Editorial: Improve GI Bill benefits

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Editorial: Improve GI Bill benefits

Several years ago, Congress linked GI Bill payment rates to inflation, ensuring that the payments rise each Oct. 1.

Yet the GI Bill still doesn’t come close to covering the full costs of the average four-year college education. And under the current scenario, it never will.

The reason is simple: Average college tuition rates rise faster than inflation. So linking GI Bill payments to inflation guarantees that the value of the benefit will steadily erode over time.

At the moment, maximum monthly GI Bill payments for active-duty troops cover only about 75 percent of the average cost of a four-year, public-college education.

National Guard and reserve troops fare even worse. Despite bearing a deployment burden that is unprecedented in recent decades, their GI Bill benefits are worth less than 30 percent of active-duty rates — down from 47 percent when the modern GI Bill was created in 1984.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_editorial_gibenefits_080107/