Military folks -
I would like to ask you a favor in getting the word out to the military community regarding an important change to Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits that may adversely affect military families. Under the initial version, active duty members and their spouses were entitled to 100% tuition and fee reimbursement regardless of whether he or she attended a public or private institution. The latest revision which was just signed into law limits private education benefits to $17,500 per year effective August 1st, 2011. In effect, if anyone enrolled in a private institution that exceeds this cap will now have to pay the difference out of pocket. While this is intended to save the government money, it has no grandfather clause which drastically impacts people who were using their entitlements as allowed by the VA.
I think we're all in agreement that the government needs to save money, but pulling the rug out from under people who already made educational and financial commitments based on existing entitlements is just wrong. What's next? Will the government just change the law to change your retirement benefits? Will the government change your other VA benefits such as disability and health entitlements just when our military personnel need them most? Soon the entitlements we paid for in blood wont be worth the water used to wash them away.
I encourage you all to write to your Senators and Congressmen to get a grandfather clause added to the current legislation of the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Thanks for the help.
