Department of Veteran Affairs The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational

1. Department of Veteran Affairs The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (Chapter 33)

2. Post-9/11 GI Bill • Eligibility • Elections • Entitlement • Benefits • Transfer of Entitlement • New Legislation • Post-9/11 Bill Status • Streamlining Measures • Challenges 2

3. Eligibility Individuals with active duty service after 09/10/01 who: • Serve a period of 90 aggregate days • Serve a period of 30 days and receive a disability discharge NOTE: Individuals are eligible while on active duty after serving a period of 90 days 3

4. Eligibility • Qualifying active duty includes: • Full-time duty in the Armed Forces, other than active duty for training • A call or order to active duty under Title 10 • Active duty periods may begin at any time, however, only the portion after 09/10/01 can be used to establish eligibility 4

5. Eligibility Criteria 5 *Excludes time in Basic Military Training and/or Skill Training

6. Period of Eligibility • 15 years from last release from active duty of at least: • 90 consecutive days • 30 consecutive days if released for disability 6

7. Elections • Individuals eligible for one of the following benefits may be required to make an irrevocable election to receive benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill • Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty • Montgomery GI Bill-Selected Reserve • Reserve Educational Assistance Program 7

8. Entitlement Generally, entitlement provisions under the Post-9/11 GI Bill are similar to those under other education benefit programs: • Individuals may receive 36 months of benefits • If an individual’s entitlement exhausts during a term, benefits may be extended until the end of the term • Individuals eligible for more than one program administered by VA are limited to 48 months of combined benefits 8

9. Benefits • Tuition and Fees • Monthly Housing Allowance • Books and Supplies Stipend • Yellow Ribbon • Rural Benefit • Licensing and Certification Tests 9

10. Tuition and Fees • Individuals on active duty are eligible for tuition and fees charged • Individuals not on active duty are eligible for the lesser of: • Actual tuition and fees charged; or • Tuition and fees charged for full-time, undergraduate training at the most expensive public institution of higher learning in the state where the student is enrolled 10

11. Monthly Housing Allowance • Equivalent to the Basic Allowance for Housing for an E-5 with dependents • Amount determined by zip code of the school where the student is enrolled • Payments issued directly to the student on a monthly basis 11

12. Monthly Housing Allowance • Individuals are NOT eligible for the monthly housing allowance if they are: • On active duty • Training at ½ time or less • Pursuing training solely by distance learning 12

13. Books and Supplies Stipend • Up to $1,000 per academic year • Payments issued directly to the student in a lump sum for each quarter, semester or term • Active duty members are not eligible 13

14. Yellow Ribbon • Institutions within the U.S. may voluntarily enter into an agreement with VA to fund tuition and fee costs that exceed the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition and fees • Provides additional funding for: • Training at private institutions • Graduate training • Out-of-state tuition • Only individuals entitled to the 100% benefit rate may receive this funding 14

15. Yellow Ribbon • VA will match each additional dollar that an institution contributes, up to 50% of the difference between the student’s tuition benefit and the total cost of tuition and fees • The combined amounts may not exceed the full cost of the school’s established charges 15

16. Transfer of Entitlement • To be approved for Transfer of Entitlement a member must: • Have been in the Armed Forces on 08/01/09, • Have completed 6 years in the Armed Forces, and • Agree to serve 4 more years • PHS and NOAA members are not eligible to transfer benefits, as only the Secretaries above may offer transfer of benefits 16

17. Transfer of Entitlement • An individual approved to transfer benefits may: • Transfer up to 36 months of benefits (unless DoD/DHS restricts number of months an individual may transfer). • Transfer to spouse, child, or children in any amount up to amount transferor has available or amount approved by DoD/DHS. • Revoke or modify a transfer request of any unused benefits unless the transferor’s 15-year eligibility period has ended. 17

18. Transfer of Entitlement • An individual approved to transfer benefits may: • Not transfer benefits to a new dependent once the transferor is no longer a member of Armed Forces. • Modify the number of months transferred amongst dependents. • Liability • Transferor and individual using transferred entitlement are jointly liable for any overpayment of chapter 33 benefits 18

19. Transfer of Entitlement • Spouses: • May use after transferor completes 6 years in Armed Forces • Paid at transferor’s rate - Cannot be paid monthly housing allowance or books and supplies stipend if the transferor is on active duty when the spouse is receiving benefits • Can continue to use benefits if divorced, unless the transferor revokes remaining entitlement • Can use benefits up to transferor’s 15-year eligibility period, unless transferor specifies an earlier ending date • Not limited to highest in-State tuition and fee rates while transferor in on active duty 19

20. Transfer of Entitlement • Children: • Entitlement must be transferred to an unmarried child who has not reached the age of 18 or, if in school, before child is 23 years of age • May use benefits after transferor completes 10 years in Armed Forces • Must have: • Reached age 18; or • Completed requirements of secondary school diploma (or equivalency certificate) • Receives veteran rate, including housing allowance & book stipend, even if transferor is on active duty • May use until 26 years old even if transferor’s 15-year eligibility period ended • May continue to use benefits after marriage 20

21. New Legislation • Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship • amends the Post-9/11 GI Bill (chapter 33) to include the children of service members who die in the line of duty after Sept. 10, 2001. 21

22. Post-9/11 GI Bill Status Since Aug 1, 2009 • Over 518,300 students have applied for a Certificate of Eligibility (C of E) • Over 510,400 of those have received decisions • They will be paid when enrolled in school • 254,520 total beneficiaries paid to date • $3.0 Billion in benefits payments • $1.3 Billion to schools • $1.7 Billion to students 22

23. Post-9/11 GI Bill Status for Spring 2010 • As of March 25, 2010 • 229,893 enrollment certifications received from schools • 218,160 have been processed • Average 21 days to process • Processing approximately increased from 1,800 enrollments per day in August 2009 to 7,000 per day in February 2010. 23

24. What VA has Experienced • Longer processing times • Inefficiency in IT systems beyond initial estimates • Transaction functionality more limited than expected and results in a highly manual process • IT tools are complex and therefore training is time consuming • Substantial Ch 33 workload increase • Use of existing programs remains significant • Ch 33 allows beneficiaries to exhaust other programs and maintain eligibility to Ch 33 for 12 months (36/48 months) • Transfer of entitlement 24

25. Post-911 GI Bill Challenges • Use of maximum tuition and fee rate per state to pay benefits • Requires time consuming research to ensure maximum possible rates – no authoritative source for tuition and fee data • Dependent upon state budget cycle that typically does not start until July • Prevented some claims from being processed early as final rates were not available for all states prior to program implementation 25

26. Post-911 GI Bill Challenges (Contd) • Complicated Yellow Ribbon Program development and implementation because schools could contribute varying amounts • Complicated claims processing because each student could potentially have a different payment amount that must be verified by claims processor • Add/Drop changes result in certification changes 26

27. Post-911 GI Bill Challenges (Contd) • Confusion over housing payment schedule • Post-9/11 GI Bill pays each month in arrears, consistent with other education benefits • Students expect housing payments at the beginning of each month instead of after each month of attendance, or full payment after only partial month of attendance • Contributed to financial hardships among students • Increased demand on VA customer service • Receipt of books and supplies stipend at the beginning of each term contributes to complexity 27

28. Post-911 GI Bill Challenges (Contd) • Complexities in program • Payment differences between Ch 33 and other VA programs required significant modifications to IT systems and business processes • Multiple benefit payments to multiple entities • Lack of a set payment rate 28

29. New IT Systems Being Developed • The new Chap 33 system will deliver an end to end solution to support the delivery of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits. It will be: • Released in 4-6 month intervals, delivering incremental capability • Developed in a distributed application architecture framework • Supportive of a service oriented architecture • Developed using an agile architecture • Rules-based to ensure reusability and flexibility 29

30. New IT System Results • Release schedule: • Version 1.1 – 2Q FY2010 • Version 1.2 – 3Q FY2010 • Version 1.3 – 4Q FY2010 • Version 1.4 – December 2010 • The result will be: • Faster processing time • More accurate decisions • Less reliance on human intervention to pay benefits • Student self-service 30