post 9/11 GI Bill xfer to spouse

douxmusique · Sep 21, 2013

What questions do you have? I use my husbands benefits for nursing school right now and have been for a few years.

RHill9919 · Sep 22, 2013

I am going to be leaving our current overseas duty station about a year earlier than him. What is the first step? I read online that it is to logon to mypay and start the application? how long does it take from the start of the application to get approval, usually? Also, he is soon to reach higher tenure so do you happen to know if they will require him to advance in rank before approving the request to xfer Gi bill?

Sarah7784 · Sep 22, 2013

Hi! I'm former active duty and using my GI Bill now, but I can answer some of your questions. Your husband has to have had at least six years already served based on the transfer election date. Also upon the transfer he has to agree to do four more years. That's if he doesn't already have ten or more years already served. If he has that, then I don't think he needs to sign on for the additional four. You will lose part of the GI bill because he is still on active duty (you won't receive BAH if you elect the post 9-11 chapter). This website says the website you need to go to sign up: http://www.gibill.va.gov/documents/factsheets/Transferability_Factsheet.pdf

The first time you start using the GI Bill it takes a couple months to kick in. It took about 8 weeks for me to get my first installment and back pay. I hope this helps!

Sarah7784 · Sep 22, 2013

I forgot to add that it's time requirements, not rank requirements. He could be a PFC as long as he meets the time requirements :)

RHill9919 · Sep 22, 2013

He's been in 12 years.

douxmusique · Sep 30, 2013

First step is your husband needs to go to your nearesg education center and sit through their presentation on transfering benefits. From there he will be given detailed instructions and help to transfer the benefits to you. Once you do that you go to the va ebenefits website and create and account for yourself. The ed center will give detailed instructions for all of this and help walk him through each step.

I could be wrong but I believe they just changed the regs regarding time served.... regardless of time served, if service members transfers benefits he/she will be signing on for 4 more years even if theyre at 12, 14, 18 years. And yes there is a minimum 10 yr commitment if benefits are transferred at say 6 or 7 years, the servicemember contract will be extended.

Sorry this slipped through my filter to reply to.

RHill9919 · Mar 2, 2014

Thanks all so much for the information. I wrote that post a while ago and now I'm getting down to the wire. I've done a lot more research on these education benefits but there are a few questions I still have, maybe you could help?

Firstly, I'm a FL resident, so is he. I applied to schools in FL, OR, and TN. The GI BILL will pay for the schooling regardless of what state it is in? Does the fact that I'm a FL resident matter? I'm still trying to find the max amount of money the Gi Bill pays. My programs range from 20k-50k.

The yellow ribbon program-I am not eligible for this? Only he is since he's the AD member, correct?

I've learned that because he is currently active I will not be eligible for books and BAH, for any future readers on this thread.

USMCRN2015 · Mar 2, 2014

I used to work pay/personnel in the Marine Corps, specifically with these issues.

Eligible for Yellow Ribbon? Yes

They will pay up to 17,500 per year for tuition. Yellow ribbon can cover the rest (if your school does that, be careful though, some schools only apply it to a certain number of students)

GI Bill will pay your tuition no matter where you go to school, doesn't matter what state. Just make sure the school gives you the in state tuition rate, for being a military spouse (most will)

No, you won't rate BAH if he is currently active still receiving BAH for you as his spouse. It's knows as double dipping and the DOD frowns upon that.

Pell Grant-Apply for that immediately.

Hope that helps. Message me if you need more help. I'm currently using my GI Bill for nursing school and they pay for everything. Books, uniforms, supplies, testing fees, all that.

RHill9919 · Mar 3, 2014

Durandx4,

I thought I read online that spouses were not eligible to use the yellow ribbon program. Only people who could were the AD member and in some cases, children...? I'm not eligible for Pells unfortunately since this is my second degree. Thanks for your info. I'm going to keep looking in to that YRP.

CaffeineCrusher · Apr 9, 2015

Is there anything special that you have to submit to have the GI Bill cover everything (books, scrubs, etc) for nursing school? I usually get a $125 book allotment per class for my pre-reqs, but the books for my first semester in clinicals is $1,400 which is more than tuition. Will the school submit the additional cost or will I need to do the leg work to get it all covered?

Sarah7784 · Apr 12, 2015

Unfortunately, no. The book stipend is set at the certain annual amount. They pay $41.67 per credit hour up to 24 credit hours for the year. The GI Bill only covers tuition, fees and that stipend so uniforms and all of that come out of pocket. If you buy your books online it is way cheaper (I use Amazon) than the school bookstore. And you use the same books as you go, so the big book bill is first semester. I had to buy a few more for the second and an additional one for the third. I'm in my fourth semester and I did not have anything to buy for this class.