Post-9/11 GI Bill

A NEW GI BILL FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
“I want to personally thank Senator Jim Webb for his vision, his determination, his leadership, and for providing this opportunity for young veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. “This Post-9/11 GI Bill has every potential to equally impact the United States in resounding, positive ways in this new century. By 2011 we expect to have placed a quarter of a million Americans into colleges and universities through this most comprehensive veterans’ education benefits package since the original GI Bill after World War II.”


On Monday, June 30, the landmark legislation that I introduced on my first day in office to provide post-9/11 veterans with comprehensive educational benefits was signed into law.

We began with a simple concept—that those serving since 9/11 should have the same opportunity for a first class future as those who served during World War II.  After 18 months of working with my Democratic and Republican colleagues in Congress, leading veterans’ service organizations, the higher education community, and the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, we accomplished that goal.

This is not simply an expansion of veterans’ benefits. This is a new program, a deserved program. In the more than seven years that have passed since 9/11, it is time for those men and women who have served honorably in our military to receive a proper wartime GI Bill.

Our country has benefited greatly from its tradition of offering educational assistance to returning veterans.  In the 1940s, the first “GI Bill” helped transform notions of equality in American society.  The World War II GI Bill paid for veterans’ tuition, books, fees, a monthly stipend, and other training costs.  However, benefits awarded under subsequent GI bills have not been as expansive as our nation’s original GI Bill. The most recent Montgomery GI Bill was designed primarily as a recruiting benefit for a peacetime force – not as a true readjustment benefit following wartime service.

Under our new legislation, increased educational benefits are available to all members of the military who have served on active duty since September 11, 2001, including activated reservists and National Guard.  To qualify, veterans must have served at least three to thirty-six months of qualified active duty, beginning on or after September 11, 2001.  Benefits provided under the bill will allow veterans pursuing an approved program of education to receive payments covering the established charges of their program, up to the cost of the most expensive in-state public school, plus a monthly stipend equivalent to housing costs in their area.

The bipartisan consensus to provide a proper investment in our “new greatest generation” of post-9/11 veterans includes support from The American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), the American Council on Education, and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, among many others.  Nearly 60 U.S. Senators and over 300 U.S. Representatives signed on as cosponsors to this landmark effort to reward our veterans for their honorable service.


For more information about the new GI Bill and eligibility, call 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551)
or visit the VA website: www.GIBILL.VA.gov


Materials & Resources

Timeline of Senator Webb's Efforts to pass the GI Bill and Materials from the GMU Event with President Obama
The Department of Veterans' Affairs Brochure on the new GI Bill
Fact Sheet on S.22
Complete press packet on S.22
List of Senate co-sponsors
List of House co-sponsors
Prominent GI Bill Beneficiaries (Edward Humes, Over Here: How the GI Bill Transformed the American Dream)
Chart on WWII Veterans in the Senate--How Much the GI Bill Would Cover Then & Now