Tuition break for nonresident vets gains steam - GI Bill, Tuition Assistance, Veterans Education Benefits, Military College Credit, Military to Civilian Transitions - Navy Times

Tuition break for nonresident vets gains steam

A powerful Democrat on Capitol Hill has jumped into the debate over whether veterans attending public colleges and universities as nonresidents should get a tuition break — and who would pay for that break if one is offered.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who, as assistant majority leader, is the Senate’s second-ranking Democrat, is sponsoring a bill under which the U.S. government would pay more to nonresident veterans attending public colleges and universities to partly cover their higher tuition and fees.

He also is co-sponsoring a bill that would force states to cover the cost of charging all veterans lower in-state residency rates, even if they are nonresidents.

The first bill, the Veterans’ Education Equity Act, would allow students using the Post-9/11 GI Bill at public schools to receive full tuition and fees, up to $18,077.50 a year, the same maximum provided to students using the Post-9/11 GI Bill at private and foreign institutions.

Durbin’s version, S 262, is identical to a House bill, HR 595, sponsored by Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., who tried unsuccessfully last year to get a similar bill through the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

The bill’s cost could run as high as $1.5 billion over 10 years. One of the main reasons Butterfield’s effort stalled was that he did not propose a way to cover the cost.

The new version of the bill still doesn’t specify how the increased benefits would be paid for.

Durbin also has signed on as a co-sponsor to a different proposal that would require public colleges and universities to charge only in-state tuition rates to all vets as a condition of continuing to receive GI Bill payments.

First proposed by Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, the GI Bill Tuition Fairness Act, HR 357, would put the financial burden on states while saving the federal government money, because the Veterans Affairs Department would be able to reduce its costs for the Yellow Ribbon program.

Under that program, VA matches, dollar for dollar, any amount of tuition that a school waives on behalf of veterans whose costs exceed what they get in Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.

Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., is sponsoring an identical Senate bill, S 257.

The potential savings have not yet been calculated while VA and the Congressional Budget Office figure out how many student vets at public schools now benefit from the Yellow Ribbon program. Any savings could be used to pay for increases in other benefits or included in a deficit reduction package, said congressional aides, who asked not to be identified.

The Miller/Boozman bills would be more advantageous for many nonresident students because the Durbin/Butterfield bill would not fully eliminate out-of-pocket costs for nonresident students.

For the 2012-13 school year, average undergraduate tuition and fees at four-year public schools is $8,655 for in-state students and $21,706 for nonresidents, according to the College Board, a nonprofit research and advocacy group.

While nonresident students at public schools would get the same benefit they would receive at a private school, they would be left to pay an average of $3,628.50 out of their own pockets.

Durbin said reducing the substantial difference between in- and out-of-state tuition is a way to fix an unintentional change in law that occurred in 2011, when Congress modified the original Post-9/11 GI Bill. The change ended up requiring some student vets to pay “thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs,” he said.

“These costs add up over the course of a college career, so much so that veterans often drop out of college or transfer to another school with a significant amount of debt,” Durbin said.

However, most veterans can qualify for in-state tuition after 12 months of residency in a particular state.

Durbin is one of a number of senators pressing to reduce high debt for college students. He has been a fierce critic of some for-profit schools that appear to target veterans because their generous tuition payments go directly to schools.

Durbin admitted that part of his push is to keep veterans in public schools rather than for-profits.

“I am deeply concerned that some for-profit institutions may be abusing GI [Bill] tuition payments by aggressively targeting veterans for academic programs that may not provide value to students, such as preparation for future employment,” he said.

S 262 “will help more veterans attend public institutions without significant out-of-pocket costs,” Durbin said.

The bill is supported by the American Council on Education, the Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, the Association of American Universities and the American Association of Community Colleges.

It is not endorsed by the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, which represents for-profit schools.