National Guard and the G.I. Bill

First off, if you've found this article, I'm assuming that you are serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. I myself have been a member of the Army National Guard for 8 years, with one Iraq deployment under my belt during OIF III.

I apologize in advance for the lower-case "s" in the word "soldier." I know that as members of the Army, we "soldiers" deserve respect and and importance for the job we do, and that should be reflected with a capital "S." Even though the word "Marine" gets capitalized, the word "soldier" for some reason (in civilian-land) remains lower case. If you'd like to see more on this information, visit http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,122303_Soldier,00.html.

Now on to the GI Bill information.

The GI Bill is a benefit, given by the Federal Government (and each and every taxpayer) to say "Thank You for your Service." USE IT! There are many different avenues and programs that your GI Bill can be applied towards, so I encourage you to take full advantage of the benefit that you have earned.

When a soldier enlists into the National Guard, he or she usually contracts for the CH 1606 GI Bill. This benefit is a reflection of the part-time nature of the National Guard. A portion of what the Regular Army soldiers get given for a portion of the time spent in uniform. This benefit pays in many different ways, but for the sake of example I am going to use traditional Brick-and-Mortar College and Universities, and the pay schedule involved in that.

Effective 1October 2011, the Chapter 1606 GI Bill pays $345.00 per month, usually by direct deposit into the soldier's bank account. In general, The CH 1606 is only collectable by the soldier while that soldier is an active drilling member of the Guard or Reserve.

When a soldier deploys, however, his/her benefits greatly increase. Based on the amount of involuntary call-up time, the soldier's benefit greatly increases. The average National Guard deployment is 15 months long, including all activated mobilization and de-mob time. Based on this, a soldier's GI Bill benefit in the Chapter 1607 becomes $883.80/Month, paid by direct deposit into the soldier's bank account.

However, with the introduction of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, the soldier now has a few more options. The Post 9/11 pays a little differently than the 1606/1607. Instead of a pure cash benefit paid to the soldier, the Post 9/11 (Chapter 33) pays Tuition (directly to the school), a monthly Housing STIPEND (I DO NOT use the term BAH when describing this) directly to the soldier, and a Books Stipend that pays by semester. The amount of payments are based on the length of deployment. Let's take that same 15-month deployment. The soldier will land on the 60% Tier for this deployment. That means that 60% of the Max tuition rate will be paid, 60% of the monthly housing stipend, and 60% of the books stipend. These rates are all based on the State's maximum tuition and fees schedule. This amount varies by state. For instance, the maximum rate for Idaho is $2428.24. The 60% tier rate would pay the school a benefit amount of up to $1456.94 per semester, leaving the soldier with the difference of $971.30 out-of-pocket expense. If that soldier is attending school in Boise, the Housing Stipend (which is determined by the e-5 with dependents BAH rate) ends up being 60% of $861, or $516.60. The books stipend is 60% of $1000/year, or $600, paid out by semester at $300 per semester.


There's another factor that plays into all of these programs. Tuition Assistance. The National Guard offers up to $4500.00 per year tuition assistance, with a max of $250 a credit hour. The $2428.24 School's per-credit rate is under that $250 a credit hour. With 2 semesters of $2428.24 tuition, the total tuition cost is going to be $4856.48, leaving an out-of-pocket expense of $356.48 for a full year. The National Guard is unique in that it allows a soldier in Drilling status to collect both GI Bill benefit and TA Benefit concurrently. If the GI Bill benefit has a Tuition Benefit attached to it (such as the post 9/11), the Tuition Assistance is to pay first, and the Post 9/11 covers the rest.

So, what is best for a soldier? One would really have to do the Math (good practice for college).

Let's assume that a semester is EXACTLY 4 months long. A school year would then be EXACTLY 8 years for 2 semesters. Using the Idaho numbers above (again, this varies by state) at the 60% tier rate:


Post 9/11 Model
Tuition Costs (at highest rate public institution) -$4856.48
Tuition Assistance (paid to school) $4500.00
Post 9/11 (paying the difference to the school) $356.48
Post 9/11 Housing Stipend ($516.60X8) $4132.80
Post 9/11 Books Stipend (.60X$1000) $600.00
TOTAL Benefit in soldiers pocket after Tuition is paid: $4732.80

1607 Model
Tuition Costs (at highest rate public institution) -$4856.48
Tuition Assistance $4500.00
CH 1607 payment ($883.80X8) $7070.40
TOTAL Benefit in soldier's pocket after Tuition is paid: $6713.92




In this case, School is completely paid for in both models. It is more fiscally sound for the soldier to utilize TA in conjunction with Chapter 1607 GI Bill.


Keep in mind. There is NOT a dollar value to the GI Bill, but instead a MONTHS OF BENEFIT value. The GI bill will pay up to 36 months of any single chapter, or up to 48 months of any combined chapters if the soldier qualifies for more than one program.

Bottom line: Do your homework. For you to really understand what is going to work out best for YOU, you need to figure out how much of what benefit you have, your total educational costs, and plug in all your available resources designed to help you pay for school. High School is not enough. Take advantage of the gift of the GI bill, and advance your career.