Soldiers wait for G.I. Bill payments
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
By: Susan Phillips
sphillips@whyy.org
The nation's new G.I. Bill is having a few problems, like not getting the money out on time. Similar to its predecessor after World War II, the program provides war vets the chance to go to college with the federal aid dollars. Thousands of dollars in education benefits are stalled.
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John Healy served as a U.S. Marine for four years, spending seven months in Iraq. Today, he's a junior at Rutger's University, studying accounting and working part-time at a law firm. Healy is one of more than 25,000 veterans taking advantage of the new G-I Bill, enacted this summer.
It's more generous than previous programs, and covers his tuition, fees, and housing. Healy is expected to get $500 for books, and another $1200 for housing at the start of the school year. But so far, Healy's not gotten his payments.
Healy: Instead of focusing on the books and the education aspects of this, we're focusing on our financial hardships because of this and trying to live on a day to day basis off of not much.
The Veteran's Administration says they will issue emergency checks of up to $3,000 to students in the program starting this Friday.
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For additional coverage on the new G.I. Bill visit The Impact of War at whyy.org/impactofwar.
