.Veterans wait for GI Bill funding
Thousands of veterans who flocked to colleges and universities after their service in Iraq and Afghanistan are waiting for their GI Bill benefits, leaving some frantically scrambling to pay for rent, food and textbooks.
The delays are the result of an overwhelming number of requests to the Department of Veterans Affairs since Aug. 1 when the most extensive educational benefit for veterans since World War II took effect.
Tom Tiefry, an Eastern Michigan University student and U.S. Marine, is among the thousands waiting for his money. Without any income, the Afghanistan war vet has been draining his savings, can't move out of his mom's home in Gibraltar and hopes his beat-up 1994 Chevrolet Camaro can survive the commute during the Michigan winter.
"It's very frustrating," said Tiefry, 23.
He made a commitment to his country for four years of service and views the delay in his GI Bill funds as the government not honoring its commitment to him.
"My word was good," Tiefry said. "But it wasn't a given that their's was. It never crossed my mind that this sort of thing could happen."
Veterans Affairs officials pledged this week to get students their benefits. The number of veterans with claims unprocessed is fewer than 5,000 -- down from tens of thousands -- and the goal is to have them all processed by the end of the year, officials said.
"We continue to work on a daily basis with schools to make sure that no student is denied attending class as a result of delayed tuition payments," VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said. "It's a top priority for VA to make sure that students can focus on their studies rather than their bank accounts."
'It's people's lives'
The new GI Bill maximum benefit covers the cost of public university tuition -- paid to the college -- and also pays veterans directly a housing allowance -- worth about $1,300 a month in Michigan -- and a $1,000 annual book stipend.
Delays in living allowances meant some vets have to take out loans to support their families. Others must go to food banks to eat; a single mom got an eviction notice, said Derek Blumke, president of the Student Veterans of America, who has been meeting with the VA officials in Washington about the problems.
"It's not just a dollar, it's not just a number, it's people's lives," said Blumke, a University of Michigan student.
Veterans Affairs has been under a tremendous amount of stress to pay the droves of veterans -- estimated by VA officials this summer to reach 460,000, or a 20 percent to 25 percent increase over last year. But the complexity of the formula used to establish what the veteran receives, and a clunky information technology system used by the VA means each claim takes about 90 minutes to process manually among four different computer systems.
"I don't think they really took into account how much demand there would be," said Tom Paine, the certifying official at Lansing Community College, where some of the 450 veterans are awaiting payments.
To lessen the blow of the delay, the VA offered advance payments of up to $3,000 in emergency relief this fall and 68,000 veterans took advantage of the opportunity.
At Eastern Michigan University, about 80 percent of veterans have gotten their benefits.
"We're pretty confident the VA is going to pay us, it's just a matter of time," Shaftone Dunklin, director of Veterans Services at Eastern Michigan.
Typically when a student has an overdue bill, universities won't allow him or her to register for classes the next semester. But in the case of veterans, colleges such as LCC, Eastern Michigan, Wayne State University and others, have lifted the hold on the registration in anticipation of the VA money.
Improvements noted
"Things are definitely getting better," Dunklin added. "Talk to some veterans a month or two ago, you would have gotten a lot of passionate responses."
"There were some delays at first," said Matt McLain, a Wayne State University academic adviser who works with veterans on certifying their benefits. "But all of our students have now been paid and the ones who haven't there's a reason for that" such as students submitting the paperwork late.
Keith M. Wilson, director of the VA's Office of Education Service, told a congressional panel earlier this month that the agency is using "brute force" to get claims processed. Staff increased from 800 to 1,200 and the VA implemented a mandatory overtime policy. The VA expects to have all claims received by Jan. 15 paid by Feb. 1.
Wilson said the VA is considering issuing another round of emergency payments. It is set to have an automated system running in December 2010.
"What good are benefits if we can't deliver them in a timely manner?" Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., the ranking member of the House Veterans' Committee, said at the hearing.
Detroit News
The delays are the result of an overwhelming number of requests to the Department of Veterans Affairs since Aug. 1 when the most extensive educational benefit for veterans since World War II took effect.
Tom Tiefry, an Eastern Michigan University student and U.S. Marine, is among the thousands waiting for his money. Without any income, the Afghanistan war vet has been draining his savings, can't move out of his mom's home in Gibraltar and hopes his beat-up 1994 Chevrolet Camaro can survive the commute during the Michigan winter.
"It's very frustrating," said Tiefry, 23.
He made a commitment to his country for four years of service and views the delay in his GI Bill funds as the government not honoring its commitment to him.
"My word was good," Tiefry said. "But it wasn't a given that their's was. It never crossed my mind that this sort of thing could happen."
Veterans Affairs officials pledged this week to get students their benefits. The number of veterans with claims unprocessed is fewer than 5,000 -- down from tens of thousands -- and the goal is to have them all processed by the end of the year, officials said.
"We continue to work on a daily basis with schools to make sure that no student is denied attending class as a result of delayed tuition payments," VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said. "It's a top priority for VA to make sure that students can focus on their studies rather than their bank accounts."
'It's people's lives'
The new GI Bill maximum benefit covers the cost of public university tuition -- paid to the college -- and also pays veterans directly a housing allowance -- worth about $1,300 a month in Michigan -- and a $1,000 annual book stipend.
Delays in living allowances meant some vets have to take out loans to support their families. Others must go to food banks to eat; a single mom got an eviction notice, said Derek Blumke, president of the Student Veterans of America, who has been meeting with the VA officials in Washington about the problems.
"It's not just a dollar, it's not just a number, it's people's lives," said Blumke, a University of Michigan student.
Veterans Affairs has been under a tremendous amount of stress to pay the droves of veterans -- estimated by VA officials this summer to reach 460,000, or a 20 percent to 25 percent increase over last year. But the complexity of the formula used to establish what the veteran receives, and a clunky information technology system used by the VA means each claim takes about 90 minutes to process manually among four different computer systems.
"I don't think they really took into account how much demand there would be," said Tom Paine, the certifying official at Lansing Community College, where some of the 450 veterans are awaiting payments.
To lessen the blow of the delay, the VA offered advance payments of up to $3,000 in emergency relief this fall and 68,000 veterans took advantage of the opportunity.
At Eastern Michigan University, about 80 percent of veterans have gotten their benefits.
"We're pretty confident the VA is going to pay us, it's just a matter of time," Shaftone Dunklin, director of Veterans Services at Eastern Michigan.
Typically when a student has an overdue bill, universities won't allow him or her to register for classes the next semester. But in the case of veterans, colleges such as LCC, Eastern Michigan, Wayne State University and others, have lifted the hold on the registration in anticipation of the VA money.
Improvements noted
"Things are definitely getting better," Dunklin added. "Talk to some veterans a month or two ago, you would have gotten a lot of passionate responses."
"There were some delays at first," said Matt McLain, a Wayne State University academic adviser who works with veterans on certifying their benefits. "But all of our students have now been paid and the ones who haven't there's a reason for that" such as students submitting the paperwork late.
Keith M. Wilson, director of the VA's Office of Education Service, told a congressional panel earlier this month that the agency is using "brute force" to get claims processed. Staff increased from 800 to 1,200 and the VA implemented a mandatory overtime policy. The VA expects to have all claims received by Jan. 15 paid by Feb. 1.
Wilson said the VA is considering issuing another round of emergency payments. It is set to have an automated system running in December 2010.
"What good are benefits if we can't deliver them in a timely manner?" Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., the ranking member of the House Veterans' Committee, said at the hearing.
Detroit News
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