From the Halls ….

VA Begins Nationwide GI Bill Advertising Campaign to Reach Student Veterans and Schools Ads to Be Placed in College Newspapers, Radio Stations, Campus Venues and On-Line Sites to Ensure Student Veterans and Service Members Receive Their Education Benefits

WASHINGTON (Feb. 23, 2010) – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced a two-month, nationwide advertising campaign to assist student Veterans and service members applying for the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

“VA, student Veterans and our schools have made significant progress in implementing the GI Bill this spring, but we still have more to do,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki.  “We won’t rest until all student Veterans have received the education benefit they earned in defense of our Nation.”

Since inception of this historic new program, VA has issued nearly $1.9 billion in Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit payments and opened the door to higher education to 209,490 people.

As of Feb. 12, VA has received spring semester Post-9/11 GI Bill enrollments from approximately 180,000 student Veterans and already paid nearly 90 percent of students.  All Post-9/11 GI Bill participants whose spring enrollments were received by Jan. 18 have been paid.

The GI Bill Advertising campaign includes half-page ads in top college publications, online and social media, print, radio, and outdoor advertising such as posters and flyers.  Public service announcements are being delivered to approximately 150 college radio stations and 750 local stations in areas where there is a high density of students, as well as military installations.

Student Veterans on college campuses will also see a variety of posters in registrars’ offices, dormitories, cafeterias, student union buildings and other high traffic areas.

“This comprehensive, nationwide advertising campaign will help us reach those student Veterans, service members and educational administrators who need help in understanding the GI Bill and their role in the benefits process,” said Keith Wilson, director of VA’s educational service.

Social media and online advertising will be extensively used to reach the younger generation of student Veterans.  VA will place banner ads on social media sites such as Facebook, Google, MySpace, Yahoo, and other outlets.

Text messaging ads will also link student Veterans to VA.  By texting “GIBILL,” Veterans will receive the basic message: “You Served.  Get Benefits.”  Veterans will then be directed to follow three steps: “Review your benefit options online.  Submit your application.  And check with your school certifying official to confirm that your VA enrollment certification has been sent to VA.”

VA also developed a hip pocket guide and checklist with helpful tips to assist Veterans and service members in the application process.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill, passed by Congress last year, is the most extensive educational assistance program authorized since the original GI Bill was signed into law in 1944.

Information about the Post-9/11 GI Bill, as well as VA’s other educational benefit programs, is available at VA’s Web site, www.gibill.va.gov <http://www.gibill.va.gov/> , or by calling 1-888-GIBILL-1 (or 1-888-442-4551).

WASHINGTON – The Veterans Affairs Department is more efficiently cutting checks for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to attend college this semester, following a rocky rollout last fall that left veterans so cash-strapped there was concern some wouldn’t re-enroll.

As of Feb. 5, nearly 90 percent of enrollments for the 167,000 veterans submitted to the VA for the Post-9/11 GI Bill had been paid out, the VA said. And it said all those submitted by Jan. 19 were paid.

The new GI Bill was designed to be the most comprehensive benefit for veterans since World War II. Last semester, however, there were so many hiccups that the VA had to issue $3,000 advance checks to 122,000 veterans who needed help with expenses as they waited for their claim to be processed.

Even as the fall semester was wrapping up, thousands of colleges and universities were waiting for tuition reimbursement from the VA and there was concern affected veterans wouldn’t be allowed to enroll for the spring semester by their schools or would drop out of frustration. Amid the problems, there were complaints that calls to a helpline went unanswered, although even now the helpline is only manned Monday to Wednesday.

The VA was able to make processing improvements by hiring new staff and streamlining operations, VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said in an e-mail.

Advocates say they’ve not heard widespread reports of veterans not returning for the spring semester because of GI Bill problems. While there are still complaints about some back pay issues and about the accuracy of payments, “What we’ve seen has been pretty encouraging,” said Ryan Gallucci, a spokesman for AMVETS.

Roberts said the VA has processed all claims from last semester if it has all the veteran’s paperwork and there is no outstanding information to verify.

On Feb. 4, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told the House Veterans Affairs Committee that a more automated system to process new GI Bill claims will be implemented by December. The president’s proposed budget seeks $44 million to help fund the upgrades.

The maximum benefit under the new GI Bill allows eligible veterans to attend a public college or university for free for four years, provides a monthly housing stipend, and up to $1,000 a year for books. Active duty service members can transfer the benefit to immediate family members.

In recent weeks, veterans have been notified that they must begin to pay back the $3,000 advance checks.

WASHINGTON –The Department of Veterans Affairs is beginning the process of recovering advance payments made available during the fall 2009 semester to Veterans and servicemembers who applied for education benefits.

“The advance payments were a huge success and helped thousands of student Veterans during the first days of the historic Post 9/11 GI Bill focus on studies and not their finances,” said Keith Wilson, Director of Education Services at VA. “Now, we can get to the business of closing the books on advance payments and focus supporting Veterans for the spring semester.”

VA will begin sending out notification letters this week explaining the repayment process.

In October VA instituted an advanced payment process for all eligible students who were currently enrolled in an institution of higher learning for the fall 2009 term to ensure that all Veterans and eligible students were able to focus on their academic studies and not be burdened with financial concerns.  As part of that process, a web portal was established to allow electronic submission for advance payment.  Advance payments were also made on-site at VA offices around the country.   At that time student Veterans were told that advance payments would be deducted from future benefit payments.