GI Bill stipend make-up checks coming in Aug.
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Wednesday Jul 21, 2010
Wednesday Jul 21, 2010
Underpayments of living stipends to 153,000 veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill will be corrected in August when the Veterans Affairs Department issues one-time catch-up checks to anyone who has received the stipend since Jan. 1.
The checks represent a fix to a problem caused when VA did not update living stipends in January after military housing allowances, on which the stipends are based, increased.
On average, the difference between the 2009 and 2010 living stipends is $63 a month, but it could be up to hundreds of dollars a month in locations where rental housing prices changed significantly last year.
VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts said veterans who received living stipends since the start of the year automatically will receive payments for the difference between the 2009 and 2010 rates. No application is required, she said. Roberts could not immediately give an exact date for when payments will be sent out.
About 153,000 veterans will receive the checks, according to Keith Wilson, director of the VA education service. For most veterans, payments will be made through direct deposits to the bank accounts to which they had living stipends sent.
Payment calculators are supposed to be updated with the 2010 living stipend rates in time to send out payments for the fall term for student veterans.
