The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has had problems processing claims for veterans' Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits since last year. Because the VA did not have a 2010 rate table for housing allowances, veteran-students did not receive their housing increases this January. The VA will issue checks to every veteran-student who did not receive their proper housing allowances dating from 1Jan10.
The beginning of 2010 brought higher housing costs for most veteran-students. The housing stipend from their Post-9/11 GI Bill was supposed to adjust for this increase, but that did not happen due to the VA's faulty claims processing system.
Just weeks shy of the beginning of this fall semester the VA went live with their new, partially automated, Post-9/11 GI Bill claims processing system. When the military updated their housing allowances, however, those increases were not integrated by the Post-9/11 GI Bill system. Therefore, veteran-students' housing allowances were not increased in their stipend checks.
When the new Post-9/11 GI Bill system went active, it made the adjustments dating back to the first of the year and began issuing checks. Those checks are retroactive for 153,000 veteran-students who were attending college in Spring, 2010.
For most veteran-students, the retroactive check for the difference between the 2009 and the 2010 housing allowances will not amount to much money. For others, the checks could be as much as $250 a month. The difference in rates depends on where the veteran-student attends college and how much housing was raised for the Spring semester. On average, veteran-students will receive checks for just under $100 a month.
The checks will be directly deposited within the first 3 weeks of September. The checks will cover housing allowances covering 1Jan10-31Jul10. Hopefully this new system will prevent the VA having to play catch up with veteran-students again.