Veterans lose break pay, G.I. bill changes

By Esther Harris
The Guardsman

Recent changes to the Post 9/11 Veterans Assistance Improvement Act have forced roughly 1,300 student veterans at City College to adapt to bill revisions such as the elimination of break pay and the increase of enrolled minimum units required to be eligible for benefits.

“My September check is about $1000 when normally it would be $2400,”  said Aundray Rogers, behavioral science major at City College and single father of three. “I had to take out loans to supplement the loss of funds,”

Rogers served six years in the army while pursuing his education. With slashed break pay and an increase from 7 to 12 enrolled unit requirement, he said it is far more difficult to balance school and raise his kids aged 13, 8, and 5.

“I went into to the military straight up for college. They should go back to full benefits so we don’t have to scramble,” he said.

Cutting break pay means funds will be available only when school is in session. All housing and other allowances will be canceled when school is on break (Dec-Jan, May-August).

Monthly benefits will be prorated accordingly and the remainder of the entitlement previously offered for break pay will be distributed only during time of future enrollment.

Like Rogers, student and veteran Bobby Hollingsworth said he feels betrayed by the revisions. By eliminating break pay, he said he would be living in his van if it weren’t for family and friends who have given him a place to live.

“Some of them [veterans] quit their jobs with the promise of money for our education. Then the money dried up,” Hollingsworth said. “They cut our funding, they promised something and took it away. They pulled the rug out from under us.”

Hollingsworth and Rogers agreed that the prevelance of PTSD is hinders most vets’ ability to be successful in school and would be severely more difficult to cope with under the increased mandatory unit requirements.

Rogers said it’s nearly impossible to focus in class. Without a tape recorder he couldn’t get through a semester and the added pressure of having to take 12 units limits his chances for success.

“My cognitive skills are all bad,” said Rogers, who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. “Psychologically my thinking process is jacked.”

Although Rogers is in therapy and coping with the effects of PTSD, he still has trouble with his classes.

Coping with being in school after living a life of being shot at by enemy combatants is just part of adjusting back into civilian life, Hollingsworth said.

But, he said, the transition isn’t easy. “They are treating us like kids…I’ve been shot at by men who wanted to kill me. I’ve seen death and corruption and now I have a teacher telling me they’ll dock me points if I’m late.”

The bill has some benefits

Despite the negative reactions to the changes of the GI Bill, many other students still see the educational benefits of serving in the military to be worth the potential danger, time and emotional costs.

“The main reason I’m joining the air force is to complete my education in a stable, comfortable environment,” said Nathan Carlos of San Francisco, 21. “All of my tech school is paid for and I can take classes towards my BA at the same time.”

Also on the ever-changing bill are adjustments that will positively effect many student veterans.

According to the United States Department of Government Affairs, National Guard veterans are now eligible to receive benefits. This encompasses forty-thousand students nationwide.

Students are now permitted reimbursement for multiple licence or certification tests and National exams whereas in the past only one test was paid for.

Additionally, National Oceanic and Atmopsheric Association and Public Health Service veterans, two smaller divisions of the armed forces, are now considered qualified for financial aid by the federal government and are now allowed to transfer entitlements to their dependents.

Future revisions to the GI Bill, effective October 1, 2011, will allow veterans to apply their educational funds towards non-college decree fees at public institutions, and will be granted $83 per month for books and supplies.

City College itself also offers a wide array of student veteran services. Rogers said the Veterans Outreach Program is by far one of the greatest programs this city could offer.

“We have a nice community here [Veterans Center]. We comfort each other,” Rogers said. “It’s easier talking veteran to veteran. We don’t do well in society.”

The program offers psychological and social work services, VA health care enrollment on site and an extensive knowledge basis of information regarding health care and other VA benefits.

“If we’re having a bad day we go over to the outreach center, talk through our problems,” Rogers said, identifying City College as one of the only schools in the nation that offers such a vast array of veteran support.

“It is a model for the future of veterans services,” said Rogers.