For this weeks addition of the veteran’s blog I thought it only fitting to discuss the federal government shutdown and the effect it will have on vets around the country. Many Americans who served our country have become dependent on the government for a variety of services. These services range from counseling services to healthcare to education benefits. Fortunately, the Veteran’s Administration has provided us with a two page cheat sheet to guide through what services will be available and what will be impacted by the shutdown, or as they refer to it, “a lapse in appropriations.”

The good news is all medical facilities will be fully operational. Also, not impacted are counseling services, and centers that process home loans and insurance. Nearly everything else that the VA does is either delayed or completely halted. The primary service that will see an impact is payments and processing for education benefits. The official position of the VA is that funding for education is sufficient to last until late October, after that my guess is that it will get suspended. This of course is only relevant in the event of a prolonged shutdown, but given today’s political climate a long shutdown is a possibility and will affect a fairly large number of veterans including myself.

In order to understand how a shutdown impacts those veterans using education benefits it is necessary to briefly explain how the GI Bill works. Several years ago a new GI Bill was put into place referred to as the Post 9/11 GI Bill. This essentially replaced the old education plan that was established decades ago. Essentially, how it works it that any enterprising veteran that wants to go to school can apply for educational benefits so long as you have served at least 36 months of service and have a favorable discharge (this is in order to get 100% of the benefits). Once accepted to a college, university or vocational program the VA issues a check to the school to cover the full cost of the highest public institution in the state. If you are attending graduate school, or a private school, the Yellow Ribbon Program can cover the balance.(This is an agreement between the institution and the government to cover the cost of expensive schools). On top of covering the cost of tuition each veteran receives a housing allowance based on the geographic location of the chosen institution. For example, in the Washington DC area the monthly allowance is around $1800 and in Syracuse area is approximately $1100. For someone like me who lives alone, these amounts generally cover what it cost for me to pay rent, bills and maybe a few other things, but not much on top of basic living. These allowance payments are disbursed at the end of the month to compensate for the previous month. I never understood why it was this way, but have just assumed its to make sure that people are still in school, however, there really isn’t a mechanism for them to know what you are doing unless the school reports failing grades.

In a nutshell that outlines what most veterans are using to pay for their education. The problem with a shutdown is that come October 30th if there is not a resolution many of us will not be able to pay our rent for November. Someone like me, for example, can probably pay my rent because I have money saved, but I’m not sure if I could pay my other monthly expenses. Then there are those veterans who have not had the opportunity to save much money, and will be faced with financial problems. What exactly are they supposed to do? While congress debates, many veterans will be faced with compiling late fees for bills owed. To be fair, some creditors may be sympathetic, but some will not be. When the government finally decides to get everything together some folks could already be on the road to serious financial problems that can be difficult to recover from. I am not going to pretend to have a good solution, in fact I’m not even sure there is one, just the hope that those responsible for leading this country will find a way to take care of those who have sacrificed for it. For more information, you can check out the VA website. www.va.gov