The worldwide financial crisis has hit private colleges hard enough that relatively few are likely to participate in the new G.I. Bill’s “Yellow Ribbon” initiative when it begins this fall, says Keith Wilson, director of education service for the Veterans Benefits Administration.
Under the program, private colleges and universities can enter into agreements with the Department of Veterans Affairs to waive up to half of tuition and fees charged above the most costly state-run school. The VA, in turn, will match the waived amount, thereby enhancing school reimbursements and the value of the new G.I. Bill.
Wilson said he hopes he is wrong about near-term prospects for the Yellow Ribbon feature, which is intended to allow academically qualified veterans to attend some of the country’s most prestigious schools.
“Most schools aren’t going to want to do a Yellow Ribbon program … because their finances have been hit too hard in the last couple of months,” Wilson said in phone interview on draft G.I. Bill regulations.
That, he added, is his personal opinion from informal talks with some private school officials and not official responses returned to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., who retired this month, insisted last year that the initiative be part of the new G.I. Bill as a condition for winning his support. Warner said he wanted to be sure qualified veterans could afford to attend the best schools, just as veterans did following World War II.
Department of Veterans Affairs officials in December mailed letters explaining the program to private colleges and universities. The department is following up this month with another letter, this one asking schools if they will participate, what percentage of tuition and fees they might waive, and for how many veterans.
To date, Wilson said, he hasn’t detected much enthusiasm for offering the discounts.
“Schools are really struggling right now, especially the high-end schools,” he said. “Their endowments have just been crucified. That’s (the) gut feeling I get from talking with these folks. They are just not in a position to be able to contribute.”
Wilson suggested that some costly private schools “may do something token” so as not to seem “anti-veteran.” But “not what we would have expected, had we asked the question six months ago,” he said, before stock markets and student loan markets “went south.”
Many schools, he said, still are weighing the option, but there have been few positive signals.
“I really haven’t had a real strong, ironclad, ‘by God we’re going to do this’ from any school,” Wilson said.
The new G.I. Bill will pay tuition and fees at any college, up to the cost of attending the most expensive state-run school. Students also will get a monthly living allowance, set to equal basic allowance for housing locally for pay grade E-5, plus up to $1,000 a year for books and school supplies.
Veterans attending degree-granting schools where tuition exceeds the state-run school ceiling will have to pay the higher costs themselves unless the schools offer further discounts through a Yellow Ribbon agreement.
Schools can waive whatever portion of the tuition disparity they choose, from 50 percent of the difference down to 1 percent. The government will raise G.I. Bill reimbursements by an equal amount.
The Department of Veterans Affairs rules will mandate that waivers be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and they can’t be offered only to students in select fields of study. Yellow Ribbon colleges, for example, won’t be able to target tuition waivers, for example, only at students who major in math.
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