Anticipating Impact of New GI Bill
Beneficiaries of the new Post 9/11 GI Bill may be more likely to attend four-year universities and enroll in college full time than were their recent veteran counterparts, who typically enrolled at community colleges and attended part time, according to a new report from the American Council on Education.
“Veterans and service members who are eligible for the new GI Bill will receive more generous benefits that will broaden the choices they have when pursuing higher education,” Alexandra Walton Radford, the report’s author and a research associate at MPR Associates, an educational consulting firm, said in a statement. “While these students have previously been concentrated at public two-year colleges, these new benefits may encourage them to seek entry into more expensive colleges, particularly if those institutions demonstrate responsiveness to their needs.”
In 2007-8, veterans and active-service military members made up only 4 percent of undergraduates enrolled in American institutions of higher education. Of that group, 43 percent attended community colleges, 21 percent attended public four-year colleges, 13 percent attended private four-year colleges and 12 percent attended for-profit institutions. The rest attended more than one type.
Given the expansion of benefits now available through the new GI Bill, Jacqueline E. King, assistant vice president of ACE’s center for policy analysis, said she believes it is “reasonable to assume” that veterans will “make use of these benefits in a way they have not in the past.” As a result, she and others argue that this full-time/part-time data from the 2007-08 cohort of veterans make the case that, as many more veterans will benefit from the new GI Bill, more of them will seek to attend college full time. [Inside Higher Ed]
