CBO: Better GI Bill would cut retention 16%

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CBO: Better GI Bill would cut retention 16%
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday May 9, 2008 10:49:14 EDT

A new congressional report supports the Pentagon’s claims that vastly improved GI Bill benefits would hurt retention.

The Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan analytical arm of Congress, said in a report Thursday that enactment of S 22, a bill promising to pay full tuition plus a stipend for veterans attending college, could lead to a 16 percent drop in re-enlistments.

The Defense Department could counter that drop only by increasing re-enlistment bonuses. Fully offsetting the draw of a better veterans’ education program would require a $25,000 re-enlistment bonus for every first-term service member, something that would cost the Pentagon about $6.7 billion over five years.

However, that cost would be offset by lower recruiting costs, the report predicts. It estimates there would be a 16 percent boost in recruits, which would allow a cut in enlistment bonuses and in other recruiting expenses that would result in $5.6 billion in savings over five years.

The combination of better recruiting but weaker re-enlistments would leave the military with a $1.1 billion cost over five years to maintain the current force, the report said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/military_gibill_retention_050908w/