The Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding access to GI Bill benefits to veterans who have multiple periods of service.
The move follows the recent Rudisil Supreme Court decision which means that many veterans who served multiple periods of military service, like those who reenlisted, will be eligible for up to an additional 12 months of education benefits.
“This policy will not only help veterans who apply for GI Bill benefits in the future — it will also allow VA to provide additional benefits to many Veterans who used GI Bill benefits in the past,” said Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs in a statement. “Every veteran has earned the right to get a good, affordable education — and under this new policy, many Veterans will get an additional 12 months of GI Bill benefits.”
Under the previous policy, eligible veterans who served at least two periods of service were limited to a maximum total of 36 months of GI Bill benefits, between the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The updated policy removes that limitation, meaning that eligible veterans can now qualify for up to 48 months of total GI Bill benefits.
The policy change also means that many veterans who were previously limited to 36 months will now be eligible for additional education benefits. Specifically, veterans who served at least two qualifying periods of service — one that qualified them for the Montgomery GI Bill and a second that qualified them for the Post-9/11 GI Bill — may be eligible to receive up to 12 months of additional GI Bill benefits, bringing them to a total of 48 months.
The change could impact as many as 1.04 million veterans and beneficiaries. According to VA, it will be able to automatically adjudicate the claims for approximately 660,000 without any further action being required on their part. VA will be reaching out to all remaining veterans directly to encourage them to file a claim.
VA is also extending the expiration dates for using GI Bill benefits for eligible veterans. For each Veteran with multiple periods of service who chose the Post-9/11 GI Bill over the Montgomery GI Bill, VA will reinstate the time they had remaining at the time of their election plus 90 days.
For example, if a veteran chose to use the Post-9/11 GI Bill at a time when they had 5 years left to use the Montgomery GI Bill, they would be given 5 years plus 90 days to use any additional Montgomery GI Bill benefits. To receive an expiration date extension, applications must be submitted by Oct. 1, 2030.
Since its inception, the Post-9/11 GI Bill has paid over $143 billion to over 2.7 million beneficiaries. To learn more about this change, including how to apply visit here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.