Following revisions to the post-9/11 GI Bill that will decrease federal aid for veterans currently attending Columbia, the School of General Studies is looking for money to make up the difference. But GS Dean Peter Awn said the school likely won’t be able to increase financial aid for veterans next year.
“We’re out fundraising like crazy but that has long-term implications not short-time implications,” Awn said. “Because yes, we’re trying to deal with the dilemma of having the rules changed on students already here, but we want to be able to continue to recruit veterans.”
But while GS will not be able to substantially increase its financial aid to veterans, the school is working to help its 150 veterans find more opportunities for outside aid.
“What we’re trying to do is engage all of the veterans to try to come up with financial plans that would alleviate whatever additional funds [they need], like loans, grant money,” Awn said.
For instance, Awn said, the school has identified a New York state grant that some veterans might be eligible for, but which they might not have applied for when the Post-9/11 GI Bill was already meeting their needs.
Between the original Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Yellow Ribbon Program—in which the Department of Veterans Affairs matches tuition contributions from a University—eligible veterans at Columbia currently receive $1,010 per credit through federal aid along with $14,000 from the YRP. Additionally they receive $2,700 per month living stipend.
But on Aug. 1, “GI Bill 2.0,” which was passed in December under the lame duck Congress, will implement a $17,500 annual cap on aid.
Curtis Rodgers, dean of enrollment management at GS, said the school would maintain Columbia’s previous financial commitment of $7,000 per semester to each veteran.
“When we originally looked at $7,000 as the maximum contribution that we’d make, we modeled that out based on what’s a fair award in our financial aid system across all GS students,” Rodgers said. “But we realized at the time that based on the funding level in the original post-9/11 GI Bill, that $7,000 would be more than enough grant money to cover basically every single student.”
Under the new GI Bill a veteran’s financial burden will depend on the number of credits he or she takes—a veteran taking between 12 and 17 credits per semester would be on the hook for somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 per semester, Awn said.
Brendan Rooney, GS and president of the Military Veterans Educational Foundation at Columbia University, stressed the burden that this would place upon veterans.
“It will be a very negative impact for a few reasons,” he said. “I mean, one, what are people going to do as far as the rest of their finances go? What are we going to do with veterans who have families, veterans who are married?”
Rich Baldassari, a GS freshman, said he decided to redeem his GI Bill benefits before he settled down.
“I didn’t want to go to school while I had a child or a family,” Rich said. “I decided that this was the right time after five and a half years. I wanted to use the benefits that I had worked for.”
The GI Bill revisions did not include a grandfather clause to exempt students currently enrolled in school from the changes. Dan Lagana, the vice president of finance on the GS Council, said many are worried about what the changes will do to the veteran community on campus.
“Now they have to make decisions, that’s what I’m concerned about,” Lagana said. “We’re going to lose guys and we’re afraid that we’re going see a decrease in enrollment.”
Baldassari and Lagana are currently lobbying Congress to enact a grandfather clause. Baldassari said he is leading the lobbying campaign.
“Our primary goal is to get the grandfather clause put into the actual bill,” Baldassari said. “Currently we’re reaching out to senators, congressmen, schools, fellow students, and all of our veterans.”
Rooney said he would prefer a complete revision of the bill.
“I would like to have the bill changed entirely, or to have a two-tier system for public and private schools so that people could continue to go where they want to go,” he said.
Awn, too, said he hopes for changes to the bill—whether the addition of a grandfather clause or a complete revision—but stressed that they cannot rely on this when making plans for the 2011-2012 academic year.
“We have to plan for the worse-case scenario, which is the current bill,” Awn said. “Again, I think two or three years ago a grandfather clause would have been possible given the mood in Washington. But now it seems very unlikely.”
Awn, Rodgers, and other GS administrators are currently focusing on initiating a series of meetings and informational sessions with veterans at Columbia. In these meetings, they will review the consequences of the bill and go over outside financial options for veterans.
“Our hope is that with very careful planning and working closely with our office of educational financing that our student vets will be able to plan for this effectively,” Rodgers said.
But regardless of any new funding they might be able to secure, veterans must decide whether a private institution is worth the cost, Awn said.
“It is a different world and one hates to put it in these crude terms, but it’s absolutely true of GS students, and parents of college students have to go through this as well,” Awn said. “You have to do a cost-benefit analysis: Is the real academic benefit of a Columbia education worth the financial burden that I will have to assume?”
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