Got Screwed on Tuition or Credits due to Deployment? Hopefully, Not Anymore

If this passes, it will be so awesome. Certainly, military personnel should not be punished for serving their country when called. Kuddos to Sgt. Campbell for his efforts.

Vet Rewrites The Law To Help Others

Paul Rieckhoff | June 28, 2007

When Sgt. Patrick Campbell returned to law school after serving a tour in Iraq, his student lender told him that he was defaulting on his payments. Due to his deployment to Iraq, he had used up all of his permissible grace period. Unlike his non-veteran classmates, the lender was going to require Patrick to start repaying his loans the day after graduation. Finally, after writing dozens of letters and spending hours on the phone, he was told that the only way to restore his pre-deployment status would be to rewrite the laws. So he did just that. Patrick spent his final year in law school writing the Veterans Education Tuition Support Act (VETS) to help returning student-soldiers.

Today that bill was introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown (OH) and Representative Susan Davis (CA). This new legislation will fix the loopholes that were punishing young Iraq vets like Patrick. The Veterans Education Tuition Support Act, or VETS Act, will:

Require colleges to refund tuition for service members who deploy (or provide future credits)

Restore veterans to their academic status when they return

Cap student loan interest payments at 6% while the student is deployed

Extend the period of time a student-soldier has to re-enroll after returning from abroad

Patrick's story is reality for the thousands of other National Guardsmen and Reservists who are also college students. For these troops, deployment poses extra financial burdens - including thousands of dollars in lost tuition and overdue student loans.

Sgt. Todd Bowers, IAVA's Director of Government Affairs, experienced this first hand. When he was activated on his second deployment to Iraq, Todd was forced to withdraw from his university only two weeks before finals. After he returned from Iraq, the school would not allow him to take his finals or finish his classes, and they refused to refund his tuition. Only after local media picked up on his story did the university permit Todd to finish his finals and complete his classes.

We at IAVA are incredibly proud of Patrick for pushing to make this bill a reality. He has shown how one motivated young veteran can make a difference. The VETS bill will help reassure men and women in uniform that serving their country opens doors to higher education, instead of closing them. Join us now in making sure it gets passed. You can learn more now at www.iava.org. Tell your members of congress that college students shouldn't be punished for deciding to serve their country.

President Set to Veto College Cost Reduction Act

I started to get upset when I read the title to this one. No worries, it's not as bad as the attention grabbing headline make out. Basically, Bush doesn't think the House's Bill is strong enough.


President Set to Veto the College Cost Reduction Act

What was once called the "largest investment in college financial aid since the GI Bill, helping millions of students and families pay for college," now faces a certain veto.


Military.com recently reported on the introduction of the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669). According to the author, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the bill would make the single “largest investment in college financial aid since the GI Bill, helping millions of students and families pay for college.”


One of the most important aspects for servicemembers and veterans is the proposed $500 increase in Pell Grant scholarships over the next five years. When combined with other Pell scholarship increases passed or proposed by Congress this year, the maximum Pell Grant could reach $5,200 by 2013, up from $4,050 in 2006. Roughly 5.5 million students would benefit from this increase.


The College Cost Reduction Act also includes a number of other provisions that would ease the financial burden imposed on students and families by the cost of college:


Tuition assistance for excellent undergraduate students who agree to teach in the nation’s public schools;

Loan forgiveness for college graduates that go into public service professions;
Increased federal loan limits so that students won’t have to rely as heavily on costlier private loans; and

New tuition cost containment strategies.

“For years, college costs have been growing rapidly, far outstripping families’ ability to pay them,” said Congressman Miller. “With this bill, we are saying that no one should be denied the opportunity to go to college simply because of the price.”


However, in a statement issued by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, the bill fails to meet that goal. “[The bill] does little to benefit America's neediest students and essentially diverts a majority of savings in the bill to individuals out of school rather than focusing on aiding low-income students in school,” wrote Spelling.


According to Secretary Spelling, the House bill devotes only 38 percent of its savings to benefit low-income students, with only $5.8 billion dedicated to increase Pell Grants. While the President’s budget plan invests nearly 100 percent of its proposed savings to help students most in need, including $19.8 billion to support increases to the Pell Grant.


According to the official policy statement issued by Sec. Spellings’ office, the President’s senior advisors have recommended that he veto the House bill if it passes as introduced.


These Department of Education programs have a significant impact on servicemember and veterans’ “out-of-pocket” education expenses.

Considering Going To School While Your Spouse Is Deployed?

One of the biggest things the spouse of a deployed service member has to consider is what to do with his or her time while their loved one is deployed. Certainly, having nothing to do with your time will make the deployment seem longer. If you're working or chasing kiddos around, you've got your hands full for sure.

Maintaining a house, a family, finances, cars... all of this seems like it would take a considerable amount of time. But what if you find yourself in a situation where you have the time and nothing to do? Have you considered continuing your education? Thinking about picking up a few college hours? Are your children old enough to take college courses?

Almost every state offers in-state tuition prices for military members and their families. That makes for incredible cost savings. Then consider the specific military scholarship programs available to service members and their families. I'll list a few here and also put them on my side-bar for easier access.

First, you have to choose a school. Internet or on campus, it all depends on your personal preferences and the time and resources you have to spend on it.

Then you have to complete the appropriate year Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This can usually be accomplished online, unless you just like the old pencil and paper version better. Usually, when the FAFSA gets submitted to the school/schools you have chosen, the schools will apply on your behalf for State funded financial aid, such as grants, lottery money, etc.

"The Military Scholarships For Children Programwas created to recognize the contributions of military families to the readiness of the fighting force and to celebrate the role of the commissary in the military family community."

The National Military Family Association's Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholarship Program awards scholarships to "spouses of Uniformed Services members (active duty, National Guard and Reserve, retirees, and survivors) to obtain professional certification or to attend post secondary or graduate school."

The purpose of the Armed Forces Children's Education Fund is to be able to financially assist the educational needs of the surviving children of the U.S. Military men and women who lost their lives on or after October 7, 2001, the commencement of Afghanistan operations, as part of the global war on terrorism defined as "Operation Enduring Freedom".

America Supports You links to several service specific scholarship programs for children and spouses as well.

Additionally, FastWeb is an awesome resource for nation wide scholarships and it's search utilities can be customized to suit your individual qualifications for scholarships; i.e. field of study, local area scholarships, internships, minority scholarships, etc.

So, why not rack up a few college credits? It's a great way to occupy your/your children's time and it's likely to cost little or nothing. Good luck!