GI Bill and Scholarship information

Military Members including Reserve and Guard members, who have served at least 90 consecutive days on active duty since Sept 11, 2001, soon can take advantage of a new top-flight education benefit: the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008.

Under this ―new GI Bill,the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will pay a qualified student's tuition and fees directly to any college up to amounts equal to the cost of attending the state's most ex-pensive public college. Payments under the current Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) go directly to students and are level everywhere. The plan also will pay a new monthly living allowance directly to the students and are level everywhere.

The plan also will pay a new monthly living allowance directly to the students, equal to the local Basic Allowance for Housing rate for a married E-5. This stipend will not be paid to students on active duty (since most already draw a housing allowance), part time students or for online courses.

The third payment in the new GI Bill is 1,000 a year for books and supplies.

A key provision is the transferability of education benefits to military spouses and children. An eligible active duty member with six years of service who re-enlists for four years may transfer up to 36 months of unused benefits to a spouse. A member may transfer benefits to children after 10 years' service.

Benefits will take effect Aug. 1, 2009 but will not be paid retroactively to the date the bill was signed into law (June 30, 2008). The transferability provision applies only to members on active duty or in drill status on or after Aug. 1, 2009.

MGIB benefits, however, already have been increased 20 %, boosting a full-time student's monthly benefit to $1,321. MGIB still could prove a better deal for students in areas where rents are low and tuition costs are modest or waived for in state veterans. Only MGIB covers vocational training; the new bill applies toward an associate's degree or higher.

Active Service of 90 days to six months since 9/11 will entitle a member to 40 per-cent of the new benefit, and longer service will deliver a larger percentage. Members serving more than 36 months active duty since 9/11, or those separated since then for disability after serving at least 30 consecutive days, earn full benefits. Eligible Reserve and Guard members will earn the same GI Bill Benefits paid to their active duty counterparts. The VA has posted a fact sheet at its website, www.gibill.va.gov, and offers a toll -free number, 1-888-GIBILL1.

New Policy Should Help Prevent Loss Of Leave
Military members expecting to lose annual leave this past Sept 30 due to caps on carryover leave will be the first to benefit from a new policy that allows them to keep more annual leave, earn or hold certain special leave categories, and perhaps even sell back accrued leave.



The new policy, part of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act, allows troops to carry 75 days' leave rather than the previous 60 days into the next fiscal year. It is expected to reduce the amount of lost leave caused by the current high operating tempo.

The policy also extends the period when certain service members may use their accrued leave. Those serving in a com-bat zone now have up to 4 years to reduce their leave from the maximum 120 days to the 75-day cap stipulated by the new provision; those supporting contingency operations may take up to three years.
Enlisted members may also sell back up to 30 days of special accrued leave earned in a com-bat zone or designated contingency operation they otherwise would have lost beyond the 120 day limit. Leave earned in a combat zone is more valuable than regular leave because it is not taxed.

Phase-out coming of Full SSNs On ID Cards Citing the need to protect personal information, DoD says it will issue identification cards without full SSNs printed on them. The move is billed as a means of combating identity theft, where a criminal can use another per-son's SSN to virtually assume his or her identity through a few computer keystrokes.

Plans are to remove the SSNs from ID cards issued to military family members by the end of this year, although the cards would continue to display the sponsor's number for the interim period. Between 2009 and 2010, all DoD issued ID cards will feature only the last four digits of a holder's SSN. New cards will be issued as they reach their expiration dates. TRICARE already has re-moved SSNs from its members' identification cards.


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Spouses of any branch/rank of active duty, National Guard and Reserve, retirees, and survivors are eligible to apply for the 2009 National Military Family Association Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholar-ship Program. This
year's scholarship includes two additional categories, spouses of wounded, and spouses of the fallen. Scholarships range from $500 to $1,000 and are awarded to obtain professional certification or to at-tend post secondary or graduate school.

Applications are accepted 5 Dec 08-1 Feb 09, only online, http://www.nmfa.org/