Columbia veterans, who attend the University for free on the post-9/11 GI Bill, may wind up graduating with hefty tuition bills after the lame-duck Congress voted in December to revise the historic piece of legislation.
The most recent incarnation of the GI Bill—unofficially dubbed “GI Bill 2.0”—will fully fund tuition at public universities but instates a $17,500 cap for tuition at private universities. When the new GI bill goes into effect later this year, Columbia student veterans can expect to pay between $5,000 and $15,000 on their own in tuition fees.
“My initial reaction was, ‘Good for everybody else, but bad for Columbia veterans,’” said University senator and veteran Jose Robledo, GS. “It definitely makes it difficult for veterans to get to some of the more elite institutions.”
Members of Columbia’s veterans association, the U.S. Military Veterans of Columbia University, said they’re prepared to fight to enact a grandfather clause that would allow veterans who attended Columbia under the original post-9/11 GI Bill to continue attending cost-free.
“I had sort of prepared myself for the cap,” said Dan Lagana, a veteran and GSSC vice president for finance. “But the fact that it did not have a grandfather clause ... is shocking to me.”
Since the original GI Bill was passed in 1947, General Studies was redesigned specifically for veterans and over time, it has become increasingly supportive of the veteran community.
The post-Sept. 11 GI Bill along with the Yellow Ribbon Program—in which the Department of Veterans Affairs matches tuition contributions from the University—gave eligible veterans at Columbia a tuition waiver, housing allowance, and $2,700 per month living stipend. As a direct result, the number of veterans at Columbia’s School of General Studies increased from 60 during 2008-09 to 180 this semester. There are about 300 veterans enrolled at Columbia.
Peter Awn, dean of General Studies, said that trend is likely to reverse under the revised GI Bill.
“Will they decline? The answer is ‘yes,’” Awn said. “How much debt can you assume and be confident that you’ll be employed ... and earn enough to pay your debt back? Especially when you can go to a state school and incur far less debt.”
Awn added that many veterans would not be able to attend private universities, like Columbia, without financial assistance.
“For most veterans, they do not come with lots of independent resources,” said Awn. “It was not uncommon for veterans before the post-Sept. 11 GI Bill to be graduating with somewhere between $60,000 and $120,000 in debt.”
The MilVets said they are planning a trip to the nation’s capital and will continue to protest the tuition cap on private universities.
“This is a collective idea that we share. I think this dynamic that we have moving forward is really positive,” Brendan Rooney, GS and president of MilVets, said. “You’re going to see a lot more coming down from the MilVets this semester.”
Rooney added that as part of its lobbying campaign, the group has been in touch with local politicians, such as Senator Kristen Gillibrand.
“Senator Gillibrand does not want any veteran student to lose the funding he or she needs to continue their education,” Gillibrand’s spokeswoman Angie Hu told Spectator. “The Senator will use her seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee to continue to fight to provide better opportunities for veterans and military families.”
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