{"id":103744,"date":"2018-05-07T20:31:26","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T20:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/05\/07\/why-arent-more-vets-applying-to-get-gi-bill-restored\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:37:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:37:13","slug":"why-arent-more-vets-applying-to-get-gi-bill-restored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2018\/05\/07\/why-arent-more-vets-applying-to-get-gi-bill-restored\/","title":{"rendered":"Why aren\u2019t more vets applying to get GI Bill restored?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last year, about 8,000 veterans got a message in their inboxes telling them they may qualify for a new law that restores education benefits<\/a> to GI Bill users whose schools have abruptly closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine months later, Veterans Affairs Department officials are trying to figure out why fewer than 20 percent have applied \u2014 and whether there\u2019s cause for concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe thought that we\u2019ve been doing a good job of getting the word out,\u201d said Charmain Bogue, deputy director of operations for education service in the department\u2019s Veterans Benefits Administration. \u201cI feel like we don\u2019t have all the pieces of the puzzle yet to say this was a success or this wasn\u2019t a success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her team\u2019s efforts have also included outreach via social media and snail mail, yielding 1,500 total applications since last August, when the Forever GI Bill<\/a> restored education benefits to qualifying students of shuttered schools. The provision retroactively applies to school closures since 2015, including those of the large for-profit chains Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute, as well as about 10 other schools that left thousands of veterans in the lurch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bogue said the VA contacted all students who attended those schools in the year they closed, but it\u2019s likely that not all 8,000 would qualify. Some may have graduated that year or transferred credits to a comparable degree program. In those cases, students would not be eligible to get their GI Bill benefits restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her office recently launched a closer review of about 400 cases, hoping the sample can give officials better insight into the population they\u2019re trying to reach. If a specific reason for not applying, like a successful transfer, isn\u2019t obvious from a veteran\u2019s file, VA representatives will call to find out why he or she has not applied and what the department could be doing better to get the message out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe think that will be a good indicator of the remaining people that didn\u2019t apply,\u201d Bogue said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t