Prior service GI Bill and HPSP

[a gray man]

Hey folks, I have searched this forum and talked to a few HPSP recruiters and no one seems to have a definitive answer. Does anyone know if Army HPSP prior service are allowed to use the GI bill stipend along with the HPSP scholarship?

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[Jtun84]

I did for my first year. You end up pocketing the difference in tuition. Just make sure they charge the Army for your tuition before charging the GI Bill so you maximize your refund. It ends up being a really good deal.

 

[a gray man]

I did for my first year. You end up pocketing the difference in tuition. Just make sure they charge the Army for your tuition before charging the GI Bill so you maximize your refund. It ends up being a really good deal.

Are we talking post 9/11 GI bill? I can't figure out why all these recruiters are telling me it not possible yet I keep hearing from individuals that it is. Im trying to get all my ducks in a row before deciding to go the HPSP route.

 

[Gastrapathy]

This is the perfect situation for HSCP, or just using your GI bill and being a civilian.

 

[a gray man]

This is the perfect situation for HSCP, or just using your GI bill and being a civilian.

Trust me, I would love to but I'm indef and have an SRR.

 

[Jtun84]

Yeah, mine was post 9/11. I ended up with a great deal since I had originally signed up for the Chapter 30 back when you had to buy into it, before the post 9/11 came out. There also used to be an option where you could invest another sum into the fund and it paid out more money per month. When it switched over we were offered the option of switching 1:1 or continuing on with MGIB and then receiving one extra year of post 9/11. I have no idea why your recruiters are telling you its not allowed. It seems to me there are three possibilities for this.

1. It's actually not possible, some rule changed and you can't receive the HPSP and post 9/11 GI bill concurrently. This seems highly unlikely as there are very very few people utilizing this and I just can't see it being on the radar of anyone with enough clout to make that change. Plus you earned the GI Bill through your prior service, they can't just take it from you.

2. Your recruiter is lying to you in order to get you to sign up for the HPSP. Probably not the case but its common enough not to discount the possibility.

3. Your recruiter is an idiot and doing what medical recruiters are prone to do which is spout BS like its the word of god. This seems like the most likely scenario. Plus the GI Bill is handled through your school. Your recruiter and the HPSP have nothing to do with it. It's a VA benefit and those two organizations do not coordinate. Talk to your schools financial aid department or bursar, whichever submits the paperwork to the VA. They will know more about it than the recruiter. The amount of misinformation they told me, and from what I hear on this forum, is pretty astounding. If you want a definitive answer you should talk to the VA as they are the ones processing your GI bill. However, based on my experience with asking the VA questions about the GI bill, you will talk to 3 people and get 6 answers. All I can tell you for sure is that it worked for me and some other people I know. Beyond that, your results may vary. Good luck.

 

[a gray man]

Thanks for the info, as I assumed I am unable to trust the recruiters and will go down the road of talking to the financial aid folks at the schools I'm interested in. Thanks for your help.

 

[anonimoose]

I did for my first year. You end up pocketing the difference in tuition. Just make sure they charge the Army for your tuition before charging the GI Bill so you maximize your refund. It ends up being a really good deal.

Jtun84,

Just to clarify:

You got:
1. 100% tuition/academic year (from HPSP)
2. ~$2K monthly stipend (from HPSP)
3. E-5 monthly BAH (from post 9/11 GI Bill)
4. 100% tuition (state school) or ~$19K tuition (private school)/academic year (from post 9/11 GI Bill) <--- which you pocketed?

Respectfully,
Moose

 

[vamedrnr]

I am interested in #4 above as well...

also, to add to this: my recruiters told me I would lose ALL VA benefits and had to sign a form with the VA to decline any future benefits until I am done many years from now with Army Med. This is absolutely not true and was particularly important for me for medical coverage (Afghan vet less than 5 years out). So you get to keep all of your current VA benefits. The only catch is that when you go AD for your ADTs, you have to submit a form to the VA detailing the days that you will be AD so that they can immediately stop pay for that time period (the 45 days per year) and then obviously you submit forms when you graduate and recommission. So pending an awesome answer on question 4 above, I will get: HPSP stipend, plus 9/11 stipend, plus VA money from when the Army broke me, plus VA healthcare, and I will lose all of those for the 45 days a year I am AD during med school.

 

[Laito]

Jtun84,

Just to clarify:

You got:
1. 100% tuition/academic year (from HPSP)
2. ~$2K monthly stipend (from HPSP)
3. E-5 monthly BAH (from post 9/11 GI Bill)
4. 100% tuition (state school) or ~$19K tuition (private school)/academic year (from post 9/11 GI Bill) <--- which you pocketed?

Respectfully,
Moose

@Jtun84 , Could you clarify this? I am very interested as well. Thank you!

 

[Kingfisher]

I am interested in #4 above as well...

also, to add to this: my recruiters told me I would lose ALL VA benefits and had to sign a form with the VA to decline any future benefits until I am done many years from now with Army Med. This is absolutely not true and was particularly important for me for medical coverage (Afghan vet less than 5 years out). So you get to keep all of your current VA benefits. The only catch is that when you go AD for your ADTs, you have to submit a form to the VA detailing the days that you will be AD so that they can immediately stop pay for that time period (the 45 days per year) and then obviously you submit forms when you graduate and recommission. So pending an awesome answer on question 4 above, I will get: HPSP stipend, plus 9/11 stipend, plus VA money from when the Army broke me, plus VA healthcare, and I will lose all of those for the 45 days a year I am AD during med school.

I hope whoever did your commissioning physical knows about your disability claims with the VA. I am pretty familiar with the process and there aren't too many conditions that would qualify you to receive monthly benefits and still be world wide deployable without a nice pile of waivers.

 

[vamedrnr]

I hope whoever did your commissioning physical knows about your disability claims with the VA. I am pretty familiar with the process and there aren't too many conditions that would qualify you to receive monthly benefits and still be world wide deployable without a nice pile of waivers.

Ever met an infantryman? Just about everyone in the infantry I knew left with some level of disability rating from the VA even though we were leading troops at a high level the day before. My 1SG was pounding sand one day and 70% disability a month later. Just because we are broke (and we are all broke because we are human mules) doesn't mean we can't push through and make it work. My MRIs are what they are and I live with that pain every day. That doesn't mean I can't push through when needed. Also, if you read my comment you realize it is implicit that I did tell them about my VA disabilities, hence why I was informing others to fight through when recruiters said this cannot be done. Finally, your tone is completely off base here. I get it if I was a civilian with no prior service but as someone who volunteered to fight on the front lines and then is fighting to get back in because I miss the mission I don't take kindly to you suggesting that I was less than honest.

 

[Gastrapathy]

It's not that simple. More than one of has deployed on short notice in the place of someone with a predictable medical issue or uterus. You have the best of intentions. Accepting that, I still wouldn't want to do your deployment when your back gives out.

 

[68PGunner]

Jtun84,

Just to clarify:

You got:
1. 100% tuition/academic year (from HPSP)
2. ~$2K monthly stipend (from HPSP)
3. E-5 monthly BAH (from post 9/11 GI Bill)
4. 100% tuition (state school) or ~$19K tuition (private school)/academic year (from post 9/11 GI Bill) <--- which you pocketed?

Respectfully,
Moose

He shouldn't be pocketing the 19k tuition from 9/11 till bill. The regulations disallow double dipping.

 

[Kingfisher]

Ever met an infantryman? Just about everyone in the infantry I knew left with some level of disability rating from the VA even though we were leading troops at a high level the day before. My 1SG was pounding sand one day and 70% disability a month later. Just because we are broke (and we are all broke because we are human mules) doesn't mean we can't push through and make it work. My MRIs are what they are and I live with that pain every day. That doesn't mean I can't push through when needed. Also, if you read my comment you realize it is implicit that I did tell them about my VA disabilities, hence why I was informing others to fight through when recruiters said this cannot be done. Finally, your tone is completely off base here. I get it if I was a civilian with no prior service but as someone who volunteered to fight on the front lines and then is fighting to get back in because I miss the mission I don't take kindly to you suggesting that I was less than honest.

Telling your recruiters about your disability benefits is one thing, telling the provider doing your commissioning physical is something else entirely. Your recruiter doesn't have to sign off on you being world wide deployable.

I have been on the receiving end of many a well-meaning soldier/sailor trying to push through the pain. Things tend to go just fine while state side but always flair up when deployed. I have had to medevac dozens of hard chargers because their chronic issues flared up in country/shipboard. Most of them had clean DD form's 2807-1 (a navy screening form), not listing their chronic issues when getting screened because they knew it would cause problems with their deployment paperwork. I have wasted a lot of time dealing with these issues and Uncle Sam has spent millions sending these folks home when problems pop up (and they always do).