Returning Troops Head To Ivy Leagues Despite Cuts To GI Bill

Though recent cuts to the GI Bill have limited their academic options, returning troops are finding ways to offset the exorbitant costs of an Ivy League education.

Up until January, the revamped GI Bill paid for the full tuition at public two- and four-year schools for those who had served for a minimum of three years since Sept. 11, 2001. But recent cuts to that program capped tuition at $17,500, threatening to take away the opportunity to study in the hallowed halls of prestigious institutions, like Columbia University.

Cameron Baker, an Air Force veteran, was already enrolled at Columbia when the cuts were made. He feared that he would have to transfer out.

"I come from a very low socio-economic background," Baker told the Huffington Post back in April. "My family can't afford to help me out. I mean, at this point, I'm the one who's supposed to be helping them out."

Determined to maintain the increased momentum of veteran enrollment, Columbia is continuing to aggressively recruit veterans and increase the amount of financial aid it offers former servicemen and servicewomen, according to CBS.

"When you're putting together a class, and you're thinking about the undergraduate composition, the undergraduate classroom experience, you want a diverse classroom experience," Curtis Rodgers, Columbia's dean of admissions told the news outlet. "And veteran students bring life, career experience, service experience, and that's an important part of the classroom experience."

Of the 1,500 undergraduates at Columbia's School of General Studies program -- which caters to older, nontraditional students -- 210 are veterans, up from 50 three years ago, according to The New York Times.

But Columbia isn't the only Ivy institution taking a heavy interest in veterans. Cornell University has followed Columbia's lead and the two were the only Ivy Leagues to make it to the 2012 list of colleges and universities at MilitaryFriendlySchools.com, according to the Cornell Daily Sun.

"I am committed to making certain this generation of veterans is treated with the respect they deserve given their sacrifice,� Jason Locke, director of undergraduate admissions, told the Cornell Daily Sun.

Thirty-eight students at Cornell have taken advantage of the Yellow Ribbon Program, which supplements the GI Bill, the news outlet reports. But, unlike other universities, Cornell doesn't have a predetermined amount of money it offers, rather each school works individually with its veteran applicants, on a case-by-case basis, to determine their need.

Such funding, veterans say, is critical to enabling them to pursue their dream jobs.

Karim Delgado, who served as a corporal in Southeast Asia for humanitarian relief efforts, initially pursued the military to escape his low-income neighborhood of Carol City, Fla. Now, he's studying educational policy at Columbia so that he may return to that same neighborhood to help teach those in need.

"It's a desperate community at points," Delgado told CBS. "If you wade in it long enough, it becomes you."

WATCH:

Comments

[Joey King]

12:30 PM on 01/02/2012

Actually, the changes in the tuition cap for private institutions helps a lot of vets. Prior to the changes, tuition and fees paid by the GI Bill were capped at the highest in-state, undergraduate, public tuition by each state. So, for a student in New York where the maximum in-state tuition was $1,010 per credit hour, they would lose about $13,000/yr with the new changes. However, someone in Massachusetts, where the max was $340 per credit hour, would gain about $7000; Students in Oklahoma and several other states gain over $10,000/year.
Also, the bill was amended to help those who find themselves in the losing-$13k-crowd: "For students whose tuition & fees exceed $17,500 per academic year who are attending a private IHL in AZ, MI, NH, NY, PA, SC or TX and have been enrolled in the same program since January 4, 2011 schools will be reimbursed either the actual cost of the program or the maximum in-state tuition & fee reimbursement rate for the 2010-2011school year, whichever is greater."
Maybe research next time?

[Scott Young1]

08:42 PM on 12/26/2011

GI Bill + Harvard = Happy Vet. Thanks VA!

[ThinkHappyThoughts]

12:05 PM on 12/22/2011

Columbia is very veteran friendly. I think the university recognizes the unique experiences veterans bring to the table, even if their students don't.

I have found looking for a graduate program that most of the ivy league schools are willing to work with a veteran to help them be successful at their university.

That and the school knows it will be getting paid.

[hagagaga]

09:47 AM on 12/22/2011

There should be no limit on tuition benefits.

[ricchh]

08:55 AM on 12/22/2011

Ironically, Columbia has become one of the most military friendly campuses in the US.

[BigWillyG]

11:37 PM on 12/21/2011

Cool, good for the vets.

[REDSTATEREFUGEE]

09:16 PM on 12/21/2011

In my community college classrooms, I treat returning Iraq / Afghanistan vets with dignity and respect, for they have earned both. I have taught both Marine and Army combat veterans, some of them recovering from injuries, physical and psychological.

Ironically, 45 years ago, when I was in the Army medical service, I thought I had seen the last of wounded troops, but, almost half a century later, apparently administrations do not remember what committing forces to land combat means. Here are a few student anecdotal examples:

---- An Army mortarman who received counter-battery fire in AFG and crawled up into a ball, crying unashamedly.
--- An Army combat engineer who told me his lieutenant would not venture outside of the wire in remote Iraq, but sent him on a dangerous road trip. He showed me the plastic surgery covering a lower leg wound from an IED.
--- A Marine seriously wounded in one of the battles for Falluja in Iraq. A Russian-made AP round penetrated his flak jacket and rattled around in his chest and abdomen. He now suffers residual effects of the shot, of course, but also with, IMHO, PTSD signs.

[ThinkHappyThoughts]

12:07 PM on 12/22/2011

those experiences are all too common. If you want an education on the true cost visit Walter Reed/Bethesda and go to the amputee ward.

I spent 14 months recovering and was one of the least wounded. Heartbreaking.

[ricchh]

02:54 PM on 12/21/2011

Columbia is the best!

[MrUnlimited]

02:23 PM on 12/21/2011

Nice going, Cornell!!