Educational benefits from a GI bill passed over a year ago have been severely delayed, causing many to question the bill's implementation and seek alternate methods of educational funding.
Chuck Goranson, a Vietnam veteran and veterans benefit specialist with the local organization Vets for Vets, said the bill, called Chapter 1607, gives extra benefits to members of the National Guard and military reservists who were called to active duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and other operations concerning the war on terrorism.
'Members of the Reserve and Guards get benefits anyway, but they're a really piddling amount,' Goranson said. Chapter 1607 greatly increases these benefits, providing a maximum of $827 a month to Guard and Reserve veterans, based on time served. However, no veterans have yet received the increased benefits, despite the bill passing in October 2004.
UW-Madison junior Melissa Heisz, who served for 13 months, is entitled to up to $620 a month in educational allowances but, due to the delay, she is working three part-time jobs and borrowing money from her family to pay tuition.
'When I got called up it was very quick. I had less than 24 hours notice,' Heisz said. 'It just seems like they're quicker when they need you than when they want to repay you.'
Syanna Swyers, a UW-Madison senior who served during the first half of 2002, said she feels that the implementation of the benefits was poorly coordinated.
'I think that, if they weren't ready to implement the program then they shouldn't have created it, or they should have delayed its creation,' she said. 'They promised us these benefits and they should be able to hand these benefits out.'
Part of the problem stems from a need to create a database of the lengths veterans served, so benefits can be appropriately distributed.
'That's certainly complicated, to figure out who's entitled to what,' Goranson said, 'but that was a year ago.' He believes the delay may be a result of the government not dedicating enough resources to the issue. 'I think the problem is the Defense Department has not made providing benefits to veterans a priority,' he said.
Goranson said that, while many veterans may be unaware of their eligibility for the benefits, 'We haven't gone through a lot of efforts to tell them they're eligible because the benefit isn't there.'
According to Goranson, the Department of Veterans Affairs continues to tell veterans the benefits will be fully available in four to six months, but, 'They've been saying four to six months since the beginning, and no one believes them anymore.'
