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.