February 26th, 2008
This week, a delegation of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) visited Washington to tell lawmakers one thing: Our newest generation of veterans deserves real educational benefits that make college tuition affordable.
Now is the time for our Congress to take action on this and pass a 21st century GI Bill.
After World War II, attending college gave veterans time to readjust to civilian life and prepared them for careers as innovators and leaders. For every dollar spent on the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, seven went back into the economy in the form of increased productivity, consumer spending, and tax revenue.
Today’s GI Bill only covers part of the costs of college. Tuition costs have increased faster than inflation, and many veterans must take out student loans or forego education altogether.
In a time when we are asking so much of our Armed Forces, paying for college is one of the best ways to show our gratitude as a nation. Congress needs to pass a new GI Bill this year.
Found here.
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February 22nd, 2008
Joseph Nannery of Fremont served eight years as a Marine before enlisting in the National Guard in 2001, and in March 2004, he was deployed as an infantry squad leader to Iraq.
When he returned home in February 2005, it had been 16 years since he attended school.
Working full time as a project analyst for a green residential building contractor in Santa Clara, he attends Ohlone College at night to fulfill his undergraduate requirements. He hopes to pursue a degree in environmental studies at San Jose State University. He would like to then earn a law degree.
But Nannery found that the GI Bill, set up after World War II to help veterans pay for college, was falling short.
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February 20th, 2008
As the war drags on in Iraq and Afghanistan, the men and women of our armed forces, both regular and reserve, are making extraordinary sacrifices to ensure our freedom and safety. We can support them - and help the economy - by supporting the passage of a new G.I. Bill, modeled after the World War II version.
That G.I. Bill created a major influx into the middle class and helped fuel the post-war economic recovery by putting higher education within the reach of millions for whom it was otherwise out of reach. Estimates I have seen say that every dollar spent on that G.I. Bill yielded a seven-fold return,
Most importantly, this generation of warriors deserves it. From the beginning of the current conflict, they (and their families) have borne the burden and all too often paid the ultimate price for their service to our country. The rest of us have been encouraged to “live our lives and keep the economy rolling.”
We should all support a new G.I. Bill because it is good for the country and good for our economic future. But most of all, support it because these men and women, who have given so much, deserve nothing less!
Found here.
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February 19th, 2008
Michael Ledeen calls for expanded educational benefits:
Why has no candidate or national leader called for dramatic improvement in the educational benefits of the G.I. Bill? All our commissioned officers have college degrees (bet you didn’t know that), but the non-coms need scholarships, and the officers should get the same for graduate and professional school. I’m sure David will agree. And the candidates should, too. If we really “support our troops,” this is a fine way to do well for our society by doing good for our heroes.
That reminds me of this wacky incident from Bush’s State of the Union address:
President Bush drew great applause during his State of the Union address last month when he called on Congress to allow U.S. troops to transfer their unused education benefits to family members. “Our military families serve our nation, they inspire our nation, and tonight our nation honors them,” he said.
A week later, however, when Bush submitted his $3.1 trillion federal budget to Congress, he included no funding for such an initiative, which government analysts calculate could cost $1 billion to $2 billion annually.
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February 18th, 2008
President Bush says he wants education benefits to be transferable, but the idea doesn’t appear in his budget.
President Bush drew great applause during his State of the Union address last month when he called on Congress to allow U.S. troops to transfer their unused education benefits to family members. “Our military families serve our nation, they inspire our nation, and tonight our nation honors them,” he said.
A week later, however, when Bush submitted his $3.1 trillion federal budget to Congress, he included no funding for such an initiative, which government analysts calculate could cost $1 billion to $2 billion annually.
Bush’s proposal was added to the speech late in the process, administration officials said, after the president decided that he wanted to announce a program that would favor military families. That left little time to vet the idea, develop formal cost estimates or gauge how many people might take advantage of such a program. Some administration officials said the proposal surprised them, and they voiced concerns about how to fund it.
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February 15th, 2008
Senators Jim Webb (D-VA), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) Wednesday joined representatives of the nation’s leading veterans’ organizations to advocate comprehensive educational benefits for post-9/11 veterans in the fiscal year 2009 budget.
The groups unveiled their Independent Budget to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs advocating a “21st Century GI Bill,” similar to the Webb-Hagel bill (S.22) that enjoys widespread support in Congress.
This is the first time in 22 years of presenting an Independent Budget to Congress that the participating veterans’ organizations have advocated a new, comprehensive GI Bill, as opposed to a mere enhancement. The Independent Budget has carried great weight in years past in terms of instructing the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs budget priorities.
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February 14th, 2008
Current funding levels don’t always cover college tuition.
In Iraq and Afghanistan they’ve battled insurgents and built schools. But when it comes to enrolling in school themselves, many of today’s veterans are facing an unexpected fight - the fight to stay afloat amid mounting college costs.
It’s time for a revamped GI Bill, say veterans’ organizations and scores of US legislators. Like their World War II counterparts, the men and women making sacrifices in the “war on terror” should be rewarded with benefits that cover the full cost of education, they say. As a bonus to society, they tout the prospect of long-term economic gains and a steadier stream of good recruits.
It’s not clear yet whether those arguments will pull more dollars out of a tightly cinched federal purse. But the issue resonates as part of a wider conversation in American society about the need to increase access to higher education. Because low-income recruits make up much of today’s military, a more robust GI Bill “would do a measurable amount … to expand equality of opportunity in a period of American history when equality of opportunity is contracting,” says Theda Skocpol, a government and sociology professor at Harvard. “It’s a lot more important than … whether you’re going to force wealthy universities to [spend] a higher proportion of their endowments,” she says, because it affects average people.
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February 8th, 2008
By Bob Otto
About halfway through my Marine Corps enlistment I thought, man did I make a big mistake. All that marching, inspections, short haircuts, shining boots, cleaning my M-16 rifle, and living in a crowded barracks didn’t appeal to me much. But my four-year hitch went by quickly.
Now, almost 40 years later, if you ask me: “Bob, did you make a mistake enlisting in the Marine Corps?”
“Absolutely not,” I’d answer. In those 40 years since I enlisted, I got far more from Uncle Sam than he ever got from me.
My college education? Paid for through the G.I. Bill.
My first home? Purchased through the G.I. home loan program.
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February 5th, 2008
WASHINGTON - Most military men and women apply for education benefits that provide tuition assistance, but they generally only use about half the money the military allots them. That’s just less money the military has to pay out.
However, an idea for an alternative way to spend some of that cash on education has been floating around Capitol Hill for nearly a decade. And President Bush might have given it new life Monday night in his State of the Union address.
“Our military families also sacrifice for America,” Bush said. “They endure sleepless nights and the daily struggle of providing for children while a loved one is serving far from home. So I ask you to join me in … allowing our troops to transfer their unused education benefits to their spouses or children.”
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February 4th, 2008
For college students looking for a Democratic presidential candidate who would significantly lighten their tuition bills, there’s good and bad news. The good news: one exists. The bad news: he dropped out of the race.
John Edwards, the populist former senator, peppered his early campaign with policy proposals to help students deal with the ballooning cost of higher education. These weren’t everyday abstract commitments to “America’s future” or “our children.” His most dramatic idea was to pay the first year of tuition, fees and books at a public college - all of it - for 2 million students who work part-time and fulfill several other requirements.
But there’s more good news. Edwards may have been steamrolled in the early primaries, but his ideas weren’t. He pushed rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to the left, and they now share his zeal for making college accessible for everyone.
So is Clinton or Obama better for students? That’s not a simple question.
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