I have one month and 5 days of benefits left on my Montgomery GI Bill. I have 32 months of Active duty post 9/11. The way I read it I would only be eligible to receive 1 month and 5 days of Post 9/11 GI-Bill benefits (at 90%) and receive a refund of my initial $1200 Montgomery GI Bill contribution. Am I right?

Im pretty sure of that, plus BAH for the zip code of your school. The VA is pretty packed up with applications, Im still waiting on my certificate of elgibility after about 7-8 weeks. A word of warning to everyone else, not everyone benifits from transfering to the new gi bill, do your research before you make that decision.

After I did the math, it worked out better for me to stay with chapter 1607, as the monthly payment came out to more than what I would get from the Post 9/11.  Like it has been said, Do the math for yourself instead of just jumping on the "latest and greatest" bandwagon.

For me right now it is better that I stick with the Montgomery GI Bill.

Same here. I have 18 months of duty after 9/11 so I won't get the full deal. More money for me on the MGIB.

I have enough AD time to get 100% post 9/11. However since I only have 4 months of chapter 30 left that means if I were to transfer to the post 9/11 I would only get those 4 months worth of benefits. Now if I use the last 4 months of chapter 30 and have exhausted all my benefits I can apply for the post 9/11 and get an additional 12 months of the post 9/11 to use. Since I still have more school to go it made sense for me to exhaust my chapter 30 and get the extra 12 months of post 9/11. I did't even know that I could do this until I saw some fine print on the VA website. I called the VA and they confirmed that I can and should do this in my situation. The VA does not seem to like to volunteer info but when you ask the "Right" questions they will give you the answers you need. Like the other guys said do the math and see what works for you.

That is my understanding.  Use up the Chapter 30, then go to the Post 9/11 Bill for an additional 12 months.

Yesterday made 8 weeks that my application for it has been in, I called and all they could tell me is it is in progress. Thankfully the school has been very understanding and if we provide proof we applied for the new one they put our bill on hold with no negative actions.

That is my concern for the route that I am taking. Since my Chapter 30 runs about 1 month into the spring semester I am afraid it is going to take forever to transfer over and I will go with out income for a few months during the transition.

I reckon I'm one of those.  I'd make less money if I transferred to the new GI Bill, but the difference isn't very much.



Anybody have any idea if they have any intention of doing the typical yearly increases for the Montgomery GI Bill?  It would be supremely annoying if they left it to wither on the vine...

Oh man, don't tell me that shit.  I applied Aug. 10th for my 9/11 GI bill.  Shit.




 

Keep your head up, I have been somewhat late a couple times signing up for school and it ALWAYS paid me on time.  The VA is awesome, in my opinion.

The VA is good until they send your advance check to your last school, who doesn't bother to tell you they received your check.  Then, you have to deal with the old school sending the check not back to the VA but a clearinghouse for the Treasury Dept.




THAT was a fun month-long process of about 75 calls to 18 different places to even FIND out where the check was.  /faint



 

12 fucking weeks and the shit still hasnt been approved! Im wondering if a call to my congressman is worth it. The way I understand it I would lose money in the long run f I verifyied under chapter 30 so Im just flapping in the breeze here. My application had actually ended up on a processor's desk 4-6 weeks ago. Something I found out from the veteran's liason at school is this. There is either a law or a VA regulation that says if you hold a veteran's paperwork for 4 weeks without doing anything with it you are fired. Sounds like a great idea at first. They also have an amnesty drop off though, drop any files getting close to 4 weeks old in it and you are off the hook and the file gets recirculated. Im sure thats what happened with my application. This is a load of bullshit and Im really starting to get impatient here.

My monthly payment under Chapt 30(?) was two weeks late, and that was my fault for waiting until the last minute to have the school do their verification. There is still no tangible benefit that I can see for me to transfer to the post-9/11 GI Bill. With all the delays that y'all are experiencing, am feeling quite good about that decision.



FWIW, the routine annual increase for the Active Duty Montgomery GI Bill (Chapter 30?) is about $47 per month; starting 1 October '09.



FWIWx2, I read in the Navy Times yesterday that it is likely that retirees will have to forget about any cost-of-living increases for the next two or three years
Cost of living was going down, so they said.

This is the confusing part for me I guess. I had about a year of service before 9/11 and have been in ever since. So from what I understand from the VA's website it be better for me to roll into the Post 9/11 GIB. Now does that entail anything on my part while I'm still in? Or does it all ahve to deal with once I'm out and trying to go back to school?

Did you already pay the $1200/1800 for the Montgomery GI Bill?  If so, then you will need to transfer to the post-9/11 GI Bill (a paperwork drill; should you so desire to do so).



Once you transfer over, then there is no turning back.  Make sure that it is the intelligent decision for your circumstances.  Generally speaking, if you are in a high-priced area (housing, and/or tuition), then the Post-9/11 Bill is probably for you.  If not, then you may actually get more $$$$ out of the old GI Bill, which will put the money directly into your pocket.



I suggest that you crunch the numbers before making a irrevocable decision.



If you haven't done so already, consider doing the "$600 plus-up" on the Montgomery GI Bill.  This will increase your monthly payments by $150 (IIRC).



Some quick figures:



Montgomery GI Bill pays me (starting Oct 1 when the new rates go into effect) $18216 per year, directly into my pocket.  My total tuition over this past year (two regular terms, plus two summer terms) is right around $3300.  That leaves $14916.



From what I can determine, the new Post-9/11 GI bill would pay my tuition bill, plus $1000 for books, and put $13476 into my pocket (the BAH portion of the payment).



Now, it is true that I have to pay for my books out of my own pocket with the old GI Bill, but that expense did not exceed $1000 (and I buy all my books from the overpriced campus bookstore instead of shopping around; lazy that way, I suppose).  Regardless, I can write the cost of books off on my taxes (of which I suppose I will not owe a single penny this year).

About 5 minutes after making my post I did look up my congressman. He is a current member of the OHNG and had a section of his website dedicated towards vets. I talked to his secretary and it turns out he has someone on his staff who has helped a lot of people with the same problem Im having. It was late Friday afternoon so I wasnt able to talk to this person, but hopefully something can be accomplished soon.

I called on Thursday and they said mine was still in progress and that there was an 8-week delay right now in processing and that I wasn't even to week 5 yet.