Post-9/11 GI Bill

[Chonal Atresia]

I just recently discovered this and wanted to share with all.

A servicemember (enlisted or officer) is eligible to TRANSFER HIS/HER BENEFITS from the post-9/11 GI Bill if he/she has a) served at least 6 years of active duty after 9/11 and b) agrees to serve at least 4 more years. These 4 years can be served CONCURRENTLY (NOT CONSECUTIVELY) with an HPSP or USUHS obligation but NOT ROTC or Academy obligation (this would be served CONSECUTIVELY); therefore USUHS grads can take advantage of this while incurring NO ADDITIONAL obligation and HPSP grads from the primary care specialties will incur only 3 additional years in the reserves. Those HPSP grads doing 5 year residencies will incur NO ADDITIONAL TIME. I have confirmed this statement with my branch manager at the HRC.

This is potentially a HUGE financial windfall as many private institutions (i.e. Ivy League schools) are participating in the yellow ribbon program which "makes up" the difference b/t their tuition and that of the most expensive public school in the state. The post-9/11 GI Bill will cover 36 months of tutition at the most expensive public school in the state as well as housing (BAH of an E5).

For those of us in medical specialties where we are being financially devastated by the military, this benefit as well as moonlighting may make life more palatable until our ADSOs end.

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[sethco]

FYI, the 10 years total must be served on Active Duty. Reserves (unless activated) and civilian deferments do not count.

So, as an example. Let's say a 4 year HPSP participant gos into FP at a military residency location. They would get 3 years AD from the military residency and then owe 4 more years for a utilization tour. 3 years (actually a little earlier, due to the 45 day ADT done during med school each year) into the utilization tour, that person would then commit to serve 4 more years Active Duty. So, that person's 1 remianing year has now become 4 additional years, but, yes, that 1 year is concurrent with the 4 years. So, total time (post-military residency) would be a shade under 7 years.

 

[Chonal Atresia]

That's not correct - the 4 years is only military service obligation NOT necessarily active duty and therefore can be done on active reserve time (this is straight from my branch manager's mouth). It is true, however, that the 6 years does have to be active duty. I'm a USUHS grad so I owed 7 years after residency. I did a 5 year residency. I was eligible to sign for my additional 4 years once I had 6 years in (5 years residency and 1 year as an attending) leaving 6 years left on my obligation; therefore, NO additional obligation for the GI Bill since the 4 years is served concurrently.

 

[pgg]

Just did the transfer myself last month ...

Yellowstone posted step-by-step instructions here.

It's a great deal.

 

[GeoLeoX]

I went to the online VA portal to transfer benefits and there was no mention of the "Page 13". Any Army folks have any insight into how we are affected by this?

 

[GeoLeoX]

I went to the online VA portal to transfer benefits and there was no mention of the "Page 13". Any Army folks have any insight into how we are affected by this?

Nevermind, I answered my own question. We in the Army don't have to do the Page 13 thing. I just went to the website, logged in (with myPay credentials in my case) and filled out the application last week. I seem to recall an electronic version of "I am electronically signing in this and effectively agreeing to all the stuff in the Page 13". I logged in today and found the Approval Letter on the site! It looks like the whole process took 10 minutes to file with approval by the next day. The next step apparently is the VA Form 22-1990e to apply for the benefits when the time comes.

 

[a1qwerty55]

I just recently discovered this and wanted to share with all.

A servicemember (enlisted or officer) is eligible to TRANSFER HIS/HER BENEFITS from the post-9/11 GI Bill if he/she has a) served at least 6 years of active duty after 9/11 and b) agrees to serve at least 4 more years. These 4 years can be served CONCURRENTLY (NOT CONSECUTIVELY) with an HPSP or USUHS obligation but NOT ROTC or Academy obligation (this would be served CONSECUTIVELY); therefore USUHS grads can take advantage of this while incurring NO ADDITIONAL obligation and HPSP grads from the primary care specialties will incur only 3 additional years in the reserves. Those HPSP grads doing 5 year residencies will incur NO ADDITIONAL TIME. I have confirmed this statement with my branch manager at the HRC.

This is potentially a HUGE financial windfall as many private institutions (i.e. Ivy League schools) are participating in the yellow ribbon program which "makes up" the difference b/t their tuition and that of the most expensive public school in the state. The post-9/11 GI Bill will cover 36 months of tutition at the most expensive public school in the state as well as housing (BAH of an E5).

For those of us in medical specialties where we are being financially devastated by the military, this benefit as well as moonlighting may make life more palatable until our ADSOs end.

This is a pretty insanely generous and in my opinion not sustainable program. I'd sign up asap before someone turns it off. Make sure when you do, you assign a percentage to your spouse and each kid - the percentage is meaningless as it can be changed but if they are not listed, they cannot be added at a later day after your service ends.

I mean, having a fully funded college education without having to contribute to a 529 is pretty amazing.

 

[pgg]

This is a pretty insanely generous and in my opinion not sustainable program. I'd sign up asap before someone turns it off. Make sure when you do, you assign a percentage to your spouse and each kid - the percentage is meaningless as it can be changed but if they are not listed, they cannot be added at a later day after your service ends.

I mean, having a fully funded college education without having to contribute to a 529 is pretty amazing.

Agree on all counts. I assigned months to all of my dependents for the reason you noted.

I have the nagging suspicion that the program will be modified before my oldest child actually attempts to collect ... The country's bankrupt and this open-ended promise to pay an unspecified and annually increasing sum seems awfully tenuous. I'm not converting Pgg Jr's college fund to the Pgg Beer & Ammo fund yet.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Agree on all counts. I assigned months to all of my dependents for the reason you noted.

I have the nagging suspicion that the program will be modified before my oldest child actually attempts to collect ... The country's bankrupt and this open-ended promise to pay an unspecified and annually increasing sum seems awfully tenuous. I'm not converting Pgg Jr's college fund to the Pgg Beer & Ammo fund yet.

For what its worth, historically when a program has been deemed too expensive, they've closed it for future enrollment but not ever taken away benefits.

Where did you guys get the idea that you can't transfer the benefit between dependents after leaving the .mil? Does anyone know how that process will work?

 

[a1qwerty55]

For what its worth, historically when a program has been deemed too expensive, they've closed it for future enrollment but not ever taken away benefits.

Where did you guys get the idea that you can't transfer the benefit between dependents after leaving the .mil? Does anyone know how that process will work?

Transferring between dependents is fine so long as they have been assigned a number of months of benefits before the service member leaves active duty.

There are technically 36 months of benefits.

I could assign 6 month to my wife, 12 months to a son, and 18 to a daughter. After leave service any new kids can get nothing but I can transfer the number of months between the three I assigned above.

So if one kid doesn't end up going to college you can transfer the unused benefits to the other kid, wife or yourself.

 

[dwb8p]

Slightly off topic but also relating to benefits -- let's say you do 10 years active duty (or even just a few years for that matter), could the military just all of a sudden change it's retirement policy/benefits? Could they do away completely with the 20 year retirement even for those already serving, or would they most likely just end that potential benefit for those entering the service?

 

[pgg]

Where did you guys get the idea that you can't transfer the benefit between dependents after leaving the .mil? Does anyone know how that process will work?

You can chop up and give away any portion of benefits at any time after a family member has been listed as a GI Bill beneficiary. I don't know if you can add beneficiaries at any time. Here's a screenshot of the transfer application -

Section (i) says you can redistribute months of entitlment at any time.

But
- AFAIK nothing anywhere says you can add beneficiaries at any time
- there's a "transfer begin date" listed for each one on the transfer application
- you must file the transfer application while on active duty (because you agree to 4 more years)

So it appears to me that mechanism by which beneficiaries are listed/added involves an application that has to be filed while on active duty. Maybe there's a way to do so after separating, but it just seemed prudent for me to list all of my dependents up front.

 

[pgg]

For what its worth, historically when a program has been deemed too expensive, they've closed it for future enrollment but not ever taken away benefits.

I realize that and it is reassuring ...

But even the sacred cows of social security and medicare/medicaid are going to eventually be on the chopping block else we'll end up in some sick renactment of the Weimar Republic's final days.

The government will never be able to pay what it's committed to those programs. I think they'll keep the music going for a while yet - probably long enough for the eldest Pgg Jr to cash in on my GI Bill benefits - but in the end merely 'closing [insert program] for future enrollment' is going to be too little too late.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Thanks.

 

[sethco]

That's not correct - the 4 years is only military service obligation NOT necessarily active duty and therefore can be done on active reserve time (this is straight from my branch manager's mouth).

That's great if it is true.

 

[Zulu451]

I have already transferred my benefits to my wife. I did HPSP and a 6 year residency. Essentially free benefits.