The Freedom Tower

The new GI Bill passed by Congress over the summer, the Boston Globe says dramatically expands veterans benefits. It “was lauded as a sign that the country was looking after this generation of warriors. But don’t extol its virtues to Grey Adkins, who served two tours with the Navy off the coast of Iraq, is $10,000 in debt, and won’t see a dime of the new benefits.
Even though it is called the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the new legislation won’t take effect until Aug. 1, 2009 - eight years after jets felled the twin towers and other planes crashed into the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. By then, Adkins will have graduated from Towson University. And because the bill is not retroactive, it won’t help him at all.

The difference it would make is stark. Currently, he receives $1,600 a month during the school year, or about $15,000. Under the new bill, he would be eligible for up to twice that amount each school year.

So far, more than 410,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have used the current GI Bill, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs - and many, like Adkins, will finish school before the new benefits start.

Many advocates for veterans say it took too long to update a GI Bill that has not kept pace with the escalating price of college tuition. But now there is also concern that the VA won’t be able to meet the August deadline after it abruptly abandoned its plan to hire a private contractor this month and instead will implement the new program itself.”