Student veterans also learn how VA is committed to meet increased demand for VR&E program.
More than 1 million veterans who qualified both for Montgomery GI Bill benefits and Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits can expect to hear from the Department of Veterans Affairs soon. A 2024 Supreme Court decision has pushed VA to expand federal education benefits and remove a requirement for veterans to choose one GI Bill or the other.
“Previously, many vets had to make a permanent choice to use the Post 9/11 GI Bill or the Montgomery GI Bill for a total of up to 36 months,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough told thousands at the Student Veterans of America’s 17th National Conference Friday. “Now, veterans who qualify for benefits under both the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill, through two separate periods of service, can use benefits from either program, for a combined total of up to 48 months.”
VA will automatically review eligibility for those who received education claims decisions on or after Aug. 15, 2018, about two-thirds of those affected. “That is, you don’t need to do anything else,” McDonough told the crowd.
For the other third, who received earlier decisions, “VA will review your eligibility only after you submit a claim,” the secretary said. “But there is a deadline to take advantage of the additional benefits. To be considered for extra time to use these benefits, you must file for a claim by Oct. 1, 2030.”
VA announced the development in a press release on the same day McDonough spoke to student veterans at the Broadmoor Hotel Resort Convention Center in Colorado Springs. He also explained that VA, facing a massive increase in demand for its Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) program, is hiring counselors “as quickly as possible” to keep up.
Formerly known as Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, the VR&E program assists qualified service-connected disabled veterans with career and independent living services, including job counseling, self-employment options and necessary accommodations.
McDonough said that since the PACT Act was enacted in 2022, participation has grown by 44% in the VR&E program. More than 18,000 veterans have taken part, and McDonough said VA predicts applications will grow by another 50% in 2025. “That’s good news because we want you applying for this benefit, because it is yours.”
The secretary said VA now employs some 1,300 VR&E counselors and will be hiring many more in the months ahead. “We will not rest until we get this right.”
Student veterans also learned of VA’s progress in keeping up with health-care services and claims processing in recent years, emphatically since the PACT Act opened VA benefits and care eligibility to some 3.5 million previously unqualified veterans who were exposed to toxic contamination while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
“This year alone, VA delivered $187 billion in earned benefits to veterans and their survivors and provided more than 134 million health-care appointments, both the highest marks in our country’s history,” McDonough said. “And it’s not just more care. It’s better, world-class care, and it’s better health outcomes for veterans than in the private sector. It’s not just more benefits. It’s faster, more accessible benefits delivered by meeting vets where you are. And it’s not just more vets. It’s more vets trusting VA at rates higher than ever before.”
Friday’s general session of the SVA conference also included a fireside chat, moderated by SVA Vice President for Government Affairs Tammy Barlet, with two of the top undersecretaries in VA – Shereef Elnahal, who leads VA’s health-care side, and Josh Jacobs, who heads the Veterans Benefits Administration.
Jacobs explained to the crowd some details and how to learn more about the new GI Bill development. “For example, if any veteran had five years of Montgomery GI Bill benefits left when they elected to use their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, we will restore those five years of eligibility. There are different processes. There are a whole lot more details, and we will be providing more information on the website to answer a lot of questions I know a lot of the folks in this room, and elsewhere, will have.”
The undersecretaries said that VA is working hard to reach veterans to educate them on their benefits, whether it’s the GI Bill, the PACT Act or anything else. “I think one of the most important legacies that we will leave is the proof that outreach into veteran communities all across the country actually works, in helping veterans understand what their earned benefits are, what their health-care opportunities are now,” Elnahal said.
He said VA has conducted more than 2,000 outreach events with veterans “virtually, in person, in every community, every race, ethnicity, demographic, rural and urban, that you could possibly think of, in combination with all of the assets that we have in our organization.”
One such example, he explained, is the claims clinic conducted during the SVA conference this week in Colorado Springs.
“The president and the secretary made it very clear that we have a moral imperative to reach veterans where they are, and not wait for them to come to us,” Jacobs said. “When we are able to deliver these earned benefits, we know there are improved economic outcomes, improved health outcomes, and the risk of suicide is lower. So, we advocated for the resources we needed, so as we stood up the PACT law, as we began to implement it, we had the staff that we needed. We’ve done much better, and my hope is that it continues in years to come.”
“We want to ensure that you receive every benefit you have earned,” McDonough told the crowd earlier, encouraging SVA to continue fighting for those who have served and holding the federal government accountable and living up to the identity of the American veteran.
“Student veterans continue to embody our nation’s greatest sense of optimism and hope,” McDonough said. “You’re anchored by your commitment to service over self – always looking out for one another with an enduring sense of duty, valor, love of country…. Veterans helping veterans, always setting the highest example of what it means to be an American. There is just nothing better.”
Friday’s session also included an appearance and update from American Legion member Michael Rodriquez, president and CEO of the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation, who showed the student veterans where the coming monument will be installed on the National Mall; remarks from Department of Labor Assistant Secretary James Rodriguez; and an inspirational message from Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha, who closed the session with the story of 2008’s deadly Combat Outpost Keating ambush in Afghanistan, and how those soldiers with whom he fought, some who did not come home, are eternally bonded.
Romesha described his own transition experience, where military experience helped him advance in his job in the North Dakota oil fields, where he was working when he received the call that sent him to the White House to receive the nation’s highest medal for military valor.
He told the crowd that the medal “represents each and every one of you that have worn that uniform and continue on for tomorrow … Make every day the best damned day possible. If we show up for our future, we can make a difference … Always make tomorrow better than today.”
- Veterans Benefits