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Dear VA Education Beneficiary,
VA has updated its process for awarding GI Bill benefits, which means that many Veterans who served multiple periods of military service (for example, Veterans who reenlisted) will be eligible for an additional year of benefits for themselves or their beneficiaries.
You are receiving this message because VA has identified you as being potentially impacted by this new policy -- and we want you to apply today to determine if you’re eligible for additional benefits.
Specifically, under the previous policy, eligible Veterans who served at least two periods of service were forced to choose between the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill for a maximum of 36 months of GI Bill benefits. Under the updated policy, Veterans will no longer have to make that choice when they apply for benefits, meaning that they can qualify for up to 48 months of GI Bill benefits.
Many Veterans are also now eligible for additional, retroactive benefits. Specifically, Veterans who served at least two periods of service — one that qualified them for the Montgomery GI Bill (Active Duty and Selected Reserve) and a second that qualified them for the Post-9/11 GI Bill — may be eligible to receive 12 months of additional, retroactive GI Bill benefits (bringing them to a total of 48 months).
What does this mean for beneficiaries?
If you previously gave up all or part of your MGIB benefits you may be entitled to the remaining months of your MGIB benefits, up to a maximum of 48 months of combined benefits. If your PGIB entitlement was limited based on MGIB usage, you may be entitled to additional months of PGIB entitlement.
If you are a dependent, spouse or child using transferred benefits, your additional entitlement will be based upon your Veteran/service member’s entitlement eligibility.
No action is needed of you. You have been identified as a beneficiary who received an education claim decision on or after August 15, 2018. Based on our review of education program data, you may be eligible for additional entitlement. VA will review and determine your education benefit eligibility without you taking any action. VA anticipates completing these records reviews within approximately 22 months. Once VA has reviewed your file, you will receive an official decision.
Please note, this is not an official notification of eligibility.
Extension of date to use benefits
As a part of this policy, VA is also extending the expiration dates for using GI Bill benefits for eligible Veterans. For each Veteran who was forced to choose between Montgomery GI Bill and Post-9/11 GI Bill, VA will reinstate the time they had remaining at the time of their choosing plus 90 days. For example, if a Veteran chose to use the post-9/11 GI Bill at a time when they had 5 years left to use the Montgomery GI Bill, they would be given 5 years plus 90 days to use any additional benefits.
Deadline to apply
If a beneficiary believes they qualify for additional benefits under the Rudisill decision, they may need to submit a claim to get a new decision on their benefit eligibility by October 1, 2030. After October 1, 2030, a beneficiary can still submit a claim for benefits; however, the normal delimiting (expiration) date calculation rules will apply.
What if beneficiaries have questions?
We are committed to providing you regular updates about VA’s effort to implement these new changes through email and our Post-9/11 GI Bill Facebook page. For more information on how VA education and training benefits are impacted by this change, visit the Rudisill webpage.
If you have questions about your GI Bill benefits, you can submit them through Ask VA. To use Ask VA, you must have an authenticated VA account.
Respectfully,
Veterans Benefits Administration
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