The last couple of months have seen both the House and the Senate pass legislation focused on fixing the Post-9/11 GI Bill tuition issues. The Streamlining Education Claims Processing Act of 2011 (HR 2301) is designed to reduce Post-9/11 GI Bill payments. According to some, however, passing this bill may cause “disastrous, unintended consequences.”
Passing the bill would mean the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would be required to make payments at the end of the term. If they don’t, colleges would have “cash-flow problems” and some student veterans would be unable to attend their college classes. Should that scenario develop, the proposed patch would definitely be worse than the problem it is intending to fix.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind) authored the bill, and claims the bill will eliminate problems student veterans are now facing because schools’ tuition and fees are being overpaid, and dropped classes force veterans to pay money out-of-pocket.
The bill proposes waiting until the end of the term to make tuition and fee payments to schools. Opponents of the bill believe the bill will only serve to create new problems, such as giving schools reasons not to enroll veterans. Additionally, veterans would likely encounter problems registering for classes at many colleges and universities without any way with which to pay for those classes.
If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, contact LaVan & Neidenberg. You may be entitled to certain programs and benefits so contact our veterans disability rights firm today.
