(This article by Kimberly Lankford originally appeared in the May 2025 issue of Military Officer, a magazine available to all MOAA Premium and Life members. Learn more about the magazine here; learn more about joining MOAA here.)

The GI bill offers such an array of benefits that it can be easy to overlook some of the most valuable ones. Now, a recently enacted rule has expanded benefits for more than 1 million veterans.

Initial benefits were introduced in 1944 to help pay education costs for veterans returning from World War II, and they have since evolved. There are currently a few versions, but the most popular is the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which launched in 2009 and offers significant new benefits to those who served on active duty after Sept. 10, 2001 — including the ability for longtime servicemembers to transfer their benefits to their spouse and dependent children.

The GI bill can cover tuition for undergraduate and graduate programs — covering up to the full cost of four years at an in-state public college — and can help pay for continuing education and training. It pays a stipend for books, can cover the costs of tests and certifications, and provides a generous housing allowance.

“One of the great things about the GI bill program is that it’s extremely versatile and offers a range of benefits beyond degree programs,” said Kaprice Dyson, a public affairs specialist with the VA’s education service team.

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Certainly there are administrative hoops to go through when using the benefits, but there are also resources that can help. Here’s more about how the GI bill works, who is eligible, what it covers, and strategies for making the most of this benefit.

Benefits for You and Your Family

You’re eligible for Post-9/11-GI Bill benefits if you served at least 90 days on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001. You can receive the maximum 36 months of benefits, which usually covers four academic years, if you served at least 36 months. If you served less time, the amount of benefits you receive varies from 50% to 90%.

You can also qualify for full benefits if you received a Purple Heart since Sept. 11, 2001, or you served for at least 30 consecutive days and were discharged because of a service-connected disability.

The spouse and children of a servicemember who after Sept. 10, 2001, died in the line of qualifying duty or from a service-connected disability while a member of the Selected Reserve may be eligible for benefits under the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship program.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill can cover the full cost of in-state tuition at a public college, some of which allow out-of-state students who are using GI bill benefits to pay in-state rates. Alternatively it can cover up to a set amount each year for a private or foreign college ($28,937.09 for the 2024-25 academic year; the amount changes each August).

That annual limit also applies for noncollege degree programs, such as training programs for HVAC repair or EMTs, or you can use up to $16,535.46 for a nondegree flight training program in the 2024-25 academic year.

[FROM VA.GOV: Post-9/11 GI Bill] 

You can also use the benefits for professional education. For example, Cornell University allows eligible students to use the GI bill for undergraduate and graduate programs as well as eCornell’s online certificate programs, according to Amber Lonski, a school certifying official at Cornell University.

Capt. Joseph Brown, USCG (Ret), a certified financial planner with financial management firm C.L. Sheldon and Co., recommends servicemembers wait until after leaving active duty to use the GI bill so they can qualify for the housing allowance.

“It can give you a nice off-ramp to retool and pursue a career,” he said. “If you’re doing informational interviews and you’re talking to someone in an industry you want to pursue, ask what you need and see if the GI bill pays for it.”

You might also qualify for a monthly housing allowance (MHA). Spouses and children who use transferred benefits can also receive the MHA. However, you and your spouse can’t receive the MHA while you’re on active duty, but your children can.

The amount is based on the basic allowance for housing for an E-5 with dependents in the ZIP code where you’re attending school. For example, it’s $2,241 per month in Ann Arbor, Mich., but more than double in Cambridge, Mass., at $4,638. If your classes are entirely online, you can receive a housing allowance worth 50% of the national average. The VA’s online GI bill comparison tool shows the housing allowance by school.

[FROM VA.GOV: Current VA Education Benefit Rates]

You must be enrolled more than half-time to receive the MHA, and the benefits are prorated if you’re enrolled less than full-time. The benefits are also prorated if you’re only eligible for partial Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.

“It’s very important that students understand how the housing stipend works because each school can be different,” said Rachel Cardwell, assistant registrar for veterans benefits at Georgetown University.

For example, Georgetown has more users of the GI bill in graduate school than undergraduate, and the number of credits the graduate programs consider to be full time can vary. “Contact the school certifying official to ask,” Cardwell said.

Notably, you can only receive the MHA for the months in which you’re attending school, meaning those in between semesters are ineligible.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill can also provide up to $1,000 each academic year for books and supplies based on the number of credits you take — or per month at a nondegree school. The government can deposit this stipend directly into your bank account at the beginning of each term. You can also receive financial support for exam fees and test-prep courses, said Dyson, the VA public affairs specialist.

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Expanded Eligibility

You might now qualify for additional benefits if you had two separate periods of service and were eligible for both the Montgomery GI Bill and Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Previously, you could only keep up to 36 months of benefits between the two programs, and you might have had to give up some benefits you had earned. Dubbed the “Rudisill decision,” the U.S. Supreme Court ruled April 16, 2024, that those who earned benefits under both the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill can use both benefits, up to a 48-month limit.

“Following that decision, we expanded access to the GI bill benefits to eligible veterans who served multiple periods of service,” Dyson said. “Those veterans may be able to receive up to an additional 12 months of benefits. Previously, they had to choose between the Montgomery [GI Bill] and Post-9/11 GI Bill, and they would have a maximum of 36 months. Under the new policy, they don’t have to make that choice.”

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The VA estimates more than 1 million people can now receive extra benefits. That change came just in time for Lila Quintiliani, MOAA’s program director for financial and benefits education and counseling, and her husband, Lt. Col. Jared Bondesson, who is on active duty in the Army.

The couple had transferred benefits to their two daughters, who are currently in college.

Bondesson started paying into the Montgomery GI Bill when he joined the Army as an E-1. He applied to the Green to Gold program as an E-5 and was discharged from the service to attend college through ROTC. He also used some of his Montgomery GI Bill benefits during that time.

He began his second period of service as an Army officer. Even though he worked long enough to earn full Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, he could only receive 10 months because he had already used 26 months of the Montgomery GI Bill. But the Rudisill decision gave him an additional 12 months of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.

“We had to strategize a lot because we only had a few months, and now we have the windfall,” said Quintiliani, whose daughter, Lina, a sophomore at George Mason University, is using some of the extra benefits this semester.

The VA will automatically review your claim for extra benefits if you last received an education claim decision Aug. 15, 2018, or later. “You don’t need to take any action,” Dyson said.

If you last received a decision on your education claim before Aug. 15, 2018, you must submit VA Form 22-1995 so the department can review your eligibility.

Transferring Benefits

The Post-9/11 GI Bill lets longtime servicemembers transfer benefits to a spouse and dependent children, who can then receive the same benefits for tuition and fees, books, and the housing allowance. Remember that even if you’re on active duty and aren’t eligible for it yourself, dependent children can still receive the housing allowance.

You can transfer benefits after you’ve served six years and agree to serve at least four more. The clock on the four years starts after you make the transfer. But you can only transfer benefits to dependents who are enrolled in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System.

To start that process, request a transfer of education benefits through milConnect. You can allocate the 36 months however you want among yourself, your spouse, and your children. You can change the allocation at any time, but you can’t add new beneficiaries after you leave service.

“Once you get out, you can’t designate another dependent. You can go from one month to 36 months at any time, but you can never go from zero to one month,” explained Brown, the certified financial planner. “Before you leave the service, make sure everyone has one month.”

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Spouses can use transferred benefits right away, whereas dependent children can start after you have completed at least 10 years of service, whether or not you’re on active duty.

Procedures for Using Benefits

To start using your benefits, complete VA Form 22-1990. Dependents using transferred benefits should complete VA Form 22-1990e.

“Because of the modernization efforts, veterans who are applying to use their benefits are sometimes getting automatic decisions,” Dyson said. “Once your application has been processed, we issue you a certificate of eligibility that shows how much is available to you.”

Not all schools require you to submit a copy of the certificate. And if you don’t have one, institutions can verify eligibility through the VA’s online portal, noted Georgetown’s Cardwell. You usually need to submit forms to the college each semester; specifics vary by school.

“Two months before each semester begins, I send out an email to everyone who is newly admitted or returning, and I let them know that they need to complete a benefits request form,” Cardwell said. “If you’re using a benefit that’s covering your tuition, we place an estimated credit memo on the account, so students don’t pay anything up front. We wait until payment comes in and then we clear the account.”

Each college tends to have a school certifying official — based in the veterans’ or registrar’s office — who submits information about each student’s course load to the VA. They can be a great source of information about veterans benefits.

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How to Maximize GI Bill Benefits

If you have more than one child, you might need to divvy up the GI bill benefits. Rather than dividing them evenly, take into account the cost of each college and the value of the housing allowance at each school.

Quintiliani and Bondesson compared total costs when deciding how to use the GI bill benefits they transferred to their daughters – one at George Mason in Virginia, the other at the University of Florida. In-state tuition and scholarships made the University of Florida less expensive than George Mason, and the monthly housing benefit in Fairfax, Va., is nearly $1,000 more than it is in Gainesville, Fla., so they chose to use the benefits at the Virginia school.

The Yellow Ribbon Program can also make a difference. Colleges offer these scholarships, and the VA matches them. The financial aid can help cover tuition beyond the GI bill’s annual limit.

“It’s a supplemental benefit designed to pay for higher out-of-state, foreign, or private schools that the GI bill wouldn’t normally fully cover because there is a cap,” Dyson said.

Each school decides whether to participate, the number and size of the awards, and the application process. Some offer Yellow Ribbon scholarships on a first-come, first-served basis; others, like Georgetown University, don’t have a cap.

The VA’s website has more information and can help you find a participating school, but verify the details with the school certifying official.

“If you’re going to visit the college, try to make an appointment with the veterans’ office, too,” Brown said.

Kimberly Lankford is a financial expert based in Virginia and the spouse of a retired Army colonel.