Recognizing that America’s military veterans deserve the opportunity to have their educational benefits paid for, like the benefits offered to America’s World War II-era veterans, U.S. Senate candidate Mark Begich today pledged his full support for the bipartisan G.I. Bill sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) and 56 co-sponsors in the Senate.
Joining students and veterans at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, Begich called on Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) to join him in honoring the service of returning veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and other areas of conflict since Sept. 11, 2001. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has already signed on to the bill.
“When our veterans come home from Iraq, Afghanistan, or other areas, we want them to have the same educational opportunities as those who served before them in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam,” Begich said. “To support anything less is wrong.”
Currently, there are an estimated 70,000 veterans in Alaska and a total of 1,600 enrolled
at the University of Alaska, Anchorage and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks combined.
The 21st Century G.I. Bill, introduced in January 2007, is supported across party lines by 57 Senators; including 44 Democrats, 11 Republicans and 2 Independents as well as a majority of the House and most of the nation’s leading veterans’ organizations. To qualify, in general, veterans must have served between 3 months and 36 months of active duty, beginning on or after Sept.11, 2001. It also includes activated reservists and National Guard members.
The Act provides veterans with money for the full cost of attending a state university for in-state residents (as well as a stipend for living expenses) equal to a total of 36 months, which equals 4 academic years. The benefit is capped at the cost of the most expensive public state college or university in any given state.
“This is not complicated. Our veterans have sacrificed for America and we owe them this opportunity,” Begich said. “I urge Sen. Stevens to join me in providing veterans the full cost of a college education, like he received after World War II, thanks to the G.I. Bill.”
Begich said over the next few weeks as Congress takes important votes on the bill, closing the financial gap for veterans should be a top priority.
“We need to restore the tradition our country had after Word War II of offering full educational assistance to all of our returning veterans. The original G.I. Bill sparked economic growth and expansion for that generation of Americans. A more generous G.I. Bill now will do the same for today’s economy.”
The original GI Bill of 1944 covered tuition, fees, and books and gave veterans a cost of living stipend. During World War II nearly 8 million veterans used the benefits in some form out of a total wartime veteran population of 15 million. Three former Presidents, a dozen U.S. Senators, three Supreme Court Justices and fourteen Nobel Prize winners went to school on the G.I. Bill.
In the 1980s the government scaled back the educational benefits to veterans to a peacetime program that pays a flat sum. Today, the most a veteran can receive is $9,600 a year for four years, and the average is $6,000 per year.
Sen. Webb’s bill is estimated to cost $2 billion a year, which is equal to the cost of about one week of the war in Iraq.
Begich pointed out that there are other, watered-down bills that have been introduced in the Senate, but said anything less than full support for our veterans is unacceptable.
“The veterans of our modern wars deserve the same educational benefits as the veterans of previous wars. They’ve made the same sacrifice, they deserve the same rewards.”