| Before You Enlist Getting Out of the Delayed Enlistment Program |
Is This Really a GI Bill?There are few things the federal government has done in the last fifty years that have been as popular as the original GI Bill. Your parents or grandparents, along with millions of other veterans, may have attended school through the GI Bill. But the GI Bill of popular memory no longer exists. It has been replaced by the Montgomery GI Bill which the military features prominently in its advertisements and recruiting pitches. The Montgomery GI Bill has taken the name "GI Bill" but it is a recruiting package with few similarities to the original GI Bill. The old GI Bill was available to veterans in varying forms from the end of World War II until 1976. It was the largest program of educational financing that the federal government ever undertook. Part of the reason for the success of the old GI Bill were the motivations for its creation. After the second World War, people felt thankful for the sacrifices of the many people who served in the military during the war. They were also afraid that there weren't enough jobs at home for the millions of returning veterans (remember that the Great Depression had occurred just before WW II). One way to show thanks and to keep people out of the work-force was to entice veterans to go to school. The old GI Bill was designed with one purpose: to send veterans to school. Participants were paid in two installments, one for their tuition and the other to cover living expenses. The tuition payment was scaled to the cost of tuition and the subsistence payment went up if a veteran was married or had children. This payment system, and the amount of the payments, allowed veterans to attend 90% of all public and private schools without paying a cent of their own money for tuition. Despite the effectiveness of the old GI Bill, the system has been changed dramatically. The present Montgomery GI Bill is designed to recruit young people and not to send them to school. Return to Military is Hazardous to Your Education |
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