf War and was active during conflicts in Somalia and Haiti, does not have to worry about the G.I. Bill or its changes. He receives aid for school through a program called vocational rehabilitation.
The vocational rehabilitation program assists veterans who have been injured during the course of their active duty and can no longer perform tasks they were accustomed to before being deployed. Veterans must apply for the aid and go through a series of interviews and evaluations before qualifying.
“For me, it covers everything,” Nelson said. “It’s a really good program.”
Nelson said the program pays for his tuition and books, along with providing him a monthly stipend for living expenses.
This program more closely resembles the new GI Bill. But for recipients of the old Montgomery GI Bill, options were available to increase the benefits they obtain after their active duty.
For Steve Vossler, the opportunity to someday attend college was always one of the reasons he decided to enlist in the Army in 2000, right out of high school.
“Nebraska is a good school, and it’s home,” said Vossler, now a senior political science and international studies major who hails from Friend, Neb., just 35 miles southwest of Lincoln. “(The Army) was the one option that could bring me all of my desires.”
Vossler, a former Korean linguist in the Army, said he receives his benefits from the GI Bill, but they easily could be much smaller if he hadn’t been thinking about college from the beginning.
“My (benefits) come from the GI Bill, the college fund and a ‘kicker,’” Vossler said.
“Personally, it’s better for me to keep the (old) GI Bill.”
The “kicker,” as well as the college fund, are both programs in which the Army takes a set amount from a soldier’s paycheck each month and matches it in an account. This investment gives Vossler an extra $100-$200 each month, he said.
Because the new GI Bill has just been introduced, many veterans are unaware of the benefits they can potentially receive because of the changes made.
Although the new GI Bill is more generous than the previous one, neither match the generosity of the original, which included one year of unemployment compensation and loans to buy homes or start businesses. The original bill was drafted and put into practice in 1944.
On Sept. 10, the University of Nebraska Student Veterans Organization, a student group founded last May in an attempt to unite and inform veterans who are attending UNL, is holding its first meeting of the year in the City Union at 8 p.m. The meeting will feature a representative from the Lancaster County Veterans Association who will be presenting information on the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
If the increase in scholastic aid has its desired effect on soldiers returning home, student groups and universities alike should be expecting a rise in their veteran numbers.
“We want to help veterans get a college education,” Vossler said of UNL’s Student Veterans Organization, “and provide information in terms of the GI Bill, vocational rehab and more.”
EVANCOTTEN@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
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