Yellow ribbon: new opportunity
Bekah Lohr Ribbon of hope — Veterans have an inspiring new opportunity to recieve the education and benefits they served our country to protect.
Veterans have the chance to receive higher education
An innovative initiative within a recent federal funding measure is providing additional financial assistance for college students with military service.
The Yellow Ribbon Program, a provision of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, allows degree-granting institutions in the United States to share the cost of tuition with the federal government for up to 100 percent of the expense.
Signed into law June 30, 2008 by President Bush, the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, also known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the new GI bill, was introduced in Congress in January 2007 by Senator Jim Webb as an attempt to offer more monetary aide to both active and former military members. The legislation offers a wide variety of assistance including an annual stipend of up to $1,000 for education costs, four years of educational tuition benefits and a monthly living stipend for housing costs, according to militarytimes.com. The new GI bill presents the greatest educational benefits package since the original GI Bill of 1944, according to military.com
“Sixty-five years ago, a grateful nation offered a generation of World War II heroes the chance to go to college,” President Obama said in a White House press release celebrating the program’s commencement in August 2009. “The original GI Bill paved the way to a better life for millions of veterans and their families while building the foundation of the American middle class. Today, the Post-9/11 GI Bill is affording a new generation of heroes a 21st century version of that same opportunity.”
As a subset of the Post 9/11- GI Bill, the Yellow Ribbon Program allows colleges and universities in the United States to voluntarily work with the commonwealth of Virginia to fund tuition expenses that exceed either the $17,500 cap for private institutions or the resident tuition and fees for a public institution. Institutions can contribute up to 50 percent of those expenses and the state will match the same amount as the institution. Qualified students have the potential to attend school tuition free.
Candidates for the Yellow Ribbon Program include those who have served at least 36 months on active duty or have served at least 30 continuous days and were discharged due to a service-related injury after Sept. 11, 2001. The benefit can be transferred to eligible family members.
Since the implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, more than 3,400 agreements have been received from 1,100 schools participating in the Yellow Ribbon Program, according to whitehouse.gov.
“This bill provides a modern and fair educational benefit to address the needs of those who answered the call of duty to our country — those who moved toward the sound of the guns — often at great sacrifice,” Senator Jim H. Webb said to veteransadvantage.com.
Liberty currently offers the program for all qualified undergraduate and graduate students and has pledged $10,750 per student annually, according to gibill.va.gov.
In a March 10 press release by the Department of Veteran Affairs, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki encouraged academic institutions nationwide to meet the May 23 program deadline for the upcoming 2011-2012 school year.
“Through shared responsibility, Virginia and our nation’s colleges and universities are working together to ensure that our service members, veterans and dependents receive the education benefits they have earned,” Shinseki said.