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Desmond Williams is a freshman at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, largely because his mother wears combat boots.
He was accepted to the school on his own merit, but he is only able to cover its pricey private-school tuition because Staff Sgt. Kate Williams gave him her full Post-9/11 Bill educational benefits.
The program is a godsend to the North Carolina Army National Guard Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) solider, a single mother who once worried how she would put her son through college.
“He was going to have to figure out how to [pay for school] on his own and I was worried he wasn’t going to go,” she says.
Fortunately for Williams, President George W. Bush signed the Post-9/11 GI Bill in 2008. It not only provides a robust educational benefit, but also, for the first time in the history of the GI Bill, allows service members to transfer the benefit to their spouse and children.
“It was really the only way he was going to get to go to college,” she says.
The GI Bill pays about 60% of his tuition — the rest is covered by scholarships.
“He is extremely grateful, and he always tells me, ‘Without you, I wouldn’t be where I am today,’” the elder Williams says. “As a mom, it makes me feel great that I can provide for my son. It was extremely hard as a single parent to pay for things and figure out where things were going to come from.”
The Post-9/11 GI Bill was introduced by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., in 2007, the same year Bush ordered the troop surge in Iraq. The legislation was intended to be a recruiting and retention tool for a force bearing the brunt of a nation at war.
The full benefit is even more comprehensive than the original GI Bill enacted in 1944. It covers tuition at public universities for three years of study at the in-state tuition rate and up to $24,476.79 at private institutions for the 2019-2020 academic year.
The timeframe included in the legislation can be misleading. The benefit covers 36 cumulative months of study. Most students take breaks between semesters, which means it can be stretched out over a four-year degree.
There is also a housing benefit, which is calculated at the military’s Basic Allowance for Housing rates for an E-5 with dependents, and up to a $1,000 stipend for books and supplies each year.
“It more adequately covers the actual cost [of college],” says James Ruhlman, the deputy director of program management at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which administers the program.
The full benefit requires 36 months of active duty. AGR service also counts. Traditional drilling Guardsmen earn GI Bill credit when they mobilize. Ninety days earns 40% of the benefit. A full 12 months gets 60%.
Guardsmen and Reservists do not receive GI Bill credit for weekend drills or annual training, but that could soon change. The Guard and Reserve GI Bill Parity Act of 2020 introduced this year aims to grant credit for every day a service member is in uniform and being paid.
Service members with more than six years of service can transfer their unused GI Bill benefits to spouses and children. The Pentagon wanted to block transfers from those with more than 16 years of service, but Congress scuttled the idea last year.
As a mom, it makes me feel great that I can provide for my son.
—Staff Sgt. Kate Williams of the North Carolina Army National Guard
RETIRED Col. Les’ Melnyk, a former public affairs director at the National Guard Bureau who transferred his educational benefits to his daughter, says it’s only right that family members get their service member’s unused benefits.
“When I was deployed it was much harder on them than me,” says Melnyk, who served in Iraq from 2010 to 2011. “They still re-member the anxiety, so I think my daughter earned it.”
Mattie Melnyk, now a freshman at UCLA studying microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, still remembers the year her dad was deployed. “In my mind he was in a lot of danger when he was deployed, and I wanted to have my dad around,” she says.
For Mattie, the GI Bill was not so much the difference between going and not going to college. It was the opportunity to go to the school of her choice without a whole lot of future debt.
“I talked to my peers and unless you’re from a well-off family, you’re taking out student loans and worrying about finances,” she says. “Some students were limited by their finances and they’re going to be in debt for years — if not the rest of their lives — for going to a school like this.”
Col. Ed Bush of the Louisiana National Guard also says transferring his educational benefits opened additional college possibilities for his children.
“When we were computing where our kids could go, some schools where it would have been hard for us to afford became very doable,” he says.
Bush’s eldest daughter, Meghan, is a senior at Tulane University, a private college in New Orleans. Tuition and other costs there can exceed $75,000 a year. She is currently on a full scholarship for her undergraduate studies. The GI Bill will cover her grad school.
With her studies covered, he now has more money available to pay for his other two children’s college education.
“The Post-9/11 GI Bill, I am such a fan of it, and it’s been such a game-changer for our family,” Bush says. “It’s going to allow all three of our kids to go through college without significant loans.”
He originally planned to give each of his children 12 months of GI Bill benefits. But each child’s situation changed, and he was able to move his resources to get the most out of the benefit.
Bush says the VA was a big help in sorting out his options. He says most schools also have veterans’ coordinators to help work campus details and administrative worries. This enables students to focus on academics instead of fretting over tuition.
“These [veterans’ coordinators] are normally prior-service or have a family member who served,” says Bush.
It’s impossible to determine exactly what impact the Post-9/11 GI Bill has had on recruiting and retention. Williams says it “was definitely a big part” of her decision to keep serving.
“I am truly blessed and am a huge advocate for the [Post-9/11] GI Bill,” she says. “And I know there are so many others just like [Desmond and I].”
The author can be reached at 202-408-5889 or [email protected].
AT A GLANCE
GI Bill Transferability
The Post-9/11 GI Bill allows service members to transfer their unused education benefits to a spouse or children.
Benefits may be given to one family member or split among multiple family members.
The service member must have six years of service and commit to an additional four years to transfer benefits.
Spouses may use the benefit immediately and for up to 15 years after the service member separates from the military. Children have a usage window of high school graduation until age 26.
For more information about GI Bill education benefits, go to www.benefits.va.gov/gibill.
