The New GI Bill: A Step in the Direction of College Affordability

Today a new Post-9/11 GI Bill goes into effect—an important milestone in the push for college affordability and access.

The U.S. Department of Education reports that each year, 400,000 qualified high school graduates put off college due to high costs. Additionally, the average college student graduates with $21,000 of debt on his or her plate. These statistics have compelled the Campaign for College Affordability to unite in favor of a national policy that addresses growing costs, the lack of adequate student aid, the increasing burden of college loan debt and the stunning number of Americans who find higher education out of reach.

In 2008, the campaign coordinated public education efforts to support the legislative initiative for the new Post-9/11 GI Bill. Senator Jim Webb (D-Va), the bill’s lead sponsor, advocated that the education of our nation’s veterans should not be a cost of war. On Monday, Webb joined President Obama at George Mason University to celebrate the new law.

“Education is the currency that can purchase success in the 21st century, and this is the opportunity that our troops have earned,” explained Obama.

The Campaign for College Affordability is pushing for affordable access to higher education as an important part of the ticket to better jobs in a new economy. Together, concerned students, teachers, parents, professional and organizations are pushing to make loans more affordable, enhance grant aid through larger Pell grants, promote the need for investment in higher education, and support public service careers through additional loan forgiveness programs.

Signed into a law on June, 30, 2009, the new GI Bill expands educational benefits offered to men and women who have served in the armed forces since the September, 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Many veterans will be eligible for full tuition and fees at four-year state colleges, as well as private institutions participating in the Yellow Ribbon Program. The bill allows GIs to transfer their benefits to spouses and children if they remain in the armed services and are unable to use them personally. Veterans also now have an extra five years to use educational benefits, expanding the Montgomery GI Bill’s ten year time frame to fifteen.

The bill is a great step forward to bringing a college degree to those who have served in our military, but more needs to be done to ensure access to higher education for all who qualify to go. The Campaign for College Affordability is also working to help others in public service to be able to afford college through expanded loan forgiveness programs.

As the country moves toward a more competitive global economy, more and more families are unable to afford the high cost of college – threatening our global competitiveness and putting good paying jobs out of reach for those trying to make it in the middle class.

The President's budget contains new spending on boosting Pell grants and pays for it with eliminating the costly and inefficient subsidies paid to banks to provide loans that are already guaranteed by the federal government. President Obama has also proposed using some of the savings to make a major investment in community colleges. A House committee has supported those initiatives. Now the Congress must Act as they did to help our GIs.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future