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Veterans' Notes: New GI Bill

By VVAW

LOANS, WORK-STUDY, ELIGIBILITY

After months of discussion and dissension, Congress finally agreed on a set of amendments to the GI Bill, and Carter signed them into law in late November. As usual, the Veterans Administration will do as little as possible to publicize provisions of the new bill. As a result, Congressmen can go home to their districts and talk about how they have helped the vet, and still have a whole collection of new rules that will cost the VA little since millions of affected veterans won't ever know what's in the new bill.

One provision of the new GI Bill (that is, the old Bill plus the new amendments) vets should already know about--the increase in payments. Senate and House agreed on a 6.6% increase which they're calling a cost of living increase. For a single veteran that means instead of receiving $292 per month, the payments have gone up to $311 per month. The GI Bill check that should have come on the 1st of December [the check to cover the month of November) should have the increase on it as well as the increased amount for October ($292 +$19 (the raise for November) + $19 (the raise for October) = $330 for a single vet]. (there was also a cost-of-living increase of 6.6% for disability payments--that increase, not a part of the GI Bill, was passed in October.) If your check doesn't show the increase, raise hell with the nearest VA representative; since all these increases are taken care of by the VA's computer system, there is no excuse at all for the increases not being included in December's check.

Before rushing out to give thanks to your nearest Congressman, however, notice the following statistic from the U.S. Labor Department: the average worker in the U.S. got a $15 per week pay increase in the past year; all of it was eaten up by inflation. So much for out $19 per month!

Another provision of the new Bill deals with work-study programs. These programs provide hundreds of thousands of vets with the ability to make a little money to augment the inadequate GI Bill since the jobs are designed for veterans, and since working hours can be adjusted around school schedules. Although there is a wide range of jobs involved, what they amount to is that the VA can buy cheap labor to do work which otherwise would require fulltime workers (at more or less decent salaries). In the new GI Bill the hourly work-study allowance is raised to equal the federal minimum wage. Just think--all the way up to $2.65 an hour (as of January 1, 1978)! If we did $2.65 worth of work per hour, we'd hardly get our coats off by the end of an 8-hour day. And by 1980, we'll be all the way up to over $3 per hour!

Third, there are new VA educational loan regulations. The amount of the possible loan is increased from $1500 per school year (9 months) to $2500; in fact, what the VA does now, and will continue to do in the future, is calculate what they think the veterans applying for a loan need based on the individual's loan application. The change in the amount of the total possible loan does not mean that vets will automatically get that much, only that the limit has been raised. Another provision of this section is that veterans no longer have to get two banks to turn down their loan application. In fact, all that was necessary was for the vet to walk into a bank and ask to be turned down for a loan; most banks had form letters already available and only needed a bank officer to sign the letter to fulfill that requirement. White it's good to have one more little harassment removed from educational loans, it's not a major change.

Other changes in the loan program may turn out to be more significant. (Since the new GI Bill is just out, Vet Notes is basing this article on what the Bill says; interpretations of the new Bill will no doubt be coming along from the VA, but at the time of writing this column, the VA representatives don't even know for sure what's in the Bill.) According to the new Bill, loans are now available to veterans who are not enrolled in fulltime programs leading to a degree; such vets need to apply to the nearest VA office. An, even more important to many veterans, vet/students who are enrolled in a fulltime course at the time their then years runs out (what the VA calls the "delimiting date") can still get loans for the 11th and 12th years after discharge.

Other provisions of the new Bill deal with keeping vets informed. One section, as passed by the Senate, made it mandatory that the vet rep (or VA administrator) inform vets about employment opportunities. As the Bill was finally passed, however, it now says the VA must provide "counseling where appropriate." Similarly, the Senate version of the Bill made it mandatory that advance payment checks include a statement about what period of time the check was for. The final version of the Bill only required that the VA take "reasonable steps" to get the word out to vets. In fact, in schools with good VA representatives or good vets affairs directors, the word gets out already; it will continue to do so. In places where vets affairs offices don't do anything now, they'll continue to do nothing about letting us know what's happening.

More money is authorized to school for doing the paperwork--$7 per vet who doesn't get advance payment, $11 for each vet who does (see what we're worth to the schools?). A provision to give the school $5 for each vet who completes a term was turned down, to be replaced by a "comprehensive longitudinal study" (!!!) about how many vets use the GI Bill; this "study" was given $2,000,000 to work with!

In one final provision, which will probably be given no publicity at all, we veterans now cannot get booked off the Bill without being told about it. The new law requires the VA must have evidence that the vet isn't eligible, must give the vet written notice when he or she is suspended or dropped form the Bill, and has to inform the veterans that he or she has the right to a statement of reasons and an appeal.

IMPORTANT - Pensioners

NOTE: A short article, buried under a sweater ad in the Chicago Tribune, say: "Veterans Administration pension benefits will be cut off February 1 for about 700,000 recipients unless they respond to a questionnaire sent to them November 1, the VA said. The questionnaire is designed to determine the outside income that veterans and their dependents receive."

Because we found this article on the same day the paper is being printed, we have not been able to get more information. If you are getting--or should be getting--a VA pension you should get in touch with the nearest VA office. We'll get the necessary information also and include that in the next Veterans' Notes column.