More than a million U.S. military veterans who served in multiple enlistments are now eligible for an extra year of education benefits, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced on Friday.
The decision, announced on Jan. 3 by VA Secretary Denis McDonough, gives veterans who meet the requirements a full 48 months of education assistance. The policy change comes in the way of a Supreme Court decision last year, which ended a cap of three years of educational support.
“The bottom line is this: Veterans who separately accrue benefits under both the Montgomery and Post-9/11 GI Bills are entitled to both benefits,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in the Supreme Court’s opinion on the case.
Specifically, veterans must have served in two or more separate periods of military service that meet the requirements of the Montgomery and Post-9/11 GI bills in order to qualify. For those that do, the VA will be automatically handling extensions for more than half of eligible veterans. Roughly 660,000 will not have to take any action to take advantage of the new policy, the department said, while the rest will be notified in order to file a claim for the benefits extension.
““This policy will not only help Veterans who apply for GI Bill benefits in the future — it will also allow VA to provide additional benefits to many Veterans who used GI Bill benefits in the past,” VA Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs said in the department’s announcement. “Every Veteran has earned the right to get a good, affordable education — and under this new policy, many Veterans will get additional 12 months of GI Bill benefits.”
The Montgomery GI Bill Act of 1984 provides as much as $2,400 per month to veterans who served at least two years and received an honorable discharge. That money can go toward paying for vocational training, college and certain technical courses or certifications. The bill covered those who served in the military between 1985-2030. The Post-9/11 GI Bill pays full tuition at state universities to veterans who had three years of active-duty service post September 2001. It also provides support in other ways, including a housing stipend.
As part of the new change, the VA is also adjusting expiration dates for accessing the bills’ benefits. Since a veteran could previously not use both sets of benefits, there is now an extended period to access the other. Any extension must be applied for by Oct. 1, 2030.
More information for veterans about the expanded education benefits and what they need to do to access them is at https://benefits.va.gov/GIBILL/rudisill.asp.
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