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Your GI Bill pays for more than just college

Terrance Farrare works in the White House as a security agent for the Office of National Drug Control Policy and once served as a wartime readiness logistics specialist in the Air Force.

But he’d rather be in the kitchen. Wearing a chef’s hat.

“I’m an aspiring restaurateur,” Farrare said during an introductory baking class at the Art Institute of Washington’s International Culinary School in Arlington, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C.

The class made pastries called Napoleons. Farrare’s was deluxe, with almond-flavored filling.

Farrare is in his third month of a three-year culinary arts management program designed to teach him everything from basic food techniques to global factors affecting the food service industry. He dreams of opening a restaurant that specializes in fine European cuisine.

If all goes as planned, Farrare will graduate in the fall of 2010 with a bachelor’s degree, and even better, he’ll have no student debt to speak of thanks to his meticulous use of GI Bill benefits.

He found a way to leverage valuable GI Bill bucks for something other than a traditional four-year university experience.

“The original GI Bill of 1944 was pretty cut and dried,” said Keith Wilson, director of the Department of Veterans Affairs Education Service. Eligible veterans under the original program received full tuition, fees and a living stipend, but they were required to go to school full time to receive any benefits at all.

“It was a different need we were trying to meet,” Wilson said.

By contrast, today’s Montgomery GI Bill won’t cover the full price of tuition at many public and private universities — a fact some members of Congress are trying to change — but the current program does pay for more types of education and training than ever before.

So how can you use the GI Bill to get ahead in the work force if four years of traditional college aren’t the right fit?

Try one of these ways to train:

Vocational-technical training

When Young Choe joined the Army, recruiters wanted the South Korea native to be a linguist. But Choe knew he really wanted to be a mechanic — and not just one for Uncle Sam.

When it was time to leave active duty, Choe — now a sergeant in the Army Reserve — learned about Universal Technical Institute. He chose UTI’s NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, N.C., so he could be close to his fiancee.

Choe has less than a year to go before he completes a 22-month certificate program.

“I want to start a family,” Choe said. “I want to be financially stable, and I heard that this school would get me there.” He’s learning fabrication techniques so he can eventually do custom work.

The school combines an automotive technology program, including engine construction, fuel and lubrication systems and body and chassis fabrication, with NASCAR-specific motor sports courses such as racing theory.

And Choe is definitely not alone in choosing a vocational program. During the 2003-04 academic year, the most recent year for which information is available, more than one-third of the 2.7 million postsecondary education credentials awarded in the U.S. were for career programs lasting fewer than two academic years, according to the Education Department.

Maximum monthly benefit: $1,101 for full-time students.

Flight training

It’s up to you to earn your private pilot rating, but for flight training that leads to a career in the field, you can apply GI Bill benefits in some cases.

The Delta Connection Academy Flight School, for example, prepares pilots to go to work for commercial airlines and guarantees job interviews to those who complete the program, including the Jet Transition Course.

“There is a huge demand for pilots right now,” said Rachel Gaffney, the school’s marketing manager. “It’s a great time to get into the industry.”

About 300 students at a time train at the Sanford, Fla., facility.

For those with no flight experience, the program takes about 24 months and costs about $70,000. The GI Bill won’t reimburse you for the private pilot portion, which costs about $12,000.

If you have experience flying in the military, you’ll have an advantage in the passenger airline industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, because pilots who have logged the most hours on sophisticated equipment receive hiring preference in this field.

Maximum benefit: Sixty percent of approved charges not to exceed the student’s maximum GI Bill entitlement. However, VA limits the number of instructional hours per flight rating that qualify for reimbursement.

Technology training

Six of the top 30 fastest-growing U.S. occupations are in the technology field, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Technology training includes certifications by such industry heavyweights as Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Cisco Systems.

The Cisco Networking Academy Program covers topics that include building a computer, basic networking and troubleshooting. It is administered by local colleges and prepares students for certifications including Cisco Certified Network Associate and Cisco Certified Network Professional.

Sun Microsystems offers training in application development, system administration, software, hardware maintenance, server administration and information storage.

“Some of those can be eight-week programs that cost $10,000,” said Wilson of the VA’s Education Service.

For that reason, such programs are often eligible for accelerated payment.

Maximum monthly benefit: $1,101 or an up-front, accelerated payment of 60 percent of tuition and fees, not to exceed the student’s maximum GI Bill entitlement.

On-the-job training

“When we talk about on-the-job training, we mean any type of on-the-job training that leads to a career” — as long as that training program lasts six months or more, Wilson said.

His office has seen the greatest increase in on-the-job training among people pursuing careers as public servants, such as police officers and emergency medical technicians.

If you’re entering an on-the-job training program or apprenticeship that hasn’t been approved for GI Bill reimbursement, it’s never too late for the organization to apply, Wilson said. To find out about getting your job’s program on the list, call your state’s approving agency.

Maximum monthly benefit starting Jan. 1: $825.75 for the first six months of training; $605.55 for the second six months of training; $385.35 for the remaining months of training, up to a total of 36 months.

Two-year degrees

GI Bill recipients studying for two-year degrees outnumbered those pursuing four-year degrees in 2006, according to the Veterans Benefits Administration. And full-time workers with associate degrees earned $126 more per week than people with no education beyond high school, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show.

People with associate degrees were also 30 percent more likely to find jobs than their high-school-educated counterparts.

An associate degree may be a good choice if you want the GI Bill to pay for your entire education, and it’s a good way to determine whether to pursue a four-year degree down the road.

Maximum monthly benefit: $1,101 for full-time students.

IMPORTANT TIPS

A few things to remember when claiming your Montgomery GI Bill benefit:

• The 10 years you have to use the GI Bill may seem like a long time, but to make the most of your benefit, you need to have finished school by the end of 10 years — or at least used up all of your months of eligibility. If you haven’t, your benefit will expire anyway.

• If it looks like you’ll be in school for more months than you have benefits, you may request an extension.

• You can manage your GI Bill benefit online, starting by applying for eligibility and later verifying your enrollment.