Natalie Bailey/MNS

Marco Reininger, a veteran now at Columbia University in New York, said the VA needs to come up to speed with modern technology in order to cut the confusion surrounding the new Post 9/11 GI Bill.

WASHINGTON – Veterans trying to get an education under the new GI bill face delayed checks, erroneous payments and uncertainty about what their actual benefits are, a congressional committee was told Wednesday.

Testifying before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Department of Veterans Affairs officials acknowledged payment and recoupment problems that have characterized the initial eight months of the overhaul of the original Montgomery GI Bill. “Glitches” were expected in the beginning, but they need to be fixed, officials said.

“A fellow veteran ate canned beans and sardines three meals a day for an entire semester trying to scrape up gas money for his wife and children back home” because he didn’t know when his next GI Bill check would arrive, said Marco Reininger, a veteran now enrolled at Columbia University in New York.

Called the “most sweeping change in post-service education benefits since World War II” by Robert Clark, an assistant director for personnel and readiness at the Defense Department, the Post 9/11 bill has added incentives to recruit and retain troops. Among them, certain members of the service can transfer their educational benefits to a spouse or child.

The newest iteration of the bill reflects the reality that U.S. forces are volunteers, unlike the conscripted forces of World War II, Clark said.

As it began implementing the bill last fall, the VA provided $355.5 million in advance payments to veterans who had not yet received their education funds, said Keith Wilson director of the VA’s education service. Additionally, officials estimated 6,000 veterans had too much money withdrawn from their accounts in order to repay these advances starting April 1.

The payments have put many veterans in overpayment status, a practice that is “unacceptable,” Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said.

“We do not want to continue advance payments,” Wilson said.

Tester also called for improved communication of the program’s intricacies, a need reiterated by Reininger.

“There’s uncertainty among veterans about payments and people are confused about their options,” Reininger said.

He also said schools’ financial aid offices don’t understand the bill’s benefits.

The complexity of the new bill has been a technical challenge, Wilson said.

Members of the armed services are automatically enrolled in the Montgomery GI Bill and must take an extra step to opt into the benefits of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which went into effect Aug. 1.  As a result, nearly all veterans are still enrolled in the Montgomery GI Bill.

In addition to problems in the new program, veterans groups are upset that on-the-job training and apprenticeships have been left out of the benefits.

preload imagepreload image