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Questions on the GI Bill (Tuition Aid)


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Once you've transferred it to a family member (spouse or kid), you can transfer among family members however many times you want (including adjusting split percentages). This includes in your post-AD years (when presumably the kid #1 gets into USAFA, so you want to transfer to kid #2). This is what I've gathered by reading the reg and clarifying with the education office (I had the exact same question). The only catch is you need to transfer it on at some point prior to leaving AD.

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Not a real viable option for most posting on here I would imagine...

"Those who are not eligible include: Spouses married to service members in pay grades: E-6 and above; W-3 and above; and O-3 and above."

Have your wife get on it (sts) while you're an LT I guess?

To the OP: Remember this...happy wife, happy life. If she wants to use it and has a good plan then great. If not then f*ck what all the other hens are squawking about and do your own thing as a family.

My wife used it while I was an Lt. It only took her about 20 minutes to sign up online and talk to the MyCAA counselor and she was able to get $4,000 to pay for college. I know most of you are O-3 and above but it is good info to recommend to the new LTs and Airmen. I was really surprised with how easy it was to get.

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I personally wouldn't plan on giving my children my GI Bill unless if they were close to graduating high school. I do not trust that it will be around in 20 years. I especially do not believe that there is any chance that the GI Bill will be as great in 20 years as it is now. Have a separate college fund for the kids that you control 100%.

This. The clock is ticking.

What's to prevent people from waiting until they separate and then transfer the benefits while they're in the guard/reserve?

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This. The clock is ticking.

What's to prevent people from waiting until they separate and then transfer the benefits while they're in the guard/reserve?

If the bill ever gets to the floor of Congress, one is out there to allow members to transfer their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for up to five years after separating.

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Anyone have experience with transferring a post 9/11 after using part of their Montgomery GI Bill? FAQ says if you completely exhausted your benefit you can still get 12 months to transfer, but it doesn't say anything about if you partly exhausted it.

I used most of my GI Bill during ROTC (school paid for by ROTC, beer & party cash from VA!) but still have approx 10 months. I'm applying to convert/transfer to my kid...

So how many months should I expect to be awarded? Only the 10? Or the 10 plus the 12 months they give to those who have exhausted Montgomery?

Hoping it's the latter - wouldn't make sense that someone who already used the full 36 months of Montgomery would be awarded more benefit than one who did not.

zb

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How it works is...

If you have ten months of Montgomery GI Bill you will have to use all of if and then you can switch to the post 9/11 GI Bill. If you switch before you use the Montgomery GI Bill is used up, then you will forfeit the 10 months but you will still get your 12 months of post 9/11 GI Bill. If you had 13 months of the Montgomery GI Bill, then you could switch to the post 9/11 and get 13 months of that. It would be stupid to do either of those options though because by maxing the Montgomery GI Bill, you get 48 total months of benefits including the additional 12 months of the post 9/11 GI Bill.

Another fact that some of you may not know. If you only use the post 9/11 GI Bill but paid the $1200 for the Montgomery GI Bill, after you use all the post 9/11 GI Bill you get an extra $1200 refund from your Montgomery GI Bill.

ETA: If you wanted to forfeit the 10 months, I think you have to fill out a bunch of paperwork and it has to be approved by the VA. Since it is not the best choice to make, it is probably never done. It the regulations, you technically have to exhaust the Montgomery GI Bill before getting the 12 bonus months of the post 9/11. This doesn't really make much sense because if you had 10 months left of the Montgomery GI Bill you could only get 10 months of the post 9/11 GI Bill.

Edited by one1
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Thanks one1 - good info. I think I will end up just forfeiting the remaining and get the year for my kid - I don't want to ever learn anything again myself and would rather get the transfer done soonest so can get the service commitment started (and in case the RIF goes bad for me, the transfer needs to be done before boot-out notification).

Plus now that I think about it I think it's much less than 10 months remaining anyway. I was forgetting I used a bunch of top-up while checking my masters box.

zb

Edited by zach braff
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Have a separate college fund for the kids that you control 100%.

I'd do both. GI Bill for the kids (huge benefit beyond just the tuition) AND a separate college fund for the kids. Will it be around in 15 years? No way to know for sure, but I'm willing to bet it will be, at least for those of us that have already earned it.

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I'd do both. GI Bill for the kids (huge benefit beyond just the tuition) AND a separate college fund for the kids. Will it be around in 15 years? No way to know for sure, but I'm willing to bet it will be, at least for those of us that have already earned it.

Agree, there is no legal way that I can see that if you have served your 4 yr ADSC that it can be pulled.....

Judge Wapner would have a field day.

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I know it's been said many times before, but is it 100% true that you can transfer your GI bill in the guard, even as a TR? Seems like that's a way lower cost than 4 more years on AD...especially since all the guard guys I've talked to have said "there aren't commitments in the guard, if you wanna leave then leave." Anyone done this recently (i.e. left AD, transferred GI bill on day 1 at the guard)? It just seems too good to be true.

Edited by nsplayr
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NSplayr:

Half-truth. You can get 9/11 GI Bill in the Guard but then your are committed to the Guard for the same ADSC (i.e. 4 years' satisfactory participation). ADSC is a misnomer or misapplied in many people's minds because Active Duty Service Commitment doesn't necessarily mean "Active Duty Component". What it means is Active Duty as in Active Status, whether it's the Active Duty Component or Reserve Component.

So, when they say leave if you want to leave they are probably saying you can go to another squadron in the Guard. You're not tied to the unit you signed up with, but you are tied to the Guard. It's up to their discretion if they want to let you transfer to AFRC--in other words, since you owe the Guard they don't have to let you go to the Reserve and vice versa.

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NSplayr:

Half-truth. You can get 9/11 GI Bill in the Guard but then your are committed to the Guard for the same ADSC (i.e. 4 years' satisfactory participation). ADSC is a misnomer or misapplied in many people's minds because Active Duty Service Commitment doesn't necessarily mean "Active Duty Component". What it means is Active Duty as in Active Status, whether it's the Active Duty Component or Reserve Component.

So, when they say leave if you want to leave they are probably saying you can go to another squadron in the Guard. You're not tied to the unit you signed up with, but you are tied to the Guard. It's up to their discretion if they want to let you transfer to AFRC--in other words, since you owe the Guard they don't have to let you go to the Reserve and vice versa.

So to summarize, there's zero reason to transfer the GI Bill to your dependents while on AD if you have any intention of leaving AD for the ARC. And if/when that law Three Holer mentioned passes, there will be zero reason to transfer it while on AD period.

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Uh, no. There's zero reason not to transfer your GI bill to your spouse. Do it the week you get back from your honeymoon.

Assuming your honeymoon ends exactly as you finish 6 years time in service. 6 years + 4 years of ADSC will still expire before your UPT commitment ends (minimum 11 years time in service). Disregard if your AFSC starts with anything other than odd number between 10 and 12.

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  • 1 year later...

The discussion got close to this but I'm hoping someone could dumb it down for me. I'd like my future child to get my Post 9/11 benefits, but I'd like to start my 4 year ADSC clock now so it will run concurrent with the UPT commitment.  If I transfer everything to my wife, it will start the clock now.  Then in two years, I can move the benefit to my child "for free" as re-allocating does not incur additional commitment.  Thus avoiding a transfer ADSC that extends beyond my UPT commitment, keeping my options open.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan, or more like a scam? Hopefully someone has their own experience to share.

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Nothing wrong with your plan. No different from starting clock with first child and then adding second.

The discussion got close to this but I'm hoping someone could dumb it down for me. I'd like my future child to get my Post 9/11 benefits, but I'd like to start my 4 year ADSC clock now so it will run concurrent with the UPT commitment.  If I transfer everything to my wife, it will start the clock now.  Then in two years, I can move the benefit to my child "for free" as re-allocating does not incur additional commitment.  Thus avoiding a transfer ADSC that extends beyond my UPT commitment, keeping my options open.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan, or more like a scam? Hopefully someone has their own experience to share.

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