Noteboom The Law Firm

VA Correcting GI Bill Deficiency

September 8, 2010 - The GI Bill had substantial problems last year but hopefully those issues will not be reoccurring this time around. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), all the processing problems associated with claims for GI Bill benefits have been fixed. The fixes they have implemented should also cut processing time in half. 

These changes will have an immediate effect. The VA will send out checks next week to 153,000 veteran-students who have been given less than their deserved housing stipends since the first of the year. Some of the veteran-students will receive hundreds of dollars depending on their local housing rates. 

The veteran-students were not given the right amount of money as the result of two processing systems not communicating with each other. The military updated their basic housing allowance rates in January of this year. Those housing rates serve as the basis for the amount of money the GI Bill pays for their housing stipends. The VA’s processing system, however, did not pick up the military’s adjustment in stipends.

The VA’s new system includes data integration and will pick up changes likes this in the future. Veteran-students enrolled in fall 2010 classes will have their new housing rates included in their September GI Bill checks. The retroactive checks should arrive at approximately the same time.

VA spokespeople say they are “light years ahead” of where they were last year when veteran-students simply didn’t receive GI Bill payments at all. Although the system is not fully automated yet, at least the veteran-students are getting their benefits on time.