Wisconsin Veterans Face Maze To Claim Education Benefits

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin veterans must navigate a bureaucratic maze this semester to continue receiving state and federal benefits to pay for their college.

Campus officials and veterans report confusion and frustration as Wisconsin forces students receiving aid through the state G.I. Bill to use a new federal benefit first if they are eligible. Even those who aren’t eligible for the new federal benefit must fill out a form to continue getting their tuition free from the state.

“In the middle of the school year, I have to reapply for benefits that I was already getting. That’s ridiculous and it’s going to hurt me,” said Keith Techmeier, 26, who served in Iraq with the Marines and is enrolled at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He worries that a delay in receiving benefits will make it hard for him to pay his bills.

The confusion over benefits comes as 3,200 members of the Wisconsin Army National Guard return this month from Iraq.

Starting in 2007, the Wisconsin G.I. Bill has allowed veterans and some dependents to attend public universities and technical colleges for free. More than 7,800 students received tuition waivers under the program during the 2008-2009 school years. But the state has never provided colleges enough money to cover the costs, which has forced other students and taxpayers to subsidize them to the tune of millions of dollars.

Hoping to limit the cost of the fast-growing program, lawmakers last year decided to require participants to first exhaust a federal benefit available for those who have served on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001. The federal program covers tuition and gives veterans a housing allowance and a stipend to pay for books.

The goal was to maximize the amount of federal money campuses receive, but it is unclear how many students will be affected. The change was supposed to go into effect last fall, but was delayed until this semester to give campuses and veterans time to adjust to the switch.

Nonetheless, complications abound. The federal program has a backlog of claims that means weeks or months might pass before veterans learn whether they are eligible and they and their colleges receive payments. That delay, in turn, might mean veterans such as Techmeier could struggle to keep up with living expenses in the meantime.

Because of the delays, University of Wisconsin campuses are giving veterans who have applied for the federal benefit until the end of the semester to pay tuition. Some are making emergency loans available.

“There’s absolutely nothing simple about any of these programs,” said UW System spokesman David Giroux. “To start using federal benefits or to switch and use a combination is a very complicated bureaucratic process, we certainly acknowledge.”

Those who served before 2001 still must fill out a “recertification form” to continue receiving the Wisconsin G.I. Bill. Campus officials have repeatedly warned veterans they will get a tuition bill unless they fill out the form or apply for federal benefits.

“They will unfortunately get a tuition bill and then we’ll work with them,” said Michelle Kelley, assistant registrar for enrollment services at UW-Madison.

For students who will see a cut in benefits under the change, schools are required to send them supplemental payments to make up the difference.

But calculating the amount of the payments has proved to be extraordinarily complicated. School officials must analyze each student’s benefits and then plug information into a complex formula.

“There’s an entire book that explains how to do this,” said Adam Pfost, a UW System budget analyst.

Because of the complexity, UW campuses have yet to send payments to the small number of students who switched early and should have received them for the fall semester, Pfost said.

The plan for future semesters is to send payments roughly halfway through and then at the end, but delays are possible this spring, schools say.

Meanwhile, advocates for veterans have criticized the new law for requiring credits paid for by the federal program to count against a 128-credit limit established for the Wisconsin G.I. Bill.

For those who signed up expecting to receive both state and federal benefits, that is a significant change, said Chris Jordan, legislative chair of the County Veterans Service Officers Association of Wisconsin.

In some cases, it means they will not have the Wisconsin G.I. Bill to pay for graduate school or cover extra classes as expected, she said.

“We just feel that’s an unfair way of treating these veterans,” she said.

Giroux said the changes will limit growth in the state program, which cost $30 million in the last two years.

But he said it’s unclear how much money, if any, will be saved because the number of veterans who served before 2001 using the program is expected to continue increasing.

Comments: editor@ccweek.com

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