North Texas
(2009-09-14)
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If you're in the U.S. military, or a recent veteran, Uncle Sam is offering you a new chance to go to college. In today's weekly economy feature we look at the benefits available under the new G.I. Bill. KERA's Bill Brown reports thousands of North Texans are rushing to sign up.
After winning World War Two and saving the world, more than 16 million American veterans came marching home. Their grateful nation thanked them with something new called the G.I. Bill. It gave the vets money to go to college and to help to buy their first house. As it helped the veterans to start new lives, it transformed America. Many say it was some of the best money Uncle Sam ever spent.
Buddy Sherbet: But, without the G.I. Bill, I never would have gone to school, would not have even attempted to afford college.
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Now, a new generation of Americans is trading M-16's and flak jackets for laptops and backpacks full of books. They're coming home to their own brand new Post 9-11 G.I. Bill, the most generous ever.
More than 200 veterans, men and women, are now in UTD classes, under the G.I. Bill. Buddy Sherbet says so many veterans are signing up now, he can barely keep up.
Sherbet: Tremendously busy! In fact I work Saturday and Sunday processing.
The new government help is for servicemen and women who have served since the September Eleventh attacks. It includes reservists and members of the National Guard. A key part of it: a veteran unable to use the benefits may transfer them to a son or a daughter. Vets with less service will get fewer benefits.
The VA says, in North Texas, more than 11,000 veterans qualify for the new benefits. Those who served 3 years or longer may get all their college costs paid, $1,000 per year for books, and almost $1,400 a month for housing.
Any vet wanting to sign up for the new help can do it all online. With approval, the veteran then is free to apply to a college and check in with a vet's counselor on campus. The first money for college costs is supposed to be sent out in about six to eight weeks.
As a U.S. Marine, Ed Miranda did two combat tours in Iraq. He says he lost some good friends there.
Ed Miranda: There were so many close calls and now that I look back, it's incredible that I'm still alive. God kept me safe.
Now, at 43, after 14 years in the Corps, he's sporting a green UTD shirt, carrying 18 credit hours on his way to an accounting degree.
Miranda: The G.I. Bill pretty much motivated me to go back to school. That's my goal. I need it, I want it and I'm going after it.
The new GI Bill is paying all of Miranda's expenses, almost $6,400 every semester for tuition, fees and books- plus, $1,400 a month for housing.
It's also paying everything for Cedric Jones of Oak Cliff. He too, joined the Marines Corps and he too served two combat tours in Iraq. Now, he's using the new G.I Bill to attend the University of North Texas at Dallas, studying sociology and criminal justice.
Cedric Jones: What they're doing now for the veterans is a great thing. Without it, I'd probably have to work two jobs and go to school, which I did before at the community college level and it was pretty hard, very hard.
Jones says the government help will give him time to be a better sociology student. And, he adds, now, he dreams bigger dreams.
Jones: The sky's the limit, is what I feel. You make your own destiny and I hope to eventually, like I said, become a professor and to give back to students like I received and enlighten others.
Putting in long hours helping vets on his campus, UTD counselor Buddy Sherbet says its work he loves to do, for people who mean a lot to him.
Sherbet: Do we owe it to em? I think so. But, this coming from a person who received the G.I. Bill and who appreciated it. I think we do owe them. They sacrificed a lot to go out and serve their country. Yes, I think we do owe them.
For photos of veterans Bill met while reporting this story, and for additional information on the G.I. Bill go to kera.org/economy
Veterans Administration GI Bill Webpage
© Copyright 2009, KERA
