GI Bill payments sluggish

Universities and colleges are waiting for tuition payments for thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who attended school last fall under the new GI Bill, according to an Associated Press story that was published Tuesday.

Thousands of unprocessed claims appear to be the problem, according to the story.

Joseph Dionne, director of veterans' services at the Highlands County Veterans Services Office, said they don't really handle educational issues but often direct veterans to the right people.

Colleges have personnel trained to get the students signed up for the program that is right for them.

"There appears to be a backlog of claims processing," he said. "They weren't expecting this many people signing up."

Not getting their tuition paid left many veterans panicked that they'll be unable to return to class in January, the AP report stated.

Officials with the Department of Veterans Affairs promised to get the veterans back into the classroom.

"We continue to work on a daily basis with schools to make sure that no student is denied attending class as a result of delayed tuition payments," said Katie Roberts, a VA spokeswoman, on Tuesday. "It's a top priority for VA to make sure that students can focus on their studies rather than their bank accounts."

However, the problem may not be limited to the colleges and universities.

The Sebring office of the Heartland Workforce may also have been affected.

Howard Jenkins is the local veterans employment representative for the Heartland Workforce in charge of the Veterans Work Study Program. He said he didn't know the number of students other programs have, but it is a big problem.

He's spoken with his counterparts in similar programs in Florida and they are having problems, too, he said.

"I have one that's affected also," said Jenkins. "He hasn't gotten paid for the hours he's been working here. He started working in October. He's never been paid. The Veterans Work Study Program augments their standard of living while they go to school."

Many of these veterans have families with children, he said.

"The young man I have is working for college for next semester," he said. "There are about 90 veterans signed up for classes at SFCC (South Florida Community College)."

About 277,000 veterans have signed up for school under the GI Bill across the country and only about 50,000 had been processed, he said.

Jenkins said the Heartland Workforce was also having problems getting applications sent through to the Department of Veterans Affairs because the fax machine telephone numbers are always busy.

In order to sign up for college, the applications are forwarded to the veterans' affairs office where they are processed and a reply is sent back, he explained.

"The kicker is the unemployment rate for vets is high, but you've got 277,000 signed up for school," he said, adding he didn't know if those numbers were counted among the unemployed.

Norm Stephens, the president of South Florida Community College said Wednesday he had not been made aware of any veteran students who were having tuition issues here. He said there were a number of veterans taking classes at SFCC.

Beyond the tuition, many of the veterans have had to wait for funds paid directly to them for housing and books, the story stated.

To help cushion the blow, the VA issued $3,000 emergency checks to more than 68,000 veterans, but for some the money's run out, the AP story stated.

The maximum benefit allowed eligible veterans to attend a public college or university for free for four years. It provided a monthly housing stipend, and up to $1,000 a year for books, the story stated.

It was estimated that $78 billion would be paid out, and so far the VA has paid about $1 billion to nearly 150,000 veterans, the story stated.