The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (P.L. GI Bill of Rights or simply GI Bill) emerged in a bid to reintegrate World War II veterans to civilian life. The bill has its roots in the post World War I confusion with respect to the social welfare of the veterans and the poor. President’s Roosevelt’s welfare reform attracted stern opposition from veterans’ lobby groups that demanded separate treatment from civilians given their circumstances. At the height of the Great Depression, Congress tried to use the World War Adjustment Act of 1924 to alleviate the plight of veterans, but its inadequacy agitated the veterans even more, bringing on marches on Washington, D.C. and ugly clashes between the police the and veterans. The unrest was exacerbated even further by the return of millions more veterans in the wake of World War II. Harry Colmery, himself a former commander of the American Legion a Republican National Chairman drew up the first GI Bill to save the government’s face. Both Congress and Senate passed the Bill, which had the effect of creating far-reaching reforms in the provision for the welfare of serving and retired servicemen in the country.
There have been multiple changes to the veterans educational support programs, both under the GI Bill as well as other related programs. Other programs with similar goals, including the promotion of education, replaced GI Bill programs that expired. While at the beginning, the GI Bill benefits were fully subsidized by the federal government and the payments were remitted directly to learning institutions on behalf of the beneficiary, they could be utilized for a variety of training and educational purposes (Batten 8; U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs 1). At present, the veterans’ benefits are only partially subsidized and veterans may use them to cover fees, tuition, and other training/educational expenses. With the college fees and living expenses inflation across the US, there has been a marked shift in the manner in which federal financial support is both assessed and awarded. The federal need assessment system is used to calculate the eligibility and amount of educational benefits for veterans.
The conclusion of the 1966 program thus gave way to the Montgomery GI Bill, which comprised to main programs i.e. the MGIB-Selected Reserves and the MGIB-Active Duty for active servicemen (Smole and Loane 3; U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs 1). The MGIB-AD was enacted as a part of the Department of Defense Authorization Act 1985 to benefit actively serving individuals within the initial ten years of their honorable discharge from active duty (Smole and Loane 4; Murray 973). The MGIB-AD benefits are may be used to finance courses at universities and colleges leading to associate, graduate or baccalaureate qualification; courses at vocational, technical and business schools leading to the award of a diploma or certificate; apprenticeship and other on-the-job training, including self-employment training for operation or ownership of franchises. Further, the benefits may be used to finance state-approved teaching certification programs; approved certification and licensing tests; preparatory or breaching courses leading to admission to graduate or undergraduate education programs; entrepreneurship training courses for the creation or expansion of businesses; and tuition assistance based on the MGIB as a top-up.
The tuition assistance top-up initiative was set up under the National Defense Authorization Act for 2001, and it offers military service branches to cover living expenses and tuition for training and education of active duty personnel. For approved proved programs, the Post-9/11 GI Bill offers up to three years of education benefits, which are generally payable for fifteen years following the servicemembers’ discharge from active duty. Higher learning institutions that participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program may make additional funding available for veterans’ education without charges to the servicemembers’ BI Bill entitlement.
The GI Bill, and in particular Title II of the Bill, remains one of the most significant pieces of legislation today, and its socioeconomic impacts on the veterans, and the US economy can never be gainsaid (U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs 1; Smole and Loane). The Bill’s effect on access to education by veterans’ access to education and training, as well as the enhancement of veterans’ social and economic welfare has been substantial. The benefits have allowed millions of veterans that would otherwise have flooded the labor market in search of unskilled It is evident that the Bill’s immediate effects had far reaching effects on the nature of the government’s involvement in higher education. The scholarships under the Bill created a merit-based system through which veterans received funding without the direct involvement of the federal government, and over the years, the scholarships have been transformed into need-based assistance systems.
Works Cited
Batten, Dayne D. "The G.I. Bill, Higher Education and American Society." Grove City College journal of Law & Public Policy 21.3 (2011): 13-41.
Murray, Melissa. "When War Is Work: The G.I. Bill, Citizenship, and the Civic Generation." 98 California Law Review 96.4 (2008): 967-978.
Smole, David, P. and Shannon, S. Loane. A Brief History of Veterans’ Education Benefits and Their Value. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, 2008.
U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. Education and Training. 2014. 20 March 2016 <http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/history.asp>.
