GI Bill delays frustrate more student vets - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

GI Bill delays frustrate more student vets

Grumbling about delays in Post-9/11 GI Bill payments is on the rise as veterans who expected the new education program to fully cover their college costs are wondering what happened to the money.

The head of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a group that played a big role in getting the Post-9/11 GI Bill enacted, said delayed payments are hurting veterans.

“After spending years fighting for the new GI Bill, IAVA is frustrated to hear that veterans are being forced to wait for GI Bill checks that are being cut late,” said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of IAVA. “We have and will continue to push VA to address this issue immediately before more veterans are forced into the difficult position of choosing between paying out of pocket or dropping out of school.”

Veterans Affairs Department officials say the delays are the result of two things: the complex two-step procedure of approving veterans first for eligibility and then for enrollment, and because the program is new for both claims processors and the school admissions and financial officials who help file claims.

They noted the program only began Aug. 1, and despite allowing service members and veterans to pre-certify their eligibility, some parts of the process could not be completed until institutions certified enrollment.

Officials said they believe most veterans waiting for living stipends will receive payments Oct. 1 that will be retroactive to the start of their terms, and that book allowances will be paid at about the same time schools receive tuition payments. For those who filed claims in early September, that should happen in mid-to-late October.

Another veterans group — this one with experience prying documents out of VA to discover flaws in claims processing — has gotten involved in trying to find out what is going wrong.

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, said he filed a Freedom of Information request on Wednesday to learn details about claims processing, including the number of certificates of eligibility filed and completed, the number of schools certifying enrollment and how many students are approved for payment.

“I am hearing from a lot of veterans who want to know when they are going to be paid,” Sullivan said. “VA has been telling everyone it takes 28 days to process a certificate of eligibility, but that doesn’t really tell the full story. In particular, I want to know what happens when someone applies and doesn’t get paid, or doesn’t get paid the amount they expect or doesn’t receive their living allowance. How many appeals have been filed and what is their status?”

Derek Blumke, executive director of Student Veterans of America, said he has heard the same complaints as Reickhoff and Sullivan and worries about the six- to eight-week delay in payments announced by VA, and about problems veterans are having getting through to a VA hotline to have questions answered.

“You could expect problems starting up such a big program, but VA assured us in June they had hired extra staff, trained them and were ready,” Blumkle said. “Student veterans waiting on book allowances and living stipends and institutions of higher learning waiting on tuition payments might feel differently.”