VA Loan Updates

Navy officials announced new, strict rules as to who gets coveted college cash, earmarking limited tuition assistance for hot-running sailors.

R 250825Z JUN 07FM CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1//TO NAVADMINBTUNCLAS //N01500//NAVADMIN XXX/07MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/JUN//SUBJ/EDUCATION PRIORITIES AND MANAGEMENT OF OFF-DUTY VOLUNTARY EDUCATION (VOLED)//REF/A/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/091035ZJUN2006//AMPN/REF A IS NAVADMIN 166/06, TUITION ASSISTANCE AND WAIVER POLICY.//

RMKS/1. THIS NAVADMIN UPDATES AND EXPANDS VOLED POLICY OUTLINED BY REF A. SUSTAINING COMBAT READINESS, BUILDING A FLEET FOR THE FUTURE AND DEVELOPING 21ST CENTURY LEADERS CONTINUE TO BE THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS’ TOP PRIORITIES. PROFESSIONAL GROWTH THAT PREPARES SAILORS FOR RELEVANT AND CHALLENGING NAVY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES THROUGH VOLED DEVELOPS THE SAILORS WE NEED BOTH TODAY AND TOMORROW.

2. NAVY LEADERSHIP IS COMMITTED TO PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO SAILORS AS THEY PURSUE THEIR EDUCATIONAL GOALS. MAXIMIZING EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE GREATEST NUMBER OF SAILORS, GIVEN THE RISING COST OF EDUCATION AND LIMITED BUDGETS, DEMANDS THAT WE IMPLEMENT ADDITIONAL MANAGEMENT CONTROLS FOR THE TUITION ASSISTANCE (TA) PROGRAM AND NAVY COLLEGE PROGRAM FOR AFLOAT COLLEGE EDUCATION (NCPACE). WHILE THESE PROGRAMS ARE FULLY FUNDED, THESE NEW CONTROLS FOCUS ON THREE AREAS (SAILOR READINESS, CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRAM/FISCAL EFFICIENCIES) AND SERVE TO SHARE THIS FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO THE GREATEST NUMBER OF SAILORS. THESE CONTROLS ARE EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY FOR NEW TA AND NCPACE ENROLLMENT AND WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

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In terms of funding their higher education, W.G. “Guy” Singletary and David Willett consider themselves fortunate.

Both Singletary, a former Marine sergeant who left the Corps in December 2001, and Willett, who retired from the Army as a master sergeant in October 2005, use the Montgomery GI Bill to pay for college — tuition and books for Singletary and tuition for Willett, whose books are free through an undergraduate book grant from his school.

Singletary, 30, of Bradenton, Fla., is a senior psychology major at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus. Willett, 47, of Lawton, Okla., is a college senior earning a management degree online from American Military University.

As the GI Bill’s buying power shrinks amid burgeoning college tuition costs, their accomplishment may seem remarkable. But both men planned carefully to ensure the money they receive from their GI Bill will cover the cost of their higher education. They both work full time to pay for housing and other personal expenses.

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After World War II, Congress passed several other G.I. Bills to provide educational benefits for veterans returning home from the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

Since the Vietnam War, Congress passed two G.I. Bills that established peacetime educational benefits for members of the all volunteer Armed Services. Although the current Montgomery G.I. Bill of 1985 provides peacetime educational benefits, the current program was not designed to meet the needs of our current global situation - a situation in which several hundred thousand men and woman in uniform are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Our military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have strained out entire all-volunteer military, forcing many of our Reservist and National Guard units into extended tours of duty. Many of our men and women in the Army, Air Force, Navy, and the Marine Corps have served more than one tour of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Some Air Force Reserve Airmen who are no longer able to participate due to Base Realignment and Closure or Program Budget Decision 720 actions, will not be required to repay a portion of their Montgomery GI Bill - Selected Reserve entitlement.

Members in their initial six-year enlistment who are unable to find a position in another Reserve or National Guard component to fulfill their service obligation are commonly placed in the Individual Ready Reserve. In the past, members who transitioned to the IRR as a result of BRAC were covered under the Reserve Transition Assistance Program. The RTAP was not authorized for the current round of BRAC closures.

Transition Center

Title 10 of the United States Code authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to waive recoupment of education benefits. In April, 2007, the Secretary of the Air Force issued a memorandum delegating authority to the Chief of the Air Force Reserve to waive repayment of the Montgomery GI Bill for members in the Selected Reserve.

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A congressman’s plan to have the Veterans Affairs Department provide reserve mortgages to older veterans is meeting with opposition from the Bush administration.

The proposal, pending before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, would duplicate services already available and doesn’t fit into the purpose of the veterans’ home loan guaranty program, which is to help service members and veterans buy homes that could be harder for them to purchase as a result of military service, administration officials said.

At issue is HR 2475, a bill sponsored by Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine.

Michaud proposes what are called “home equity conversion mortgages” or reserve mortgages for the VA. Under his plan, veterans age 62 and older could receive monthly payments from the VA that would be based on how much equity they have in their home and how long they would like to receive monthly payments. The payments would have to be repaid, with a fee, when the home is sold either by the veteran or by survivors.

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The new chairman of the American Trucking Associations Chairman Ray Kuntz today told the House Veteran’s Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity that it should expand educational benefits for veterans.

Ray Kuntz, who took office earlier this month, reiterated ATA’s support for the goal of legislation that would expand the Montgomery GI bill’s accelerated benefit payments to truck driver training schools.

Kuntz recommended that (1) the VA’s current list of educational programs eligible for these benefits be replaced or revised to reflect career training opportunities in high-growth industries rather than solely in high-technology industries and (2)  payment of accelerated benefits be limited to educational opportunities lasting one year or less; to better align the program with its original intent of providing affordable financing for high-cost, short term educational training.

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Q: I heard the VA can make available a specially adapted housing grant. Can you provide more information on what this is about?

A: Veterans that have specific service-connected disabilities may be entitled to a grant from the VA for the purpose of constructing an adapted dwelling or modifying an existing home to meet the veteran’s needs. These are severe disabilities such as the loss or loss of use of both lower and upper extremities. The goal of the Specially Adapted Housing Program is to provide a barrier-free living environment that affords the veterans a level of independent living he or she may not normally enjoy. For more grant information, go to: www.homeloans.va.gov/sah.htm.

The VA loan guaranty department can be reached at (800) 827-1000 option 2.

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DOVER — Instead of a BlackBerry, the communication tool of choice by today’s campaigns workers, there’s the reliable wooden clipboard.

Instead of a downtown office plastered with candidate signs, there’s the patio overlooking the well-manicured backyard of his Henry Law Avenue home.

And instead of an assistant, only Griffey, an energetic black Labrador retriever, accompanies this campaign volunteer.

So goes the primary life for city native Bob Hannan, who is helping Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York in her bid to win the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

A retired veterans service officer with 25 years experience at the Manchester Regional Veterans’ Affairs Office and Air Force captain during the Vietnam War, Hannan is the chair of “New Hampshire Veterans for Hillary” and a member of the candidate’s national veterans steering committee.

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WASHINGTON — While running for Virginia senator last fall, Jim Webb offered voters a tantalizing prize: a free college education for most military veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The proposal, which married Webb’s themes of military service and economic fairness, would give veterans with at least two years of active-duty service full tuition, room and board and a monthly $1,000 stipend.

As promised, Sen. Webb made the measure the first piece of legislation he introduced as a freshman Democratic senator in January.

But five months later, prospects for passage this year of the “Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act” appear to be fading fast.

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Recent news reports have included the deaths of Utah soldiers fighting the war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Each report brings an anguishing story of family grief over the loss of a beloved family member. Frequently, the fallen soldier leaves a wife and children whose world has been shattered with the death of their husband and father.

Readers struggle to know what they can do to help the bereaved. I suggest that Congress enact, and the president sign, a GI bill for the dependents of soldiers killed in the war on terror. Such a gesture would greatly reduce family stress over future college expenses and express a grateful nation’s appreciation for the sacrifice of its fallen heroes.

G. Kevin Jones
Salt Lake City

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