Thread: Army College Fund shorting veterans

Veterans gettin' the shaft on Army College Fund...

Some vets feeling shorted by the Army College Fund
16 July`12 : At the time, the deal seemed irresistible to Eric Hickam: Give six years to the Army, a recruiter told him in 2003, and you can get a $50,000 "kicker" — the Army College Fund.

When his payments started coming last fall, his first year at Columbia University in New York City, the amount fell far short of what Hickam had anticipated. He thought the college fund was a bonus on top of his GI Bill, worth about $35,000 at the time. The Army says the $50,000 figure was a total of all benefits. Last month, it denied Hickam's appeal seeking $50,000 more than what he's receiving for his GI Bill. "I essentially did six years based on a lie," says Hickam, 26, who served four tours in Iraq.

Hickam is one in a new wave of veterans who are discovering that their Army College Fund is worth far less than they thought when they enlisted. The Army has acknowledged, in at least 91 cases, that enlistment agreements involving the fund were "blatantly misleading" for more than a decade, a review of publicly available military records show. Even so, it denied appeals from veterans who felt misled. With help from Congress, which in 2009 created a one-year opportunity for veterans to seek relief, the Army paid out $2.18 million to 86 applicants, or about $25,000 each. The Army has since denied additional appeals. And no one knows how many of nearly 140,000 young men and women who signed up for the Army College Fund between April 1, 1993, and Sept. 30, 2004, either have given up or have yet to discover the discrepancy.

"It's sad that it takes an act of Congress to provide Army student veterans with their rightfully earned benefits," says Michael Dakduk, executive director of Student Veterans of America, a coalition of student veteran groups on more than 500 campuses. "The Army needs to recognize that this is still a problem." The discrepancy has to do with how the Army College Fund, established in 1982 to attract college-bound youth into the military, is calculated. According to claims available online that were filed by soldiers as far back as 2000, some servicemembers believed the Army College Fund was an extra benefit, on top of the standard education benefit provided by the GI Bill. In multiple cases, an Army review board told them the Army College Fund instead reflects the combined total amount the veteran will get.

The Army "paid some" claims before May 2006 but "does not have reliable data" on how many or the amounts paid, Army spokeswoman Diana Dawa says. Paul Mackiewicz, 29, is one of the lucky ones. In 2009, the Army sent him a letter stating that he could apply to "renew consideration" of his case. A few months later, he got a check for $28,800. By then, Mackiewicz had dropped out of Kennesaw State University in Georgia, and enrolled in a less expensive trade school. He used "a big chunk" of the check to pay off his credit card and moved to New York state, where he graduated this spring from Roberts Wesleyan College. All told, he says, it took him nine years and a lot of frustration to earn his bachelor's degree. Had his recruiter explained the Army College Fund more clearly, he says, "I wouldn't have enlisted. … The Army ended up costing me."

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Middle class can't afford college...

Study: College becoming unaffordable to Middle Class
August 23, 2012 - Many Florida families have been paying up to 25 percent of median income for public in-state college costs — out of reach for some middle-class parents who have taken recent pay cuts or lost jobs, according to a new study.

Some South Florida families are paying even more — plunking down what amounts to about a third of the median income for Floridians for students to attend Florida International University or Florida Atlantic University, according to the study co-written by the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at FIU. With 15 percent tuition hikes starting this fall, FAU students will pay more than $17,000 a year, including room and board. FIU students face similar costs.

Meanwhile, the Great Recession has shrunk median household income to $48,772 in Broward and $49,660 in Palm Beach County by 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. In fact, the American middle class finished the last decade poorer and in fewer numbers than when the 21st Century began, according to a Pew Research Center report released Wednesday. As a result, college is becoming unaffordable to a growing number of South Florida families and students, unless they go deeply into debt, concluded Bruce Nissen, a co-author of the report and chairman of the advisory committee of Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy. "Students are being priced out of an education," said Nissen, who also worked with researchers at the New York-based Demos, a national public policy center.

Kids are bearing the brunt of the state's recent budget tightening, he added. Florida has cut higher education spending 40 percent in three years — with in-state public universities responding by raising tuition, fees and dorm costs. "Until I did the study, I didn't realize it was that bad," Nissen said. The rising college costs will keep some kids from becoming educated to fill future jobs that will require a sheepskin, according to the study, "Florida's Great Cost Shift: How Higher Education Cuts Undermine Its Future Middle Class." Parents are feeling "panic and fear" once they start looking into college costs, said J. Jay Greene, president of Boca Raton-based College Planning PhD.

Greene is trying to get younger moms and dads to attend his free college-planning workshops. Most don't start looking into college costs until their children are juniors or seniors in high school. "Parents need to start saving sooner," he said. They also can't count on Bright Futures paying for most of their children's tuition — not when the state has been chipping away at the scholarships, Greene said. And moms and dads need to consider other cost-cutting options, such as having their kids stay at home and go to Broward College or Palm Beach State University for at least a couple of years, Greene added. The first two years in college are usually spent taking prerequisite courses before students start focusing on their undergraduate major, he said.

Source

When I was a young warrant officer aviator, I was on a field problem out on the west end of the Fort Hood reservation.

I was copiloting for a witty and brutally-honest fellow name James Rising. He and I were sitting on the skid of our OH-58A, and enjoying the time-honored tradition of sawing our way into the cans of our C Rations with a P-38 can opener, and enjoying the potted meat, sturdy circular crackers, and ten-year old pear slices that were contained therein.

We had some time to kill, as we awaiting our teams' rotation into the battle-drill that was raging along there some miles north of us.

At one point a truck came trundling along the dirt road to ran just east of our position. It was a Deuce and A Half, piloted by a lone fatigue-clad soldier, and the truck bed was empty and bare. The guard rails were up, but the canvas and anything resembling a cargo was completely absent.

Jim nudged me, and then paused a moment to swallow his mouthful of Scrambled Egg-Matter with Ham.

As the 2 1/2 ton truck motored by, CW2 Rising bestowed upon me these words of wisdom:

"Hey Spark. There goes another truckload of Army Benefits."

I sat there with a pebble poking me in the ass, a lukewarm Dr. Pepper at my side, and a mouthful of canned beanie wienie to ruminate over. That (*)(*)(*)(*) empty truck finally disappeared from site on its way toward Jackson's Crossing, and the cloud of dust and diesel smoke it left in its wake left me with even more to chew on;

We joined this Army to serve our country, and to draw a decent paycheck. We wanted to fly Army helicopters, and we wanted to earn a wage that would allow us to take care of our families.

We enjoy the hell out of the adventures we find ourselves in the middle of, and we really cherish the wonderful guys and gals we serve with during our years in uniform.

But are we wise to count on much more in return for all our years of service and sacrifice?
Do the promises made to us by our Recruiters all those years ago ever really hold much water?
Did we ever really expect them to?

Probably not.

When I joined up, I was guaranteed a lifetime of free medical care, at any number of Army hospitals, as long as I served a minimum of 20 years in this ill-fitting uniform.

By the time I retired out with 26 years of service, the Army had drawn most of its hospitals down to 'Health Centers', put all of it's service members and retirees on a bureaucratic form of fairly costly health insurance, and now we are none of us any better off than if we'd served 26 years with IBM or Wells Fargo.

I have Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama from my current employer, and the 'benefits' we enjoy from TRICARE probably amount to 800 dollars a year in the residual payoff from a handful of healthcare claims.

I was promised free college, and in the end, my 'VEAP' benefits expired before I was ever able to use them. I ended up paying for my college education out of my own pocket.

But am I complaining?

Nossir, Hell no.
From that day in 1979 out on the West Reservation on, I knew exactly what I was in it for;

Fun, travel, and adventure.
Great times with great guys.
The privilege to serve my country.

Anything else is gravy, trust me.
And if you trust the Government to take care of you, you are misplacing your trust.

New Mexico gets proactive about veterans help...

New Mexico Not Waiting for Feds to Help Returning Veterans
November 15, 2012 - New Mexico isn't depending on the federal government to meet the growing demand for mental health services for returning veterans.

The state put out a call for volunteers to provide free counseling, with good results. More than 450 counselors, psychologists and social workers have signed up to offer their services to troops returning from tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We owe tremendous gratitude to the men and women who have bravely worn our country’s uniform to protect freedom and liberty here at home and around the world,” said Governor Susanna Martinez in her Veterans' Day announcement. “One way we can show our appreciation for our veterans is to provide them the services they need once they return to civilian life. Through a statewide initiative to recruit mental health professionals to provide free care to returning veterans, we can provide individuals who put everything on the line for us with an easier transition to their lives here at home."

The statewide initiative -- led by the state's Counseling and Therapy Practice Board, the Board of Social Work Examiners, and the Board of Psychologist Examiners -- encourages state health care institutions, licensed counselors, and therapists to provide returning veterans and their families with free mental health counseling and therapy services for up to one year after they return from service. The mental health professionals will begin offering their free services starting in January 2013 in every county across New Mexico. The U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs in June announced plans to hire 1,900 mental health professionals nationwide to provide help for returning military personnel who may be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which the VA believes could be affecting up to 20 percent of veterans involved in the global war on terror.

However, as Martinez noted, the completion of the federal hiring effort may still be years down the road. New Mexico's Counseling and Therapy Practice Board, the Board of Social Work Examiners, and the Board of Psychologist Examiners are working with both state and federal veterans’ affairs departments, along with the University of New Mexico, Presbyterian Health Services and other community groups to implement the volunteer program in all 32 counties. According to the VA, nearly 2.1 million Americans have served in the U.S. Armed Forces since the global war on terror began shortly after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Source

Originally Posted by sparky2

When I was a young warrant officer aviator, I was on a field problem out on the west end of the Fort Hood reservation.

I was copiloting for a witty and brutally-honest fellow name James Rising. He and I were sitting on the skid of our OH-58A, and enjoying the time-honored tradition of sawing our way into the cans of our C Rations with a P-38 can opener, and enjoying the potted meat, sturdy circular crackers, and ten-year old pear slices that were contained therein.

We had some time to kill, as we awaiting our teams' rotation into the battle-drill that was raging along there some miles north of us.

At one point a truck came trundling along the dirt road to ran just east of our position. It was a Deuce and A Half, piloted by a lone fatigue-clad soldier, and the truck bed was empty and bare. The guard rails were up, but the canvas and anything resembling a cargo was completely absent.

Jim nudged me, and then paused a moment to swallow his mouthful of Scrambled Egg-Matter with Ham.

As the 2 1/2 ton truck motored by, CW2 Rising bestowed upon me these words of wisdom:

"Hey Spark. There goes another truckload of Army Benefits."

I sat there with a pebble poking me in the ass, a lukewarm Dr. Pepper at my side, and a mouthful of canned beanie wienie to ruminate over. That (*)(*)(*)(*) empty truck finally disappeared from site on its way toward Jackson's Crossing, and the cloud of dust and diesel smoke it left in its wake left me with even more to chew on;

We joined this Army to serve our country, and to draw a decent paycheck. We wanted to fly Army helicopters, and we wanted to earn a wage that would allow us to take care of our families.

We enjoy the hell out of the adventures we find ourselves in the middle of, and we really cherish the wonderful guys and gals we serve with during our years in uniform.

But are we wise to count on much more in return for all our years of service and sacrifice?
Do the promises made to us by our Recruiters all those years ago ever really hold much water?
Did we ever really expect them to?

Probably not.

When I joined up, I was guaranteed a lifetime of free medical care, at any number of Army hospitals, as long as I served a minimum of 20 years in this ill-fitting uniform.

By the time I retired out with 26 years of service, the Army had drawn most of its hospitals down to 'Health Centers', put all of it's service members and retirees on a bureaucratic form of fairly costly health insurance, and now we are none of us any better off than if we'd served 26 years with IBM or Wells Fargo.

I have Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama from my current employer, and the 'benefits' we enjoy from TRICARE probably amount to 800 dollars a year in the residual payoff from a handful of healthcare claims.

I was promised free college, and in the end, my 'VEAP' benefits expired before I was ever able to use them. I ended up paying for my college education out of my own pocket.

But am I complaining?

Nossir, Hell no.
From that day in 1979 out on the West Reservation on, I knew exactly what I was in it for;

Fun, travel, and adventure.
Great times with great guys.
The privilege to serve my country.

Anything else is gravy, trust me.
And if you trust the Government to take care of you, you are misplacing your trust.

Easy for a guy to say that was never sent to war on a lie!

The biggest problem with this is that the benefits changed from when the individual signed up for them, and they tried to use them.

I have experienced this several times during my time of service. You sign up for BENEFIT A, and before you collect BENEFIT B then BENEFIT C take effect. And depending on when it was written, current benefits and changes it may well not be the same as when you first signed up.

Case in point, I sugned up under the post-Vietnam era VEAP. That was replaced by Montgomery GI, then the kicker was added. And then we had Post-9/11, which then had to be changed to allow those olf farts like me to use it.

And in most cases, the Post-9/11 program offers benefits far superior to that of the older Montgomery program that the individual signed up for. And upon seperation, they tell you you can use one or the other. So if benefits were lost, it was probably because he started school under a different program then he should have (odds are he used Post-9/11 which includes a monthly stipend). When you use Post-9/11, you generally loose any other benefits you might have been eligable for.

Heck, for 4 years I tried to put money back into VEAP, only to be told I could not do it.