Veterans Could Be Forced to Return Some Student Aid if Bill Remains Unpassed

Washington — Unless Congress acts quickly, thousands of veterans receiving tuition assistance under the new GI Bill will be forced to return some or all of the other federal student aid they’ve been awarded for the coming academic year. The reason: a discrepancy between the legislation that reauthorized the Higher Education Act and the modern GI Bill.

When Congress renewed the Higher Education Act last year, it changed the rules so military benefits would no longer count against veterans’ eligibility for unsubsidized loans and campus-based aid. (Previously, the benefits were exempt from consideration only in determining eligibility for Pell Grants and subsidized loans.)

But lawmakers made the change effective for the 2010-11 academic year, a year after the expanded GI benefit becomes available. The U.S. House of Representatives fixed the glitch in a “technical corrections” bill that it passed in March, but the Senate still hasn’t voted on the measure. Education committee aides have said the chamber plans to take up the measure soon.

Last week the University of California sent a letter to its states’ senators urging swift action on the measure. The GI Bill goes into effect on August 1, and colleges have until today to sign up for a federal program that will match any assistance they provide to veterans above the cost of the most expensive public college in their state. —Kelly Field