William Brown wrote:
This is untrue. Many of us had our education funded by the VA. If he
didn't get any, perhaps he waited too long, or had a bad discharge.

AHHHHAAAAA http://www.objector.org/before-you-enlist/gi-bill.html
"The Montgomery GI Bill -- Plenty of Promises, Little Education Money
We've all seen the advertisements, "Join the Army and earn up to $40,000 for
college." The ads seem to say that if you join the military, college is all but paid
for. But only 35% of recruits receive any education benefits from the military. Most
that do get money receive far less than $40,000.
To find out why it's so hard to obtain the education benefits the military
advertises, read on.
Read the Fine Print

Advertisements that offer money for college if you join the military are advertising
two programs, the Montgomery GI Bill and the Army College Fund or Navy College Fund.
Almost all enlistees join the Montgomery GI Bill on entering the military. Far fewer
enlistees (1 in 20) qualify for the higher benefit Army College Fund, or Navy College
Fund, and they must also participate in the Montgomery GI Bill.

In order to receive any education benefit there are several conditions that must be
met. First, you must contribute $100 per month for the first twelve months of your
tour. Those payments must be made for all twelve months and can't be canceled once
they're begun. There is no refund of that $1200, ever. Additionally, you must receive
an honorable discharge, something that 20% of all veterans don't get.

The maximum benefit you can qualify for under the Montgomery GI Bill is $31,200. To
earn a larger benefit, like the $50,000 the military is so fond of advertising, you
must qualify for the Army/Navy College Fund. To do this you must score in the top
half of the military entry tests and be willing to enter a designated job specialty.
These designated Military Occupational Specialties are the most unpopular in the
military. The military has a hard time filling them because they have no skills that
are transferable to the civilian job market.
More Obstacles

Even after you've been honorably discharged, you're still a long way from getting
that money. Even though you've earned your tuition benefit you probably won't get it
all. The military has still more requirements for you to fulfill before you get all
of your money. Of course, you must be attending an accredited school. The military's
payment plan is based on a four-year college schedule: they'll pay you equal portions
of your money over 36 months (the equivalent of four academic years of nine months
each). This schedule is not flexible! If you, like 56% of veterans using the
Montgomery GI Bill, attend a two-year school or vocational school you can not receive
larger payments over a shorter period of time. That means a two year college graduate
will receive only half of the money they have earned!

Even though you earned that money, the Montgomery GI Bill doesn't let you decide how
to use it in the way that's best for you. But your argument will fall on deaf ears.
The military advertises large amounts of education money but the program is designed
so the money is hard to get and harder to use. The inflexibility of the Montgomery GI
Bill shows that the military wants to use it to recruit you, not to send you to
college.
It Isn't Enough

Even if you qualify for and receive the full $50,000, it isn't worth as much as you
might think. While World War II GI Bill participants were able to attend 90% of all
schools (public, private, two-year and four-year) with their tuition grant, $50,000
will cover just over one year at some private schools today.

Even state universities cost an average of about $9,000 per year. Your benefits
probably won't increase while you're in the military (benefits have been raised 3
times since the program was begun in 1985). But the cost of education will continue
to rise at a rate of 5-10% per year. By the time you finish your tour, your education
benefit will be worth a quarter less than when you signed up. If you don't go to
school right after the military, which many people don't, your benefit will become
worth less and less.

You need to ask yourself in a serious and realistic way, do you intend to go to
college? If yes, you need to have a plan. That plan may include joining the military,
but you can see that will work for only a few people. If your plans for going to
college seem to be more dream than reality, you need to take a long look at what is
really possible. If you're hoping that the military can make an unplanned dream come
true, it's not going to happen. Don't forget, you're risking your own money in the
Montgomery GI Bill as well.
Education in the Military?

Recruiters also like to talk about educational opportunities while you're in the
military. According to recruiters, not only will you learn skill in your job
specialty but you also have the chance to take college courses on-base or close by.
In theory, this may be true. But when the military commissioned a study to see what
soldiers thought of military recruiting, an overwhelming number responded that they
thought military advertisements' promises of education were "lies...false" or "not
the truth to me." Rather than working with the helicopters you see in slick
advertisements, they found themselves "buffin' floors and pickin' up cigarette
butts."

Your decision about whether to join the military, with or without the Montgomery GI
Bill, is not an easy one. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as weighing the pros and
cons of this or that benefit. Other jobs may be hard to come by, but they don't
demand what the military demands. You give up your freedom when you join the
military, entering a different world with different laws, where others can control
your life 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Military Mission

Above all else, the military is an institution with one overriding purpose: to
prepare for and fight wars. You literally sign your life over to the military. For
some who joined the military before the Gulf War, they didn't fully realize this
until they were faced with an actual war in Saudi Arabia against Iraq. Don't make the
same mistake they made. If you're going to join the military be prepared to fight a
war, even a war you may not agree with. It could be a war we lose, like Vietnam. Or,
it could be a war we win, like in Kuwait. Either way, people are killed and you might
be the one who kills them. As much as the war in Iraq has been celebrated, you can
find US veterans who can't forget some of the awful things they saw there. Is that
the kind of risk you want to take to finance your college education?
Be A Smart Consumer

The Montgomery GI Bill was not created to send you, or anyone else, to school. It was
designed to recruit soldiers. It may be all the same to you, as long as you end up
with money for college. But why the program was created affects its design and how
well it is funded. The Montgomery GI Bill is designed to attract you with a large
sounding amount of money with lots of strings attached. The maximum benefit of
$50,000 quickly dwindles to $31,200 or $6588 for an alarming number of recruits. Many
don't find that out until after they've joined! By then it's much too late...

Nobody else can make decisions about what is best for you, not the recruiter and not
us. But your decisions should be based on more than slick ads and a recruiter's sales
pitch. The military promises but often it does not deliver."



wrote:
it really is a line of bullshit too, cause my teaching assistants boyfriend went into
the military so he could get money for college and they trained him to be a mechanic
and when he got out there WAS NO MONEY FOR COLLEGE. it is a lie. Ingrid

escapee wrote:

You don't consider 17 to be a kid? Geesh, I sure hope you don't have kids. The
problem is, the military sells a line of bullshit to kids in very poor areas of
the country. Areas where college is only a thought, not a goal. They are told
they will travel all over the world and get college for free. All this while we
all know that anyone can get a student loan or grant for college in this
country.



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List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
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Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
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endorsements or recommendations I make.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.