GIs have some educational options
By JOHN P. BROWN III
Over the last few months, Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia has “rallied the troops” to support an overhaul of the current GI Bill. Earlier in May, AMVETS, one of the nation’s leading veterans’ service organizations with chapters representing all generations of veterans in all 50 states, rallied on the steps of Capitol Hill alongside Webb, a bipartisan bloc of Congressional supporters and fellow veterans’ service organizations seeking to restore veterans’ education benefits.
As Military Appreciation Month draws to a close, we must recommit ourselves as Americans to providing for those who sacrifice to keep us free. When the original GI Bill passed after World War II, we learned that an investment in our veterans’ education is an investment in the future of our nation. These brave men and women are proven leaders on the battlefield and they will prove to be leaders in our communities for years to come.
In recent months we have seen reports citing high rates of unemployment among our recently-returned veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. It is our obligation as a nation to see that our veterans and their family members have every opportunity to succeed. Sadly, we are failing.
A number of factors may contribute to nearly 20-percent unemployment among younger veterans with nearly a quarter hovering just above the poverty line. However, one indisputable factor is the overall lack of access to proper education and training once these veterans separate from military service.
Full tuition
It’s no exaggeration that the current GI Bill cannot even finance a two-year program at many community colleges, let alone help a veteran or his dependents finance a four-year degree at a full-time college or university. Webb’s proposed GI Bill would alleviate this injustice, providing full tuition to veterans at state universities, as well as a small living stipend, similar to the post-WWII GI Bill.
Unfortunately, passing the new GI Bill proved to be a difficult and protracted process. Plus, current legislation provides nothing for service members’ families. As politicians wrangled over the appropriate language, ways to fund the proposed GI Bill and ways to transfer benefits among dependents, AMVETS has taken a proactive approach to help veterans and their family members earn a college degree.
Recently, AMVETS partnered with DeVry University, University of Phoenix, and Kaplan University to provide millions of dollars in scholarships and tuition vouchers for members of the military, veterans, and eligible family members.
Each national institution of higher learning offers a variety of flexible programs allowing veterans to pursue a degree either online or at dozens of campuses across the United States. This flexibility allows veterans, who are often older than their collegiate peers, to balance other obligations in their life with academic pursuits.
These three universities, DeVry, Phoenix, and Kaplan, offer a learning environment specially suited to the needs of those continuing to serve and those who seek to become more competitive in the job market. Each scholarship program is also renewable, allowing recipients to take advantage of their earned education benefit over the course of a two or four-year degree program.
AMVETS urges active members of the military, reservists, members of the Guard, veterans, and their loved ones to look into these unique education opportunities. Information and applications for each program are available on the AMVETS Web site, www.amvets.org.
X John P. “JP” Brown III, a Youngstown native, is national commander of AMVETS, representing nearly 250,000 veterans and their family members across the United States.