When Anthony Rango was injured and honorably discharged from the military in 2002, his skills didn’t translate very well into the civilian world.
He got a job at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington as a management analyst but wanted to further his education and expand his skill set.
The George Washington University and the GI Bill’s Yellow Ribbon Program are helping him accomplish just that.
The Yellow Ribbon Program allows U.S. colleges and universities to enter into an agreement with the VA to fund tuition expenses that exceed the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition rate. The university can contribute up to 50 percent of those expenses and the VA will match the same amount as the institution.
Through GW’s Yellow Ribbon Program, Mr. Rango, who is pursuing a master’s of science in project management, received $3,800 from GW this year to help fund his education. GW’s contribution along with the VA match covered about 90 percent of his tuition.
However, GW announced Monday that it will increase the amount of funding for its veteran graduate students by nearly 35 percent, which will allow Mr. Rango to cover his tuition without any student loans.
“Now my mind is at ease. I’ll have a lot less student loan debt when I graduate,” says Mr. Rango, who served in the military for 13 years. “This is awesome news, but I’m not too surprised because GW has always taken care of its veterans. GW has bent over backwards and shown that it is here to help and educate veterans.”
This year, GW paid up to $3,800 per veteran graduate student per year, which with the VA matching funds gave a typical discount of about 55 percent for many of the programs. But after student veterans asked GW to increase the amount of funding for graduate students, GW will now give up to $5,120 per veteran per year, making the typical discount about 71 percent for many programs.
“These measures place GW among the national leaders among higher education institutions in providing educational benefits to our nation’s veterans,” says Andrew Sonn, director of student and academic support services.
Under GW’s Yellow Ribbon Program, eligible undergraduate veterans attend GW for free. GW pays 50 percent of the remaining tuition and fee costs after the base GI Bill benefits are applied. The VA contributes the other 50 percent. Last year, GW funded $18,000 per veteran. Next year, GW will give $18,300 per veteran.
About 70 percent of the GW students in the Yellow Ribbon Program are enrolled in graduate school programs. Last year, 109 graduate students and 52 undergraduates took advantage of the program.
The university will increase its budgeted, maximum overall investment in the program from $2.5 million to about $2.8 million for the coming academic year.
“The Yellow Ribbon Program at GW is important because it continues our institutional legacy of serving our nation's veterans. The university is named after the nation's most famous veteran, and it enrolled the first recipient of the 1944 GI Bill—Don A. Balfour,” says Mr. Sonn.
According to the VA, student veterans are eligible for the program if they’ve served a total period of 36 months after Sept. 10, 2001; if they’ve served 30 continuous days after Sept. 10, 2001 and been honorably discharged; or if they’re a dependent of an eligible veteran.
Universities must provide funding to eligible veterans who apply for the Yellow Ribbon Program on a first-come first-served basis, regardless of the rate at which the individual is pursuing training in any given academic year. If the students maintain satisfactory academic progress, conduct and attendance, the university must continue to provide tuition assistance in subsequent years.
GW’s Office of Veteran Services offers several service and program initiatives to assist student veterans in their transition to the higher education environment. Two veteran services coordinators, Megan Keller and Matthew Bukowski, serve as liaisons to student veterans and help them acclimate to George Washington. Each fall, incoming student veterans participate in a customized orientation intended to build a community among student veterans, connect student veterans to the GW community, address any questions and introduce student veterans to key GW resources.
"We look forward to continuing to provide a world-class education to student veterans at GW, and we recognize the significant contributions student veterans make to the GW, local, national and international communities," says Mr. Sonn.