As I understand it - do correct me if I’m wrong - the GI Bill means that if you serve in the US military for 4 years (or more), you get grants for further education. How has this affected the military and how has this affected the U.S. higer education system? Does the military get a large influx of intelligent, motivated, young people? Do those who’ve done their ‘tour’ seem to be better students?
Ahh, the good old GI Bill–paid for one of my degrees, so I may be able to help you out a bit.
Every enlisted service member has the option when they enlist to participate in the GI Bill. You must make your selection while inprocessing at the reception unit when you arrive at your training base. You have the service withdraw $1200 (a $100/month for your first year), serve at least 3 years, and receive an honorable discharge. In return you will receive up to, IIRC, $14,400 (if you served 4 years-not sure of the amount for a 3 year enlistment) for your education.
There are 2 ways to use this: 1) after 2 years you may take courses while serving and 75% of the tuition comes straight from your GI Bill. Or 2) within 10 years of your discharge you are accepted for a school and receive a monthly check while attending–the exact amount depending on how many credits you are taking and how long you served.
I had both the GI Bill and the Army College Fund (which basically doubles the amount you receive for school) so I was getting around $1000 per month back in 2002–I was getting $800 a month when I first went to school in 1994 (at that time the GI Bill was only $10,800)
Purely anecdotal experience-but I noticed that veterans were usually much better prepared for college than those who went straight from high school as far as work ethic was involved. The problems that I usually witnessed or experienced myself was how much I had forgotten about some subjects–mostly math-no need for advanced math in the Infantry.
I believe I was better prepared for school than if I had gone after HS. Some other things: I had no problem speaking up in class (to answer questions or ask them) or speaking in front of a group. I also had no problems approaching the instructor if I needed help. Both of these I have heard professors bitch about from the regular student.
While I cannot cite any evidence about how it draws a better recruit, I have an interesting fact: in my first Infantry squad 5 of the 6 junior enlisted had signed up for the GI Bill and have gone on to attend college after their 1st (or in case of 2 of them) 2nd enlistment.
The G.I. Bill simply isn’t as big a deal today because it already changed the country.
Before World War II, the percentage of people who went on to college was in the single digits. But over two million veterans went on to higher education in the years following the war, comprising half the total attendance of colleges.
Better education meant better jobs, higher salaries, a more middle class population, a notion that college was to be the educational norm for a position instead of the rare exception.
The whole notion of the prosperous settled suburban middle class 1950s was made possible in large part by the effects of sending so many people to college who otherwise would never had had the chance.
Today’s world is predicated on having half the population go to college. College is an entry-level qualification to do almost anything with one’s life. High school is now college prep rather than an end in and of itself. This was unimaginable before WWII.
The whole understanding of what education and jobs are, and what growing up itself is, can be said to have been changed by the GI Bill, with only slight exaggeration.
I’m sure it’s still important in many peoples’ lives, but it can no longer have that overwhelming effect on the country it was once responsible for.
As a side note, not everyone who applies & qualifies for the GI Bill ends up getting it (I didn’t). Unfortunately, once you apply, you don’t qualify for any other kind of financial aid, whether you get the GI Bill it or not. I was unable to go to college as a result of this.
Does anyone know how often this happens?
I’m not sure what you mean hear Flying_Monk. Are you saying if you are in a position to receive financial aid, you will be inelligible because when you enlisted in the service you elected for the G.I bill? I assure you that’s incorrect.
I’m also not sure what you mean when you said, “not everyone who applies & qualifies for the GI Bill ends up getting it (I didn’t).” Can you explain?
Yes – I’ve never heard of anyone who paid into the GI Bill not qualifying to use it. This is the Montgomery GI Bill we’re talking here – not the earlier version. My husband, who entered the service in 1976, qualified for the Vietnam-era GI Bill, the major difference being that it required no payin.
Now, there was a period in which there was no GI Bill – this, unfortunately for me, being the period during which I served. They had a different College program then (the VEAP, I think?), which required a payin and had a much worse payback rate than the GI Bill in either incarnation. I didn’t pay into the that program and I got out of the Navy before the Montgomery GI Bill was instituted. Consequently, my 5 1/2 years of service netted me no college money at all, as I didn’t pay in to VEAP and I didn’t qualify for the Montgomery GI Bill due to my dates of service. Perhaps this is what Flying Monk means by not qualifying. I believe that there was a period after the Montgomery GI Bill was started when you could switch your VEAP money over to the GI Bill, or start a GI Bill program, but I’m not sure about how this worked – as I said, I was out already and my husband qualified for the earlier program, so I didn’t pay much attention.
A few caveats to Xgemina’s post (my son just enlisted 2 weeks ago, so this is the newest info): the Tuition Assistance program that pays for tuition while a person is still on active duty doesn’t come out of the GI Bill money, but is a different program. Also, it has recently been raised to 100%. In other words, even if you aren’t participating in the GI Bill, while you are active duty the service will pay 100% of the tuition for any college classes you want to take in your own time.
The payin: right now a 12 month payin (at $100 a month) will give you $25,000 in GI Bill money. An 18 month payin will give you $35,000. The College Fund (which not everyone gets, but my son did) raises the $35,000 to $50,000.
BTW, the GI Bill can be used towards, not only college or university degrees, but also accredited trade schools. And, finally, I think that older students tend to do better in school overall than younger ones – this is based on my observations as an older student. A few years in the real world puts education in perspective, I guess. Military service can help instill self-discipline, improved self-esteem and a superior work-ethic in some veterans, but I’m not sure that the service itself isn’t merely polishing up those attributes in people who already had the seeds.
Its hard seperating the effects of the GI Bill from other, extraeneous factors that also contributed to the large growth in college education. The fact that many countries which had no such system in place also experienced the same upsurge in college graduates suggest that while the Bill was important, it wasn’t overwhelmingly so.
Also, tying this in with the “Why is the south more militaristic” thread, it would be interesting to see if the GI Bill helped to reduce the north/south education disparity? Looking at present data, I doubt it very much.
A follow-up, if I may: do the funds provided by the GI Bill only cover tuition fees or do they also cover things like accommodation, materials, food … ?
Tuition only.
I know it affected me considerably. I was able to finish my degree at night while on active duty. Since I was supporting four kids and a non-working spouse, I couldn’t have done it otherwise on my pay. The degree, while not one that I have actually had use for professionally, has resulted in better jobs than I would have been qualified for otherwise.
If this is still what it costs, then I’m certain that many more folks take advantage of it now than when this particular variant of the GI Bill went into effect.
The Vietnam-era GI bill was replaced by this one in 1985, the same year I went in. Since the new version had been in effect for eight whole days when I had to decide, they really didn’t know how to explain it to us, and all we heard was “It’ll cost you $100 per month”
Considering that a two week paycheck was around $200 at the time, it was either a very difficult decision or an extremely simple one (e.g. “No way!”). I did not participate in the GI Bill.
I don’t know what recruits are paid these days, but I’m certain that $100/month doesn’t bear nearly the sting that it did when this program began.