I
don't care if you use my name or not, I figured I'd give you all of the
information and material and you'd let me know how much, or just post
it on your blog. I'll provide links you can put in the video
description,
and you can reference the video/article whenever you recommend someone
join the Military, which I think is a good idea so long it's done
correctly and for the right reasons.
I wan an enlisted Marine that
served active duty and used the GI Bill to get a degree, not learn a
trade, so any information I provide should be reviewed in that light.
The Post 9/11 GI-Bill is a fantastic program
which can serve as a real boost to your future, but it's not as simple
as "the Government pays for your education". First of all, it's
prorated based on how many months you served on active duty:
The minimum length of an
active duty contract for the Coast Guard, Air Force, and Marines is 4
years, while the Army and Navy offer two year contracts. If you serve
two years and get out, you will only be eligible
for 80% of the GI Bill, and consequently ineligible for other benefits
(more on that later). If you're a reservist or a Guardsman, you don't
get this benefit unless you're activated as active duty for at least 90
days, which isn't going to happen any time
soon (knock on wood).
What Reservists get is
Tuition Assistance (TA), which covers up to $250/credit at a maximum
rate of $4,500/year. Unless you're in the Navy or Marine Reserve, in
which case you don't get anything:
Active duty service members
also get TA, though I was rarely able to use it due the units I was in.
Other branches of service are more friendly to the idea, and every unit
is different.
Reservists qualify for the
Montgomery GI-Bill Selective Reserve (SR) if they sign onto the Reserves
for a minimum six year stint:
If you attend school full time, you can get up to $375/month using this program.
With that in mind, I nearly
always recommend that anyone wanting to enlist pays their dues up front
and signs on for at least 4 years active duty. As a rule of thumb, the
more combat-oriented your job, the less bullshit
you'll have to put up with.
That said, back to the Post
9/11 GI-Bill. I will skip over the Active Duty Montgomery GI-Bill,
because it was superseded by the Post 9/11 GI-Bill in 2008, which is
almost always a better deal. Assuming you did your
4 years and have 100% of the benefits, the Bill will pay all tuition and
fees for an in-state student, and up to $22,805.34/year in tuition and
fees for a private/foreign school:
As of 2015, all veterans are charged at in-state tuition rates in all 50 states:
That means that you can
attend ANY public University in the US for free. You will also be paid a
monthly stipend rated off of the cost of living for an E5 (Sergeant in
the Marines) with dependents based off of the
zip code of your school:
This can range from around
$1000-3000/month based on the area. Too many guys try to game this
system. View this as aid to get your degree, which is where the real
money is going to be made. Don't select your school
based on getting a few extra bucks a month.
Now, assuming that you want
to attend a private University (which would usually be a horrible idea),
and assuming that you have 100% eligibility, you are eligible for the
Yellow Ribbon Program:
The Yellow Ribbon Program is
an agreement individual Universities and Colleges enter into with the
Government whereby the Government pays the maximum $22,805.34/year in
tuition and fees for a private/foreign school,
and the University pays a percentage of half of what remains and the
Department of Veterans Administrations matches them. For example, say a
school costs $40,000/year. The GI Bill pays the $22,805.34, and you're
on the hook for the remaining $17,194.66.
The school agrees to pay 100% of half of that, so they pitch in
$8,597.33, and the VA matches that, which means you don't pay anything.
The Yellow Ribbon Program is
different for every school however, and what each school offers tells
you something about how they view vets. For example, Harvard University
offers a max of $6,000. They cost about $65,000/year,
which would leave you on the hook for about $30,000/year. Be sure to
select schools based on their Yellow Ribbon contribution rate, and how
many students they will provide it to. The program is on a
first-come-first-served basis, and some schools only allow
for a handful of students to get the program each year.
Anyways, that's pretty much
it. You also get a $1,000/year book stipend in the Post 9/11 GI-Bill
along with a host of little things, but those are the major things. I
like your recommendation that students go STEM,
the trades, and/or the Military, and I hope this information will help
some of them down the path to a less painful life.
4 comments:
Payin' it forward. Now that's USMC leadership in action. Thanks Mark. Semper Fi.
My wife is a retired disabled vet...and she transferred her GI bill to our son who turned it into a Bachelors in biology on his way to med school. So he got a bachelors --debt free. Since the VA has the wife classified as "100% P+T" any dependents can receive 36 months of a 1k stipend if attending full-time. That means that me (husband) can go to college as well as our adopted granddaughter when the time comes. I have 10 years to use this and the granddaughter has until she's 26.
What happened to the rest of your posts? 😕
More government welfare...the warfare/welfare state have become one!
Yeah, yeah, I know, I know...we'd all be speaking Vietnamese and Saddam Hussein would the President!
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