Veterans Embrace Post-9/11 GI Bill, but Remain Wary of Its Potential Costs

A new survey of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars reveals that those who are using the Post-9/11 GI Bill to attend college have positive feelings about the opportunity—but that the experience hasn’t been without its headaches.

An advocacy group, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, conducted the survey of its members in January. Twenty-nine percent of the 4,278 respondents are using the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which provides eligible veterans with up to 36 months of tuition along with an allowance for housing and a stipend for books. Of those who are not using the federal program, more than half said they planned to do so in the future or to transfer the benefits to a spouse or child. Eighteen percent said they already held a college degree, while 10 percent said they had already used the federal program.

Student veterans gave high marks to their professors—81 percent said they were satisfied with their instructors—and nearly three-quarters rated their institutions as “veteran friendly.”

Despite those positive views, student veterans seem to have many financial concerns about college, according to the survey. More than a third of respondents who’ve used the new GI Bill said they had experienced financial problems because of government delays in processing the federal benefits. About one in five said they had taken out additional loans to cover their educational costs. And roughly one in 10 said they were not using the new GI Bill to attend college because they felt they could not afford to do so.

A majority of respondents using the Post-9/11 GI Bill reported attending public, nonprofit institutions—39 percent at four-year public universities, 24 percent at community colleges—while roughly one in five attended private universities. Three percent attended for-profit “bricks and mortar” institutions, the survey found, while 1 percent were enrolled in online-only for-profit programs.

Fourteen percent of respondents said they study “business, management, marketing, and related services,” while 11 percent are pursuing “health professions and related clinical science.” An additional 9 percent are focusing on “computer and information sciences.”

The survey was released on Monday in conjunction with the veterans group’s weeklong lobbying push here, in which it plans to advocate for a legislative agenda that includes greater attention to employing veterans, protecting education benefits under the new GI Bill, enhancing treatment of the so-called “invisible injuries” of combat stress and traumatic brain injuries, and improving care for female veterans.