Vet Groups Want Cap on New GI Bil

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Vet Groups Want Cap on New GI Bil
February 23, 2009
The Virginian-Pilot

WASHINGTON -- Just a few months after securing a historic, multibillion-dollar increase in veterans educational benefits, some veterans groups may ask Congress to wipe out part of what they gained.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and the American Legion are among groups considering asking lawmakers to place a cap -- $13,000 per year has been suggested by the IAVA -- on tuition aid for veterans. That's far less than would be available in many states under a new GI bill for post-9/11 troops but is enough to cover virtually all public college costs, advocates of the limit say.

The cap would make the new benefit program easier for veterans to understand and simpler for the Department of Veterans Affairs to run, said Patrick Campbell, the IAVA's legislative counsel. The law passed last fall creates more than 315,000 possible combinations of benefits, Campbell argues in a message posted on the group's Web site.

He's particularly concerned that the new law creates wide variances in the aid available to vets in different states.

"It's a matter of fairness," he said. "I don't know how you can justify giving one state so little and another so much."


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/vet-groups-want-cap-on-new-gi-bill.html?col=1186032310810