Education Series: Active Duty VA Education Benefits

Recently I put out a blog for Reservist/Guardsmen and which of the VA Education Benefits. This blog will be the equivalent for the Active Duty side. Even though there are 9 different programs, not all of them apply to every service or family member. Hopefully this will help narrow down the selection process so that way you are not wasting time reading or researching a benefit only to find it will not apply to you.

As an Active Duty or prior Active Duty service member, you really only need to focus on 2 different VA Education Programs.

1. Montgomery GI Bill – Active Duty (MGIB-AD)

2. Post 9/11 GI Bill

 

Montgomery GI Bill – Active Duty (MGIB –AD)

Chapter 30 Montgomery GI Bill – Active Duty
Eligibility	Complete 2 years of a 4 year contract on Active Duty
Benefit	Monthly Housing Allowance
Length of Benefit	36 months
Expiration Date	10 years after your last day of Active Duty

The MGIB-AD is the original Montgomery GI Bill. It was introduced by Mississippi Representative Sonny Montgomery in 1981 and was passed into law in 1985. In 1988 it was so successful that Congress opted to keep it as a permanent benefit from service members.

Enough background though how does this work for you? The same as most other benefits it pays a monthly housing allowance. It does not pay for school instead it pays you to go to school. The monthly rates are set every fiscal year and posted to the VA’s Rate Tables webpage.

Current Rates are set at $1648.00/month for a “full time” pursuit to a degree. This is for 30 days of full time classes. Any partial months are prorated down and you are not going to receive a MHA during the “break periods” (between semesters). Also you get paid “after your work” that month. So you go to school in January you will be paid in February. Below is a sample pay schedule:

Start Date Jan 15^th- End Date: May 15^th

Feb 1	Mar 1	April 1	May 1	June 1
$824.00	$1648.00	$1648.00	$1648.00	$824.00

Total MGIB-AD VA funds: $6592.00

Post 9/11 GI Bill

The Post 9/11 GI Bill was introduced in 2008, and went into effect August 2009. It underwent some changes in 2010 and today it is the most comprehensive and confusing GI Bill available. If it is used properly it can be extremely effective. To get in it you have to serve 90 days of Active Duty. After 3 years of Active Duty you will be in the 100% bracket.

The 100% bracket is simply the full benefit. So if you are on Active Duty and you use Post 9/11 before 3 years in, then you are making a mistake.

Chapter 33 Post 9/11 GI Bill
Eligibility	90 days of Active Duty (outside of training) after 9/11
Benefit	Monthly Housing Allowanc Tuition and Fee Payment towards in-state tuition Book and Supply Stipend of $1000/annually
Length of Benefit	36 months
Expiration Date	15 years after last day of Active Duty
Special Considerations:	Tuition and Fees only cover maximum in-state public universities, private universities may charge more than what P9/11 will pay Housing Allowance is set by an E-5 w/Dependents BAH at the zip code of the school Can be transferred to dependents upon re-enlistment Distance Learning students only receive ½ the National E-5 w/Dependents BAH average No Monthly Housing Allowance for students attending less than ¾ time No Monthly Housing Allowance for Active Duty\ Spouses who are already receiving BAH Yellow Ribbon Program Eligible

The biggest difference of P9/11 from other benefits is that it is a three-tier benefit. Tuition Payment, Book Stipend, and Monthly Housing Allowance. Up until now GI Bills were simply a Monthly Housing Allowance

Post 9/11 is pretty much free school to the public school of your choice for 36 months. Whether you get a degree or not is up to you, and I’ll go into some strategies that can ensure you do complete your degree.  Notice earlier I said public school. That’s because P9/11 may or may not pay for all of a private school. Private schools are expensive and the cap for the P9/11 tuition is set at the “most expensive IN-STATE public tuition charges.” So what if your school charges more than that? That’s where the Yellow Ribbon Program comes in, it pays the amounts over what the VA would normally pay. I’ll get into more detail how this works later but for right now just know that only expensive schools have a “working” Yellow Ribbon Program. Most schools named “Yellow Ribbon” schools will not ever have to worry about Yellow Ribbon because they have reasonable tuition charges.












Post 9/11 can be confusing and you really need a pay schedule when you decide to use it. Below is a mock pay schedule that uses the National Average MHA. Your actual MHA will most likely be different.

Start Date Jan 15^th- End Date: May 15^th

Tuition and Fees	Book Stipend	Feb 1	Mar 1	April 1	May 1	June 1
$4350.00	$500	$714.50	$1429.00	$1429.00	$1429.00	$714.50

Total P9/11 VA funds: $15,416.00

These 2 programs are worlds apart and before choosing one or the other you will need to make sure you are very confident in your decsion. Esspecially with Post 9/11 because the first thign you have to do when applying for P9/11 is give away all rights to MGIB-AD. Do some research on your potential schools and some mock pay schedules to see which program really puts you ahead. The decision really comes down to this, “Would I rather have a higher MHA and higher student loan debt? Or would I rather give up a couple hundred dollars in MHA for absolutely no studetn loan debt?” The choice is yours but remember the average student loan debt is at $29,400 and that average includes all students who are borrowing so the real number is much higher. Do you want to pay for a loan years after your graduate?

Education Series: How to Use Reserve VA Benefits

Yesterday, I put out a blog on what VA education benefits reservists can take advantage of in education. However, knowing what they are is not enough. To get everything you can possibly get out of education as a reservist you will need to develop a strategy. The alternative is going in blindly and you will lose benefits and money, and in a worst case scenario not even get a degree. In order to make a solid strategy, we need to know the rules. Just like a game of football or basketball, you can’t write any working plays without knowing the rules.

The VA is watching you

Once you are given benefits, you are not free to run to school and pick out whatever flavor you want. The VA is going to evaluate your schedule and your curriculum before they ever award you any money. This will happen each semester. They will make sure EVERY class you are taking is specifically listed as a requirement for that degree plan at your institution. If it's not then the VA will not recognize it as part of your pursuit of a degree, because it’s not in pursuit of your degree. Whatever reasoning you come up with as to why you are taking that class does not matter at all, it simply will not count.

Example: PVT. Smith, a business major at HeroesCollege, is using the MGIB-SR. He enrolls in a 3 hr welding course, a 4 hr science class, a 3 hr college algebra course, and a 3 hr composition course. Even though the total comes to 13 enrolled hours, the VA only counts 10 hours, because the welding course does not lead to the business degree. At 10 hours he will be considered ¾ time and will only receive 75% of the benefit under MGIB-SR. It doesn’t matter that Smith wants to start a welding business and he thinks the welding class will help, he told the VA he wants benefits for a business degree.

The VA will only count courses that lead to a degree in your major, at the school you are attending.

The Time Limit

VA Education Benefits are awarded for 36 months. This pertains to the amount of time you can receive benefits.  1 month of benefits is used for every 30 days of full time enrollment. At a traditional semester college, terms are usually broken down into fall, spring, and summer. Fall and spring use 4 months each and the summer uses about 2 months. 36 months will last you about 3 ½ years of school. That’s important! It is commonly reported that it takes most people 5 years to complete a 4 year degree. So this is your first sign that you are going to have to be better than most people.

Once awarded benefits you can use that benefit for up to 36 months or until the expiration date.

The 48 month Rule

You may have noticed that a reservist can be qualified for more than one VA program at the same time. In fact a reservist can be eligible for all three of them at the same time. In this scenario a veteran reservist can take advantage of the 48 month rule. The 48 month rule states this:

Service-members can get up to 48 months of VA education benefits in their lifetime, but only 36 months in any one program.

If you use 36 months of MGIB-SR and then make the switch you can get 12 months in the other program OR you can use 12 months of MGIB-SR and then switch and get 36 months of Post 9/11 or REAP. 

The Post 9/11 and REAP Active Duty Time

The last main rule to take in to consideration is the Active Duty time rule for REAP and P9/11. It works on a like credit or token system. You spend time on active duty and you build up credits to a different VA program, now you can spend them on one program but once they are gone they are gone. You have to build up/serve more time on active duty to enroll in the other program. When you apply for REAP or P9/11 you are supposed to list the tours of duty on the application so you will know what time is spent where.

Active Duty time spent on REAP cannot be used for P9/11 or vice versa.

Strategies for the Reservist using VA benefits

Let’s look at some different ways you can take advantage of the different programs using the rules I listed above.

The 48 month long haul!

You are coming of a deployment and going back to school. The temptation to jump into one of the new VA program is strong, but resist! Use Financial Aid grants or scholarships to cover the cost of school and take your time with MGIB-SR, but do not use more than 12 months of it. After 12 months you begin eating away at your time in the bigger programs.

When to use it
·        You are still in the reserves and more deployments or active duty time is a possibility
·        Tuition is affordable and you have something else to cover the cost
·        You are taking classes at a steady pace to keep from overloading yourself
·        You don't have any other option

Pros
·         Maximizes VA Program time
·         If you are attending a Community College or want to go to Graduate School the 48 month long haul ensures P9/11 Tuition Payments will be there in the end when it tuition gets expensive.
·         Gives you time to build up your active duty time and rate percentages in the other VA programs
·         Buys time to get core classes out of the way if you are undecided on major

Cons
·         Low monthly housing allowance in MGIB-SR
·         Supplemental income is a must in the first year
·         Arrangements must be made for tuition and book costs

 

The Post 9/11 Blitz (My preferred strategy)

Burning through education in a fast pace, no nonsense campaign. Multitasking is an understatement. You are going to set records for the fastest degree completion this decade. Make the most of your 36 months by taking 22+ hour semesters. A bachelor degree will be in hand 2 or so years and a Masters is probably on the way.

When to use it
·         You can handle a brutal course load, and juggle multiple tasks at once
·         Tuition is charged at a flat rate or reasonable affordable for the high volume of courses
·         Institution offers Accelerated Degree Programs or modular terms (mini terms) within semester

Pros
·         Fast paced, degree is in hand within a couple of years
·         High Probability of leftover benefits
·         Saves time and you can get into your career sooner
·         Low probability of Student loans or education debt

Cons
·         Heavy workload, be prepared to study and study hard
·         High Stress, multiple finals and midterms can be tough
·         Some institutions put overload rates and won’t let you take many hours

 

REAPing the VA

With one year of Active Duty you can get a larger MHA using REAP over P9/11. It’s all about the cash flow and you need something to hold off the bills. This is a money game, but be careful if you don’t plan carefully you could lose thousands. This is the riskiest strategy out of the all of them listed here.
 
When to use it
·         Only attending a low cost Community College for a certificate or applied science degree
·         If you pursue anything higher than an Associate’s degree you are going to lose money
·         Very low cost of tuition and no desire to go to a senior school
·         Arrangements have been made with a scholarship or Financial Aid grants to pay for tuition and books
·         You have only one year of service on a deployment, and there is absolutely no chance of another one, or any Active Duty service

Pros
·         Larger VA payments for Reservist with one year deployment/ than most

Cons
·         Future deployments and active duty time will not increase percentages
·         Paying tuition and getting your books is left up to you
·         High, VERY HIGH chance of student loan debt if you attend an expensive school

Consider this:
On the current rates, REAPING the VA only works when the E5/BAH from P9/11 is less than $1646.00 a month. If the P9/11 is above $1650/ month then you will get a higher BAH in P9/11.
 

These are some of the most successful strategies I see reservist using. You don’t have to plan out a strategy but if you aren’t using a strategy with your GI Bill, what are you doing? Be careful not to waste your benefits away. There are bound to be other strategies, and if you know of one please send it to me via email or Facebook. If you don't have one pick on of these and start planning out your education

 

 

 

 

 

 

Education Series: Reserve/Guard VA Benefits

                My blog, Introduction to VA Programs, I briefly went over the many different types of VA education Benefits this can be a little overwhelming when it comes to picking out which benefits would be best to use for your situation. With 9 different benefits to choose which one is right for you? To help make the choices a little easier I’m going to break the 9 benefits down in separate blogs from different some of the different perspectives in which you can approach them. Basically what I’m saying is there 4 different approaches to the VA education benefits. There is the Reservist/Guard approach, the Active Duty approach, the Dependent approach, and the Service-Connected Disability approach. This blog, as the title says will focus on Reserve/Guard approach.

                As a reservist/guardsman, you will only need to focus on 3 different VA Education Benefits.

1.       Montgomery GI Bill – Select Reserve (MGIB-SR)
2.       Reserve Education Assistance Program (REAP)
3.       Post 9/11 GI Bill

Each of these has pros and cons to using them and you want to have a good strategy for using them. First I’m going to go into a little more detail about each one. To keep things simple from this point on I will use the term “Reserves” to also describe National Guard Members

Montgomery GI Bill – Select Reserve (MGIB –SR)

Chapter 1606 Montgomery GI Bill – Select Reserve
Eligibility	6/2 contract in Reserves and completion of IAT
Benefit	Monthly Housing Allowance
Length of Benefit	36 months
Expiration Date	The day the select reserve contract Ends

The MGIB-SR is available for Reservist who completes Initial Active Training and has signed into a 6/2 year contract. That’s 6 years in the drilling reserve and 2 years in the Individual Ready Reserve. Reservist who sign a 4/4 or a 2/6 are not supposed to be eligible per the VA’s mandates. Feel free to read between the lines there, I choose my words carefully. So you sign 6/2 and you are good to go on the day you check into your reserve unit.

The MGIB-SR consists of only a Monthly Housing Allowance, and a small one at that. Right now it’s about $365 a month for full time enrollment and it is paid on the 1^st of month after training. That means you will get paid on Feb 1^st, for the classes you attend January. Also any partial months will be prorated down to reflect the per day rates. So if you are in school for 2 weeks you will only get $182.50 for that month. You really need to be aware of this before you enroll thinking the GI Bill will pay for your school. Also be sure to make a pay schedule before committing to school so you can budget the amounts you receive

Below is an example of a pay schedule assuming you are taking what the VA considers to be Full time (this may differ from what your school considers full time)

Start Date Jan 15^th - End Date: May 15^th

Feb 1	Mar 1	April 1	May 1	June 1
$182.50	$365.00	$365.00	$365.00	$182.50

Total MGIB-SR VA funds: $1460.00

 
Reserve Education Assistance Program (REAP)
 

                REAP began shortly after the War on Terror as a consolation for reservist who deployed in OIF or OEF. MGIB-AD is set a lot higher than MGIB- SR approximately $1300 more a month. So what REAP does is bridge that gap for veteran reservist. It does not give veteran reservist the full MGIB-AD but rather a percentage based of the time spent on a deployment.

Chapter 1607  Reserve Education Assistance Program
Eligibility	Reservist who have deployed after 9/11
Benefit	Monthly Housing Allowance
Length of Benefit	36 months
Expiration Date	10 years after last day of Active Duty
Special Considerations:	·  Rates set on a percentage off MGIB- AD ·  Percentage based off the time spent on deployment ·  Active duty time must be consecutive ·  Active duty time spent on REAP cannot be spent on Post 9/11

 The percentage breakdown goes like this:

·         40% MGIB-AD for 6 -12 months  ( For FY14 $659.20/month)
·         60% MGIB-AD for 12-24 months ( For FY14 $988.00/month)
·         80% MGIB-AD for 24+ months (For FY14 $1318.00/month)

The biggest drawback is that it has to be consecutive. A reservist with multiple deployments that are 1 year each will only be rated at 60%. Most reservist that choose REAP fall into the 60% bracket so I will use that figure to draw out a hypothetical pay schedule:

Start Date Jan 15^th - End Date: May 15^th

Feb 1	Mar 1	April 1	May 1	June 1
$494.00	$988.00	$988.00	$988.00	$494.00

Total REAP VA funds: $3952.00

 

Post 9/11 GI Bill

Chapter 33 Post 9/11 GI Bill
Eligibility	90 days of Active Duty (outside of training) after 9/11
Benefit	· Monthly Housing Allowance   · Tuition and Fee Payment towards in-state tuition   · Book and Supply Stipend of $1000/annually
Length of Benefit	36 months
Expiration Date	15 years after last day of Active Duty
Special Considerations:	·  Rates set on a percentage based off the time spent on deployment   ·  Tuition and Fees only cover maximum in-state public universities, private universities may charge more than what P9/11 will pay   ·  Active duty time can be consecutive or cumulative   ·  IAT is consider after 24 months of other Active Duty time   ·  Housing Allowance is set by an E-5 w/Dependents BAH at the zip code of the school   ·  Can be transferred to dependents upon re-enlistment ·  Distance Learning students only receive ½ the National E-5 w/Dependents BAH average ·  No Monthly Housing Allowance for students attending less than ¾ time   ·  No Monthly Housing Allowance for Active Duty\ Spouses who are already receiving BAH   ·  Active Duty time spent on Post 9/11 cannot be spent on REAP   · Yellow Ribbon Program Eligible

The Post 9/11 GI Bill was introduced in 2008, and went into effect August 2009. It underwent some changes in 2010 and today it is the most comprehensive and confusing GI Bill available. If it is used properly it can be extremely effective. To get in it you have to serve 90 days of Active Duty other than AIT. The Active Duty time can be cumulative also, so that reservist who serves multiple one year deployments can add to it his/her percentage with each deployment.

 The percentages reflect all three different benefits. Meaning at 60%, Post 9/11 will pay 60% of Tuition and Fees, 60% of the E5 w/Dep BAH and 60% of the Books and Supply stipend.

 There are many special considerations in the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Make note of each one as they can make a huge difference in your MHA amounts or Eligibility. The Yellow Ribbon Program is directly tied to the Post 9/11 GI Bill and I will cover it more below. First here is a hypothetical pay schedule for a 60% Post 9/11 reservist, using the National Average E5 w/dep BAH, and a tuition and fee cost of $4350:

 

Start Date Jan 15^th - End Date: May 15^th

Tuition and Fees	Book Stipend	Feb 1	Mar 1	April 1	May 1	June 1
$2610.00	$300	$428.70	$857.40	$857.40	$857.40	$428.70

Total P9/11 VA funds: $6339.60

These 3 programs sum up the VA education benefits for reservist. I would suggest doing some research to figure out which one you will qualify for and which one may be the best for you and your school. I should also mention that the spay schedules and scenarios focus on averages. Your school may charge a different amount or the BAH in that location maybe less. Every fiscal year the VA and DoD change their rates of BAH and MHA. You can keep up with past and current rates on the VA’s Rate Table page. If you go there you will also see that the VA treats non traditional schools and training differently, for example flight schools have their own special category in each VA program.

 

In my next blog I will point out a few effective strategies for using the GI Bill as a reservist, and how you can maximize their potential.