Student vets’ aid OK’d on housing

Boozman’s bill ensures funding

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has signed legislation aimed at helping student military veterans who haven’t received their full GI benefits. At the Student Veterans of America National Conference in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday, leaders portrayed passage of the Forever GI Housing Payment Fulfillment Act as an important victory for their members. Arkansas’ U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Rogers, introduced the bill on Dec. 18, four days after Congress had originally planned to adjourn. He rounded up eight Democratic co-sponsors and two Republican co-sponsors, successfully championing it during the final days of the 115th session of Congress. Problems with payment of housing allowances in recent months have been widespread, according to Lauren Augustine, the group’s vice president of government affairs. Within its 1,500 chapters, “What we saw was a significant influx of students with delayed or incorrect payments that led to a lot of frustration nationwide. We’ll know the true impact once VA is able to retroactively review those records but certainly expect it to be a high level,” she said. The Senate passed it by unanimous consent the same day it was introduced there. The House followed suit on Dec. 20, voting 389-0 in favor of the proposal. Trump added his signature Thursday. “We’re really happy to get that one signed,” Boozman said after the White House announced the signing. The new law ensures “that veterans receive, as the law requires, the benefits that Congress passed,” he said. Under federal law, student housing benefits were originally tied to the cost of living in the town where a school has its primary campus; not the town where the classes were actually taken. A student at the University of the Redlands in California was among those who unsuccessfully challenged the measure. He argued that he should qualify for a $2,152 allowance because he was taking courses in higher-priced Santa Ana, Calif., rather than lower-cost Redlands, Calif., where the allowance was just $1,329. The argument made sense, a sympathetic veterans appeals board ruled in 2011 but noted that the language of the federal statute had tied their hands. In 2017, Congress passed a law — sometimes referred to as the Forever GI Bill — that sought to fix the problem. The change was supposed to take effect before the start of the 2018-19 school year, but the VA, citing technology problems, failed to implement the changes in time. As a result thousands of veterans were shortchanged. Lawmakers were angered after reports, later denied by VA officials, that the department would be unable to retroactively make up for last year’s shortfall. The department now says that any underpayments will be fixed. GI bill beneficiaries who received excessive housing stipends will not be required to pay back the money. The technology glitches are expected to be resolved by Dec 1. The total underpayment figures aren’t yet known, according to a spokesman for Boozman. At least eight University of Arkansas students are among those who have been affected, he said.