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LSATfromNC wrote:

Rsrcht wrote:I looked up the CFR and called the VA about how to deal with the 48 months of combined benefits.

If you were to switch over from the regular GI Bill to the post 911 GI bill, then your total # of months of entitlement will remain the same, up to a total of 36 months.

If you exhaust all 36 months of your regular GI Bill benefits first, then enroll in the post 911 GI Bill, you will receive up to 12 months of post 911 GI Bill in addition to your 36 months of regular GI Bill, depending upon how many more months beyond 36 you have to use to finish a semester.

The gentleman on the phone for the VA said that the regular GI bill could go over the 36 month period if you are in the middle of a semester/term, in which case, you could hypothetically use an additional 2 months for a total of 38 months. Once the term is over, you can make the switch and you would have to subtract the 2 months from the additional 12 to determine how many post 911 GI Bill months you would be eligible for.

He said there was no time limit to make the switch to the Post-911 GIBILL within the 15 years of entitlement. He said that I could continue to use my regular GI Bill benefits beyond August 1, 2009 and exhaust said benefits before enrolling at a date beyond August 1, 2009.

So as an example, lets say that I have about 14 months left on the regular GI Bill. I can use them through 1L next year and 2L the following year, upon which I would probably use about 4 months beyond my original 36 months because it would be mid semester (9 month year). I would be eligible for about 8 months of 9-11 GI Bill during 3L.

This is for informational purposes, right I fully intend on switching over on May 1.

Yes, this is for information purposes so that someone can make the best decision in terms of timing and their own situation. After running a few calculations, I found that if I switch over immediately, I won't receive as much toward school as if I were to exhaust my MGIB first then enroll in post-911.

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Rsrcht wrote:

LSATfromNC wrote:

Rsrcht wrote:I looked up the CFR and called the VA about how to deal with the 48 months of combined benefits.

If you were to switch over from the regular GI Bill to the post 911 GI bill, then your total # of months of entitlement will remain the same, up to a total of 36 months.

If you exhaust all 36 months of your regular GI Bill benefits first, then enroll in the post 911 GI Bill, you will receive up to 12 months of post 911 GI Bill in addition to your 36 months of regular GI Bill, depending upon how many more months beyond 36 you have to use to finish a semester.

The gentleman on the phone for the VA said that the regular GI bill could go over the 36 month period if you are in the middle of a semester/term, in which case, you could hypothetically use an additional 2 months for a total of 38 months. Once the term is over, you can make the switch and you would have to subtract the 2 months from the additional 12 to determine how many post 911 GI Bill months you would be eligible for.

He said there was no time limit to make the switch to the Post-911 GIBILL within the 15 years of entitlement. He said that I could continue to use my regular GI Bill benefits beyond August 1, 2009 and exhaust said benefits before enrolling at a date beyond August 1, 2009.

So as an example, lets say that I have about 14 months left on the regular GI Bill. I can use them through 1L next year and 2L the following year, upon which I would probably use about 4 months beyond my original 36 months because it would be mid semester (9 month year). I would be eligible for about 8 months of 9-11 GI Bill during 3L.

This is for informational purposes, right I fully intend on switching over on May 1.

Yes, this is for information purposes so that someone can make the best decision in terms of timing and their own situation. After running a few calculations, I found that if I switch over immediately, I won't receive as much toward school as if I were to exhaust my MGIB first then enroll in post-911.

I would be interested in seeing your calculations, do you only have a few months of eligibility left, are you not worried about tuition payment etc.

LSATfromNC wrote: I would be interested in seeing your calculations, do you only have a few months of eligibility left, are you not worried about tuition payment etc.

I have about 14 months left.
Comparitive calculations:
1. 14 months of MGIB left with kicker = 22k
2. 14 months of post911 GI Bill @ 90% = 25.6k(including book stipend and tuition disbersement)
3. 18 months of MGIBw/kicker + 8 months of post 911 gibill at 90% = 41.3k(including 1k book stipend and tuition disbursement)

Tuition estimator:
http://www.gibill2008.org/calculator.html

starting with savings, 1L scholarship, + spouse covering living expenses (I covered living expenses for last 3 years for her). After Fed loans the first year, I'll spend about 1.5k from my own pocket on tuition & books.
1L: MGIBx9months=13.2k
2L: MGIBx9months=13.2k
3L: Post911@90%x8months=14.6k(including book stipend and tuition disbursement)

Sorry to keep bumping this, but will this hurt my need based grant??

IzziesGal wrote:Just called the VA and it looks like I haven't blown through all my time. Woohoo!

This is the best news ever!!!! Is this going to effect my need based aid, though?!?!?

Not sure about need based aid, but reporting it on fafsa didn't effect it is as far as I could tell. I was still eligible for the Fed loans (of course) and work study.

MGIB is non taxable. You don't need to report it as income on your taxes. You need to coordinate with the VA office at the school.

The post 911 GIbill could effect the need based aid because it has to be coordinated with the financial aid office. But if you get the additional 12 months, that is a lot of money, even if you lose some need based aid. I honestly don't know if it will effect need based aid. If you need to report it when you fill out forms for the new year, then it will influence the calculation in some way.

Just a little news about the new GI Bill

News from the Department of Veterans Affairs GI Bill Website:

"Starting May 1, 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs will begin accepting applications for the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The application form is available online."

"The form requires that individuals currently eligible for another education benefit make an irrevocable election from their existing program to the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Typically individuals who are eligible for more than one benefit may use a combined total of 48 months of entitlement. Therefore, for those individuals eligible for the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) program, please be advised that if you have entitlement remaining under the MGIB, the number of months of Post-9/11 GI Bill entitlement you will be eligible for will be equal to the number of months remaining under MGIB. However, if you exhaust all of your MGIB entitlement, then you may be entitled to a maximum of 12 additional months of entitlement under the Post-9/11 GI Bill."

This might be a completely ingorant question, but I intend on joing the JAG corps post-law school. If I do, will I be retroactively entitled to the GI Bill? Meaning, will they fork me over the money they would have given me had I been in the military prior to law school?

starky259 wrote:This might be a completely ingorant question, but I intend on joing the JAG corps psot-law school. If I do, will I be retroactively entitled to the GI Bill? Meaning, will they fork me over the money they would have given me had I been in the military prior to law school?

No. Your loans may be forgiven, but you won't get your housing or book $ for sure.

does this new gi bill yall are talking about only affect veterans or also those that are able to use the dependant's benefit

ladyj wrote:does this new gi bill yall are talking about only affect veterans or also those that are able to use the dependant's benefit

It mainly has an impact on veterans, but active duty members can transfer their benefits to their dependents in exchange for more active duty time.

Rsrcht wrote:

ladyj wrote:does this new gi bill yall are talking about only affect veterans or also those that are able to use the dependant's benefit

It mainly has an impact on veterans, but active duty members can transfer their benefits to their dependents in exchange for more active duty time.

Which is bullshit, at least giving it to a spouse. The divorce rate is fairly high in the military, spouses come and go. It would suck for your first wife to be using your education benefits, meanwhile you and your current wife are being trudged around the world pcsing having to use your own money for education.

LSATfromNC wrote:

Rsrcht wrote:

ladyj wrote:does this new gi bill yall are talking about only affect veterans or also those that are able to use the dependant's benefit

It mainly has an impact on veterans, but active duty members can transfer their benefits to their dependents in exchange for more active duty time.

Which is bullshit, at least giving it to a spouse. The divorce rate is fairly high in the military, spouses come and go. It would suck for your first wife to be using your education benefits, meanwhile you and your current wife are being trudged around the world pcsing having to use your own money for education.

The spouse would have an incentive to stick around for 4 years and spend your money before leaving, if they planned to leave. If the spouse is evil, then that is bad news because you want them to leave now. If the spouse is nice and you don't want her/him to leave, it is a mixed blessing. The other problem with this that I've seen is that spouses who follow their SO's around have had to move multiple times and rack up like 120+ credits without even an associates degree to show for it.

But the bonus is that children are dependents too. If you retire at 38-44, your children should be at or about college age. Having the extra money to help put kids through college is a financial relief for parents.

starky259 wrote:This might be a completely ingorant question, but I intend on joing the JAG corps post-law school. If I do, will I be retroactively entitled to the GI Bill? Meaning, will they fork me over the money they would have given me had I been in the military prior to law school?

If you attend law school and pay for everything yourself they will not reimburse you the monthly housing allowance, nor will they reimburse you what they would've paid your school for tuition and fees. You will however still be eligible to receive all 36 months of your benefits if you do not currently have or you do not use any GI Bill benefits while you are in law school.

You would only be eliglible for Ch. 33 benefits if you have served on active duty after Sept.11, 2001 for a prescribed amount of time (3 years in order to get 100% of your entitlement). So if you have not yet served on active duty then you would not be owed this money. Also, you will not be elibigible for these benefits until you have served on active duty for the necessary amount of time which means the military would not owe you anything.

If you are eligible for Chapter 33 (post- 9-11 GI Bill) now and you plan on using it for law schoo you will use approx 27 months (3 year of full time law school) of benefits leaving you with 9 months of GI Bill Benefits. If you attend part time you'll probably use your complete entitlement. That means that after you graduate if you go into the JAG corp you will have no remaining eligibility of Ch. 33 Benefits to use or to transfer to your dependents.

Once you are accepted into the JAG corp they will not pay you any money in the form of benefits, incentives, or special pay for any time before your first day of extended active duty (EAD). The first day of EAD will be the day you take the oath of office to be a commissioned officer. Once you are on active duty depending on what kinds of programs and incentives are available at the time (because they do change from year to year) you will be eligible for any additional bonuses offered to JAG officers at the time. Sometimes it's a lump sum bonus and sometimes it's a monthly bonus for a set number of years. Sometimes you have to agree to serve past your additional Active Duty Service Committment (ADSC) which is usually 4 years in order to receive the benefits.
Bottom Line-they're not going to pay you anything before you're in especially if you have no prior service as of your first day of duty.

Rsrcht wrote:

LSATfromNC wrote:

Rsrcht wrote:

ladyj wrote:does this new gi bill yall are talking about only affect veterans or also those that are able to use the dependant's benefit

It mainly has an impact on veterans, but active duty members can transfer their benefits to their dependents in exchange for more active duty time.

Which is bullshit, at least giving it to a spouse. The divorce rate is fairly high in the military, spouses come and go. It would suck for your first wife to be using your education benefits, meanwhile you and your current wife are being trudged around the world pcsing having to use your own money for education.

The spouse would have an incentive to stick around for 4 years and spend your money before leaving, if they planned to leave. If the spouse is evil, then that is bad news because you want them to leave now. If the spouse is nice and you don't want her/him to leave, it is a mixed blessing. The other problem with this that I've seen is that spouses who follow their SO's around have had to move multiple times and rack up like 120+ credits without even an associates degree to show for it.

But the bonus is that children are dependents too. If you retire at 38-44, your children should be at or about college age. Having the extra money to help put kids through college is a financial relief for parents.

What about the 20 year old 2nd Infantry Division soldier who re-enlist to transfer his GI bill to his newly converted drinky girl, aka wifey. I'm not to worried about the seasoned vets, but the new soldiers. How many young paratroopers have married a Fayetteville native, only for it to fall apart months later. Simply put I do not trust young soldiers to make smart decisions.

LSATfromNC wrote:What about the 20 year old 2nd Infantry Division soldier who re-enlist to transfer his GI bill to his newly converted drinky girl, aka wifey. I'm not to worried about the seasoned vets, but the new soldiers. How many young paratroopers have married a Fayetteville native, only for it to fall apart months later. Simply put I do not trust young soldiers to make smart decisions.

No kidding - that sort of thing happens more than it should. One of my subordinates put his name on a brand new vehicle purchase loan so that his E1 GF could drive it 24/7. He also paid part of the loan. The relationship didn't last that long and he had to pay off the loan. Luckily, he figured it out, but had to sell the vehicle and refinance what he owed. I gave him a lot of shit for that. Honestly though, this was a problem before and won't change. There are too many kids who come into the service who don't know how to balance a checkbook.

I suppose that is the price to pay for having more flexible benefits. The military is trying to be more "family friendly" after all (although some branches are more successful than others).

Alrighty, I just applied for the new GI Bill! Can't wait for this thing to start. With the BAH and disability I'll be getting just under 30K a year to live on!

But, I have a question, hopefully somebody on here understands this better than me...

The Florida rate is $682.23 max per semester hour. If I go to a private school and take 15 hours per semester (which is obviously more expensive than what the GI Bill will cover), are they willing to pay that max rate for all 30 hours in the year to the school, which comes to $20,466.90?

After reading through everything, this is how I understand it. It's not completely clear on their website just how many hours they are willing to cover in a year (I'm assuming it's either the standard 12, or whatever you take).

Thanks if anyone knows a sure answer on this!

Boyk1182 wrote:Alrighty, I just applied for the new GI Bill! Can't wait for this thing to start. With the BAH and disability I'll be getting just under 30K a year to live on!

But, I have a question, hopefully somebody on here understands this better than me...

The Florida rate is $682.23 max per semester hour. If I go to a private school and take 15 hours per semester (which is obviously more expensive than what the GI Bill will cover), are they willing to pay that max rate for all 30 hours in the year to the school, which comes to $20,466.90?

After reading through everything, this is how I understand it. It's not completely clear on their website just how many hours they are willing to cover in a year (I'm assuming it's either the standard 12, or whatever you take).

Thanks if anyone knows a sure answer on this!

The amount you get will depend on whether there is a max full time tuition at the most expensive state school (UF? FSU?). For example, if FL caps at 10 hrs regardless whether you take 10 or 20, you'll get 6822.30. If 12 (which it seems many states are) it'll be ~8200. You have to find out which school it is based on and go from there. (There was a link in the Yellow Ribbon Program thread). Don't forget, you'll also get up to the max fees in addition to the tuition.

There are some examples on the VA website that walk you through how to calculate it.

So, how was the app process? Did it take long? Anything difficult you had to find/documentation etc?

Rotor wrote:

Boyk1182 wrote:Alrighty, I just applied for the new GI Bill! Can't wait for this thing to start. With the BAH and disability I'll be getting just under 30K a year to live on!

But, I have a question, hopefully somebody on here understands this better than me...

The Florida rate is $682.23 max per semester hour. If I go to a private school and take 15 hours per semester (which is obviously more expensive than what the GI Bill will cover), are they willing to pay that max rate for all 30 hours in the year to the school, which comes to $20,466.90?

After reading through everything, this is how I understand it. It's not completely clear on their website just how many hours they are willing to cover in a year (I'm assuming it's either the standard 12, or whatever you take).

Thanks if anyone knows a sure answer on this!

The amount you get will depend on whether there is a max full time tuition at the most expensive state school (UF? FSU?). For example, if FL caps at 10 hrs regardless whether you take 10 or 20, you'll get 6822.30. If 12 (which it seems many states are) it'll be ~8200. You have to find out which school it is based on and go from there. (There was a link in the Yellow Ribbon Program thread). Don't forget, you'll also get up to the max fees in addition to the tuition.

There are some examples on the VA website that walk you through how to calculate it.

So, how was the app process? Did it take long? Anything difficult you had to find/documentation etc?

The app wasn't too bad. You'll need things like your old file number if you've used the GI Bill before, disability file number if you get it, dates and credits at any schools attended, months you worked at jobs, checking account and routing number, etc. It's not bad at all, took about 45 minutes or so...

And thanks for the response, I'll look in those places you mentioned and see what's there.. I'll try to avoid calling but who knows!

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Imagine that.....

Rotor wrote:

We’re sorry.

Our servers are currently unavailable. It may be possible they are down for maintenance. We ask that you please try back later. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and ask for your patience.

Imagine that.....

Having better luck using the text only version....see the link bottom right of the VONAPP page. Still sluggish, but plugging along.

Rotor wrote:

Rotor wrote:

We’re sorry.

Our servers are currently unavailable. It may be possible they are down for maintenance. We ask that you please try back later. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and ask for your patience.

Imagine that.....

Having better luck using the text only version....see the link bottom right of the VONAPP page. Still sluggish, but plugging along.

Glad I did it last night, I doubt anyone expected it to be up early so it was pretty quick.

Took a while...but I'm all done with the VONAPP!!

Honetly, the 35 minutes they claim it's going to take has nothing to do with the length of the application and everything to do with the snail's pace at which the pages load (reload, crash, refresh) and then continue.
I hope this new eVA is a lot more expeditious at getting me my Mo-nay!

(deleted)

yeah i just got mine done. it took like 3 hours cuz the server kept crashing. but i imagine that's cuz like a thousand people are trying to apply all at one time.