GI Bill Yellow Ribbon Program Forum

[dapoetic1]

Columbia's $1k/year is laughable...
But not really

Thank you Rutgers for my $5600!!
I'll gladly take it. That brings me $11,200 on the year from YRP+VA and $10K from GIBill
I think that just about covers it
And with the $5k/term for fees that means I can beef up my student health insurance and add a sweet meal plan with 15 meals a week and some Rutgers Bucks for food

[anthonyc7599]

Okay, so is anyone sure about what can fall under the term "fees"? I know I read somewhere that student health plans would fall in this category. Obviously anything that says "fee" would also make sense. What about meal plans and other various expenses?

[Rotor]

Okay, so is anyone sure about what can fall under the term "fees"? I know I read somewhere that student health plans would fall in this category. Obviously anything that says "fee" would also make sense. What about meal plans and other various expenses?

In general, any fee that is charged to an undergraduate as a condition of attendance (like the campus health care plan in many places) is included in a state's calculation of the max fees allowed.

For your fees, I'm not sure VA is going to break it down, as long as it's a fee the school charges you and you don't exceed the state cap.

I'll try to find a reference when I get home.

[Cole S. Law]

Cooley is IN! For $90.00!!!! I know where I'm transferring to!

Not kidding about the 90 bucks from Cooley....

http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_BILL_Info/C ... tes/mi.htm

[bumblebeetoona]

Cooley is IN! For $90.00!!!! I know where I'm transferring to!

Not kidding about the 90 bucks from Cooley....

http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_BILL_Info/C ... tes/mi.htm

Holy shit. I thought for sure you were kidding.

[dapoetic1]

Cooley is IN! For $90.00!!!! I know where I'm transferring to!

Not kidding about the 90 bucks from Cooley....

http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_BILL_Info/C ... tes/mi.htm

Just when I thought Columbia's $1k couldn't be the worst thing out there...Way to go Cooley!! Way to step up!
Just for my own Cooley-bashing justification I went to the Cooley website to see exactly how much tuition cost. I wanted to make sure I wasn't unfairly diminishing their contribution. Unfortunately Cooley did not prove otherwise--tuition $25k/year. So their $90 ($45/semester) isn't worth the ink on the page.

@anthonyc7599--most school's charge fees for pretty standard stuff like student health fees (unless you can show proof of outside health insurance), lab fees, athletic fees, library fees etc. On your school's tuition and fees webpage they should break down what the student fees are and how much you're charged. Typically I've seen undergrad fees are much higher than grad fees because they have more things tacked on. But your school will determine what is a fee and generally it will be anything they charge you that is not the per credit hour charge for the number of credits you are taking. If it isn't specifically tuition it's probably a fee.
It seems that the VA rate for fees per term seems to be more than enough to cover most students (with California school's being somewhat of an exception due to the way they charge out of staters a fee instead of tuition).

[Rotor]

Cooley is IN! For $90.00!!!! I know where I'm transferring to!

Not kidding about the 90 bucks from Cooley....

http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_BILL_Info/C ... tes/mi.htm

Holy shit. I thought for sure you were kidding.

To quote my old CO: YHGTBFKM!

And they limit it to 35 people! Wait...lemme see...$3,150. Hope it doesn't break them.

To be fair, at the rates that MI pays for GI Bill, the 90+90 in YRP basically covers the tuition making it a full ride.

Now, all I have to do is pray that my tracking cookies are disabled so no one ever knows I actually went to the Thomas M. Cooley Law School website!

[Rotor]

Fees means any mandatory charges (other than tuition, room, and board) that are applied by the institution of higher learning for pursuit of an approved program of education. Fees include, but are not limited to, health premiums, freshman fees, graduation fees, and lab fees. Fees do not include those charged for a study abroad course(s) unless the course(s) is a mandatory requirement for completion of the approved program of education.

That says what fees are.

(B) The amount of fees payable is the lesser of—

( 1 ) The actual amount of fees charged by the institution of higher learning; or

( 2 ) The maximum amount of fees regularly charged full-time undergraduate in-State students in a term, quarter, or semester by the public institution of higher learning having the highest rate of regularly-charged fees in a term, quarter, or semester in the State in which the individual is enrolled or, if the individual is enrolled at a branch located outside the United States, in the State where the main campus of the institution of higher learning is located.

This says what they will pay. Para (1) I think is telling: they will pay the amount of fees charged by the institution. As long as it meets the definition above, it gets paid. How they will differentiate between optional meal plans (if they are optional that is), I'm not sure. But there you have the black & white. (OK, black & blue on TLS)

[anthonyc7599]

Cooley is IN! For $90.00!!!! I know where I'm transferring to!



@anthonyc7599--most school's charge fees for pretty standard stuff like student health fees (unless you can show proof of outside health insurance), lab fees, athletic fees, library fees etc. On your school's tuition and fees webpage they should break down what the student fees are and how much you're charged. Typically I've seen undergrad fees are much higher than grad fees because they have more things tacked on. But your school will determine what is a fee and generally it will be anything they charge you that is not the per credit hour charge for the number of credits you are taking. If it isn't specifically tuition it's probably a fee.
It seems that the VA rate for fees per term seems to be more than enough to cover most students (with California school's being somewhat of an exception due to the way they charge out of staters a fee instead of tuition).

Thanks for the info. Am I the only one that still thinks this whole thing is just too good to be true? Believe me I am happy to be getting on this train, but it seems like it just can't sustain itself. Especially a few years down the line when people really start looking at transferring benefits.

[nukelaloosh]

Cooley is IN! For $90.00!!!! I know where I'm transferring to!



@anthonyc7599--most school's charge fees for pretty standard stuff like student health fees (unless you can show proof of outside health insurance), lab fees, athletic fees, library fees etc. On your school's tuition and fees webpage they should break down what the student fees are and how much you're charged. Typically I've seen undergrad fees are much higher than grad fees because they have more things tacked on. But your school will determine what is a fee and generally it will be anything they charge you that is not the per credit hour charge for the number of credits you are taking. If it isn't specifically tuition it's probably a fee.
It seems that the VA rate for fees per term seems to be more than enough to cover most students (with California school's being somewhat of an exception due to the way they charge out of staters a fee instead of tuition).

Thanks for the info. Am I the only one that still thinks this whole thing is just too good to be true? Believe me I am happy to be getting on this train, but it seems like it just can't sustain itself. Especially a few years down the line when people really start looking at transferring benefits.

I agree...it is funded by a tax increase on the top income tax bracket. Will the revenue meet the demand? Who knows? I imagine the initial crush of apps will outpace the supply, but it will probably stabilize quickly.

[dapoetic1]

Thanks for the info. Am I the only one that still thinks this whole thing is just too good to be true? Believe me I am happy to be getting on this train, but it seems like it just can't sustain itself. Especially a few years down the line when people really start looking at transferring benefits.

A lot of people think this, but honestly there are so many vets that are either completly clueless about vet benefits (mostly due to the incompentency of the representatives at the respective installations), or by the time vets retire/separate they have little desire to start a 4 year bachelor's program, or a number of very young vets that came straigh in from high school didn't do well enough in high school to meet minimum undergrad requirements, and the thought of having to take prerequisites or the ACT or SAT is just too frightening. So while this GIbill is the best thing to come along since the microwave there won't be nearly as many taking advantage of it that should be. When it's all said and done 3 years is nothing considering what you get for your time, but you along with going back to school people have to have a plan. You can squander away 36 months of benefits easily if you're aren't disciplined and you don't manage your time and your schedule. Then you're out of money, out of time and out of luck if you don't have a backup plan. GI Bill won't feed your family forever if you can't get your feces co-located. I think too many young vets are just too scared to jump ship and go back out into the real world and go back to school.

[illmal]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Delt_Karl]

Thanks for the info. Am I the only one that still thinks this whole thing is just too good to be true? Believe me I am happy to be getting on this train, but it seems like it just can't sustain itself. Especially a few years down the line when people really start looking at transferring benefits.

A lot of people think this, but honestly there are so many vets that are either completly clueless about vet benefits (mostly due to the incompentency of the representatives at the respective installations), or by the time vets retire/separate they have little desire to start a 4 year bachelor's program, or a number of very young vets that came straigh in from high school didn't do well enough in high school to meet minimum undergrad requirements, and the thought of having to take prerequisites or the ACT or SAT is just too frightening. So while this GIbill is the best thing to come along since the microwave there won't be nearly as many taking advantage of it that should be. When it's all said and done 3 years is nothing considering what you get for your time, but you along with going back to school people have to have a plan. You can squander away 36 months of benefits easily if you're aren't disciplined and you don't manage your time and your schedule. Then you're out of money, out of time and out of luck if you don't have a backup plan. GI Bill won't feed your family forever if you can't get your feces co-located. I think too many young vets are just too scared to jump ship and go back out into the real world and go back to school.

Hopefully those young people with poor high school transcripts will go to a community college that will take anyone, get an associates degree, and then transfer to a four-year university. Some four-year university's will waive the ACT/SAT admission requirement, along with many or all general education requirements, with proof of an associates. Then if the four-year university isn't for them they will at least have the associates to fall back on, especially if they focused on a particular profession (i.e. paralegal studies).

In my personal experience (I work at a four-year university) it is much easier to acclimate to the classroom again at a community college. The big mistake I think a lot of young vets are making is to think they have to go to the most expensive public school in their state right away to get the most out of their benefits. Just because it is the most expensive public school doesn't mean it is the best choice for a lot of students.

[LSATfromNC]

Thanks for the info. Am I the only one that still thinks this whole thing is just too good to be true? Believe me I am happy to be getting on this train, but it seems like it just can't sustain itself. Especially a few years down the line when people really start looking at transferring benefits.

A lot of people think this, but honestly there are so many vets that are either completly clueless about vet benefits (mostly due to the incompentency of the representatives at the respective installations), or by the time vets retire/separate they have little desire to start a 4 year bachelor's program, or a number of very young vets that came straigh in from high school didn't do well enough in high school to meet minimum undergrad requirements, and the thought of having to take prerequisites or the ACT or SAT is just too frightening. So while this GIbill is the best thing to come along since the microwave there won't be nearly as many taking advantage of it that should be. When it's all said and done 3 years is nothing considering what you get for your time, but you along with going back to school people have to have a plan. You can squander away 36 months of benefits easily if you're aren't disciplined and you don't manage your time and your schedule. Then you're out of money, out of time and out of luck if you don't have a backup plan. GI Bill won't feed your family forever if you can't get your feces co-located. I think too many young vets are just too scared to jump ship and go back out into the real world and go back to school.

Hopefully those young people with poor high school transcripts will go to a community college that will take anyone, get an associates degree, and then transfer to a four-year university. Some four-year university's will waive the ACT/SAT admission requirement, along with many or all general education requirements, with proof of an associates. Then if the four-year university isn't for them they will at least have the associates to fall back on, especially if they focused on a particular profession (i.e. paralegal studies).

In my personal experience (I work at a four-year university) it is much easier to acclimate to the classroom again at a community college. The big mistake I think a lot of young vets are making is to think they have to go to the most expensive public school in their state right away to get the most out of their benefits. Just because it is the most expensive public school doesn't mean it is the best choice for a lot of students.

That is exactly what I did. I graduated High School with a 2.1. While in the military I attended the local community college and earned an associates. Then I transferred to a state school where I kicked ass. Only difference is I had a decent SAT score somehow.

[anthonyc7599]

Yale has joined the club.

http://www.military.com/news/article/ya ... ucation.nl

[LSATfromNC]

Yale has joined the club.

http://www.military.com/news/article/ya ... ucation.nl

I don't know if $5,000 is enough for me to consider Yale. Maybe if they bumped it up to $10,000 I would consider Yale, maybe.

[dapoetic1]

Yale has joined the club.

http://www.military.com/news/article/ya ... ucation.nl

I don't know if $5,000 is enough for me to consider Yale. Maybe if they bumped it up to $10,000 I would consider Yale, maybe.

Well if Yale is in for $5k then that's $10k total from Yale and VA and then you'll get around $8,500 from GI Bill beneifts so... I'd take $18k at Yale!
I at least they're trying. I mean--it's Yale:-D

[illmal]

Suspenseful week - anyone else waiting for Yellow Ribbon Schools to be announced and waiting for June LSAT results?

[Rotor]

Hadn't checked the CA list for a while. Lookie what's new:

UCLA School of Law Los Angeles All 10 $16,397.21

Pretty much makes UCLA a full ride-- not including COL for 10 folks....

C'mon Berkeley-- follow their lead!

[BaronDetroit]

So to be eligible you must have 100% eligible which is 3 years of service post 9-11? damn that sucks

[Rotor]

So to be eligible you must have 100% eligible which is 3 years of service post 9-11? damn that sucks

It doesn't have to be consecutive...you could always re-up

j/k...it does suck for those who didn't have a crystal ball when making their decision to stay/go, but as a taxpayer who thinks our deficit is too high already, I understand they had to draw the line somewhere-- especially for the biggest benefits (transferability, YRP).

[anthonyc7599]

So to be eligible you must have 100% eligible which is 3 years of service post 9-11? damn that sucks

It doesn't have to be consecutive...you could always re-up

j/k...it does suck for those who didn't have a crystal ball when making their decision to stay/go, but as a taxpayer who thinks our deficit is too high already, I understand they had to draw the line somewhere-- especially for the biggest benefits (transferability, YRP).

Yeah a good friend that was in my squadron, just finished Gtown Law this year. Just in time to completely miss out on all benefits. I have another buddy that I recommended staying in another year to get fully vested. He would be in a non-deploying billet. Doing the math, it very worth it to be at 100%.

On another note, does anyone know how the VA will pay out the housing stipend as well as the book stipend? I haven't gotten any paper work from them for direct deposit so I am assuming they are cutting hard checks.

[mardimar]

.

[Mosca]

Suspenseful week - anyone else waiting for Yellow Ribbon Schools to be announced and waiting for June LSAT results?

I am waiting for the June results, but trying not to think about the YR schools. I don't want to get my hopes up. The news that UCLA is participating really makes me hope I hit my target score though.

[WassAnch]

So to be eligible you must have 100% eligible which is 3 years of service post 9-11? damn that sucks

It doesn't have to be consecutive...you could always re-up

j/k...it does suck for those who didn't have a crystal ball when making their decision to stay/go, but as a taxpayer who thinks our deficit is too high already, I understand they had to draw the line somewhere-- especially for the biggest benefits (transferability, YRP).

Yeah a good friend that was in my squadron, just finished Gtown Law this year. Just in time to completely miss out on all benefits. I have another buddy that I recommended staying in another year to get fully vested. He would be in a non-deploying billet. Doing the math, it very worth it to be at 100%.

On another note, does anyone know how the VA will pay out the housing stipend as well as the book stipend? I haven't gotten any paper work from them for direct deposit so I am assuming they are cutting hard checks.

I'm pretty sure that the money will be directly deposited into your bank account. They should send you a form that asks for your routing # and act # once you choose to enroll in the new program.