{"id":25922,"date":"2020-08-16T18:44:49","date_gmt":"2020-08-16T18:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/08\/16\/the-gi-bill-private-colleges-and-the-unfortunate-practice-of-swapping\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:12:29","slug":"the-gi-bill-private-colleges-and-the-unfortunate-practice-of-swapping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2020\/08\/16\/the-gi-bill-private-colleges-and-the-unfortunate-practice-of-swapping\/","title":{"rendered":"The GI Bill, private colleges and the unfortunate practice of \u2018swapping\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When my son began attending an expensive private college, I laboriously prepared and submitted a raft of financial forms and documents to determine our family\u2019s eligibility for financial assistance, and was delighted to receive notification from the college that we qualified for a needs-based grant of $19,000 for the upcoming school year. Knowing that the post-9\/11 GI Bill provides a tuition and fee benefit of approximately $25,000 for private colleges, I subtracted that amount plus the $19,000 grant we were awarded from the $60,000 annual tuition and fee cost to arrive at a balance owed by us of $16,000. I dutifully applied part of my GI Bill eligibility, paid $8,000 in the fall semester and $8,000 in the spring semester \u2014 and was shocked and mystified when the college informed me at the end of the year that I had a $19,000 outstanding balance. What gives?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turns out that I had been the victim of \u201cswapping.\u201d Swapping is a practice whereby private colleges \u201csuck back\u201d needs-based grant money they award dollar-for-dollar for any GI Bill tuition and fee benefit the member, veteran, or eligible dependent receives. Their rationale is that the GI Bill tuition and fee benefit is the equivalent of a scholarship, Pell Grant, and other external means of defraying college tuition and fee costs, which are subject to swapping \u2014 so why shouldn\u2019t GI Bill money be subject to swapping as well? According to the college, swapping is a common practice by private colleges. The net effect of the \u201cswapping\u201d that occurred in my case is that I, the veteran, derived only a $6,000 net annual tuition and fee benefit from using the GI Bill ($25,000 minus the $19,000 grant that was \u201cswapped\u201d), while the college was enriched by $19,000 (the amount it otherwise would have contributed as a needs-based grant).<\/p>\n\n\n\t