Paying for College

F1:​There are many great benefits to military service, and one of those benefits is the actual benefits. Today, we’re going to talk about the great education benefits offered under the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Montgomery GI Bill. Each of these programs is designed to cover future education costs, and while they are similar in many respects, they also have some significant differences. You’ll want to understand each program so that you’re aware of the potential benefits they might be able to provide you in the future, but it’s also important to understand each program to help you with a decision you’ll have to make very soon:  specifically, whether or not to stay enrolled in the Montgomery GI Bill. We’ll talk about that decision in a few minutes, but for now let’s look at each program from the following perspectives. We’ll start with the service requirement necessary to earn each benefit. For the Post-9/11 GI Bill, you typically begin earning benefits once you served at least 90 days on active duty, at which point you’ll be eligible for 50 percent of the maximum. Once you hit six months, you’ll have earned 60 percent. It then continues to increase as shown, until you’ve completed 36 months and earned 100 percent of the benefit. The Montgomery GI Bill is a little different. To earn this benefit, you’ll typically need at least three years of continuous active duty service, or two years if that was the length of your agreement. You can also earn the Montgomery GI Bill under the 2 by 4 Program if you enter the Selected Reserve within a year of leaving active duty and serve four more years. Now, let’s examine the cost of each program. The Post-9/11 GI Bill doesn’t cost anything. The Montgomery GI Bill costs $100 per month for your first 12 months of service. You can also choose to increase the benefit by paying up to an additional $600. Next, let’s cover what you can actually receive under each program. Both GI Bills provide up to 36 months of benefits. The Post-9/11 GI Bill also pays a monthly housing stipend if not on active duty, and an annual stipend for books and supplies.  These stipends are not payable under the Montgomery GI Bill. As for how the benefits are paid, let’s focus on the Post-9/11 GI Bill first. Tuition costs are paid directly to the school, and the monthly housing stipend and annual books and supplies stipend are paid to the student.  Payments under the Montgomery GI Bill work very differently. Here, a set amount gets paid directly to the student each month, regardless of how much the school costs. We’ve covered a lot of material up to this point, so this is a great time to pause and reflect on what we’ve learned so far. Now, let’s continue and look at transferability. For the Montgomery GI Bill, it’s pretty straightforward: it’s not permitted. For the Post-9/11 GI Bill, it is, as long as you meet the criteria shown on the screen.  Now, let’s look at how long the benefits are good for.  Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits never expire for service members who leave the military on or after January 1st, 2013. However, that is not the case for those to whom you might transfer your entitlements. Children must use the benefits by age 26, and spouses have 15 years from the time you separate from active duty. Montgomery GI Bill benefits expire ten years from your last day of active duty. And remember, they’re not transferable. Finally, let’s look at an area in which the two plans are very similar: the types of education for which they can be used.  As you can see, both programs can be used for a wide variety of educational opportunities. Now that you understand the basics of each program, let’s revisit the Montgomery GI Bill decision we touched on earlier.  In short, will you stay enrolled in the Montgomery GI Bill, or disenroll and forego the benefits it might provide you in the future? Here are a handful of additional points that might help with your decision. One, participation in the Post-9/11 GI Bill is automatic and does not require you to sign up, so if you disenroll from the Montgomery GI Bill you will still have the Post-9/11 GI Bill available, as long as you fulfill the service requirements to earn it. Two, a decision to disenroll from the Montgomery GI Bill is final, meaning you cannot change your mind later. Three, staying enrolled in the Montgomery GI Bill may give you the opportunity to receive some level of benefits from both programs in the future. However, there are a number of additional factors that will impact whether this will be true for you. Four, those eligible for more than one VA education program can only receive a maximum of 48 months of benefits combined. And finally, if you stay enrolled in the Montgomery GI Bill and later decide to use the Post-9/11 GI Bill instead, the $1,200 you paid for the Montgomery GI Bill may be refunded to you in some situations. So there you have it:  two great programs to help pay for advancing your education, and the opportunity to choose how you want to use them.

F1:​ If somebody’s kind of on the fence of going into a recruiting office or just reaching out to a recruiter, I would absolutely encourage it, if anything just for the information.

HUNTER:​ We have a lot of enlistment bonuses out there right now, upwards to about $20,000.  If you’re in college or you plan to be, this is a great choice for you, because our organization, we look for students who wanna go to college. We also have educational benefits, where we pay up to a hundred percent of tuition.

F2:​ Sometimes people join and don’t know. They don’t have a specific career path. They don’t know what they want to do with their life.  And sometimes it provides that structure and that support. That process, you may find something that you love.

RODRIGUEZ-NELSON: ​My recommendation would be do your research.  Know what you’re looking for.  Is it something that is gonna benefit you?  Is it something that you feel will help you in the long run?  Because it’s a commitment:  you’re committing to your state, you’re committing to the country your hundred-percent effort.  It’s a big responsibility, and it’s an awesome step in life, and I definitely recommend it.