VA underpaying on GI Bill living stipends [View All]

VA underpaying on GI Bill living stipends
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 19, 2010 13:50:19 EDT

In a sign of continuing problems with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Veterans Affairs Department officials acknowledged Monday that living stipends being paid to students for the spring term are outdated because of problems with computing the payments.

On average, this means students are receiving about $63 less a month than they should. In some cases, especially in high-cost areas, the losses could be significantly higher.

The problem came to light just days before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee will hold a hearing about implementation problems for the new and problem-plagued education program, which launched Aug. 1.

Monthly living stipends, a key feature of the new benefit, are based on Basic Allowance for Housing rates paid by the Defense Department, which change each Jan. 1.

This year, the locality-based housing allowances increased by an average of 2.5 percent, with some rates jumping as much as 13.6 percent. For active-duty service members, the new rates were included in January paychecks.