New G.I. Bill expected to encourage enlistment
Esta Broderick
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Forum
The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 or "New G.I. Bill" was passed into law and will be available in August of next year. It provides 100 percent tuition paid to a public in-state university, $1000 for books and supplies, as well as a monthly payment for housing that is comparable to the local area's cost of living.
If you're a veteran who has served your time and came home to this messed-up economy, then this bill is great, but if you are a kid who wants to go to college and sees this as your only ticket to get there, that's a problem.
Many people, even if they are against the war, can agree that the government should take care of the veterans that have had to fight it. No one wants to see our young people used and then forgotten. Many others of us don't want to see our young people used at all.
"The G.I. Bill is the military's single most effective recruitment tool; the number one reason civilians join the military is to get money for college," according to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), an organization that supported the bill.
We are in an economic climate where financial aid avenues for middle- and low-income families are drying up. Guilford's partnership with Wachovia for student loans is just one example of the uncertainty we face when looking for tuition assistance.
The concern I have is for the young people who are trying to find a place for themselves in this country, whose parents either didn't make the kind of income it takes to pay for a four-year college or simply don't find school necessary for their children. Those are the young people that are looking to the government for help with tuition, books, and living expenses. They are not likely to find a deal as good as the one the new G.I. Bill is offering.
The prospect of leaving college debt-free is a really good one, but why should you have to be put in a foreign country with a gun in your hand to get it?
It isn't right that our system should favor war over education, so much that we would funnel our tuition assistance through our war machine as a bribe to get you to sign-up to let people shoot at you. Risking your life and sanity is a mighty stiff price to pay for a college degree.
If you're a veteran who has served your time and came home to this messed-up economy, then this bill is great, but if you are a kid who wants to go to college and sees this as your only ticket to get there, that's a problem.
Many people, even if they are against the war, can agree that the government should take care of the veterans that have had to fight it. No one wants to see our young people used and then forgotten. Many others of us don't want to see our young people used at all.
"The G.I. Bill is the military's single most effective recruitment tool; the number one reason civilians join the military is to get money for college," according to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), an organization that supported the bill.
We are in an economic climate where financial aid avenues for middle- and low-income families are drying up. Guilford's partnership with Wachovia for student loans is just one example of the uncertainty we face when looking for tuition assistance.
The concern I have is for the young people who are trying to find a place for themselves in this country, whose parents either didn't make the kind of income it takes to pay for a four-year college or simply don't find school necessary for their children. Those are the young people that are looking to the government for help with tuition, books, and living expenses. They are not likely to find a deal as good as the one the new G.I. Bill is offering.
The prospect of leaving college debt-free is a really good one, but why should you have to be put in a foreign country with a gun in your hand to get it?
It isn't right that our system should favor war over education, so much that we would funnel our tuition assistance through our war machine as a bribe to get you to sign-up to let people shoot at you. Risking your life and sanity is a mighty stiff price to pay for a college degree.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Katrina Arkwright
posted 7/04/09 @ 1:16 AM EST
Great article. I agree totally.
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