Local schools enlist to receive students through new GI Bill

Private schools are lining up to participate in the new GI Bill, Sen. Jim Webb's initiative that will finance a tax-funded college education for post-9/11 veterans beginning this fall.

Private schools can opt into the program by offering a discount off their normal tuition, which the government matches. Most are doing so, which means vets can get a full ride even at a pricey institution such as Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, where annual tuition and fees approach $30,000.

Wesleyan is one of more than 700 schools that have signed up for the Yellow Ribbon program, which is designed to extend the new GI Bill's benefits to veterans who want to attend a private college or university.

"It's a great deal," said Cary Sawyer, vice president for finance at Wesleyan. "We're excited about it. It's a great opportunity for us to have these folks here."

Regent University in Virginia Beach and Hampton University also have joined the program, as have a number of trade schools in the area.

Webb, a Virginia Democrat, introduced the post-9/11 GI Bill on his first day in office in 2007. It is the most generous taxpayer-funded program of higher-education benefits for veterans since the famed World War II-era GI Bill, which sent nearly 8 million vets to college.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which administers the program, is accepting applications from veterans now and will begin disbursing funds Aug. 1.

Most of the $78 billion to be spent on the program over the next decade will go directly to colleges.

The maximum benefit - eight semesters of aid - is payable to veterans who served 36 months or more after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A vet serving as little as 90 days after 9/ 11 qualifies for 40 percent of the maximum benefit.

The program covers tuition and fees up to the maximum charged by the most expensive public college in the state where the vet enrolls. In Virginia, that comes to $313 per credit hour plus $3,360 in fees per term.

Most private schools' tuition rates are higher than that. Those participating in the Yellow Ribbon program offer students a specified discount up to 50 percent of the excess amount, and the government matches that discount. In most cases, the private-school discounts are designed to cover all or nearly all of a student's costs.

The Yellow Ribbon program is open only to vets who qualify for the maximum GI Bill benefit.

The GI Bill pays the military's basic housing allowance for an E-5 service member with dependents - about $1,400 a month in Hampton Roads - plus $1,000 a year for books and supplies.

In addition, the bill allows active-duty service members with at least six years of experience to transfer their benefits to their spouse or children if they commit to at least four additional years of service.

"It's quite extraordinary," said David Boisselle, director of military affairs at Regent. "We can't wait to see these students show up this fall."

Bill Sizemore, (757) 446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com