Are there any other RP Members who were denied the GI BILL due to VEAP?

Since you already have three degrees you are in eligible to participate in any further education plans that the military offers of any sort. I too was in when you were in, and contributed to the VEAP program which turned out to be a scam. It was only good at State Colleges and Universities and could not be used for trade programs. So I got my money out and forgot about it.

About 3 years ago I was contacted by a variety of agencies and asked if I wanted to go back to college. A 1 year grant was available from the VA called the VRAP program. I took advantage of it (1 year at $1525 per month), went back to college and got my 2 year degree in 1 year. It has turned out to be a worthless piece of paper.The civilian company "Cisco Systems" that the 2 year degree was with laid off 7500 people the month I officially graduated. The computer market is dead. I have been doing temp work for 2 years now, and hate it.

In the past two weeks I have gotten one IT interview and about 2 calls a day for pending interviews. The job market may be coming back. The funny thing is that every offer is exactly the same money. But yet they cannot seem to find candidates. As I write this, I was just on the phone with yet another recruiter.. for another position... same pay local area.

Perhaps things will turn around after all. As far as the education plan, if you did not participate in VRAP, their is nothing else available except Pell Grants and student Loans. I searched all across the country to find scholarships grants or anything, and all I ended up getting was a small grant for books back in 2013.

I considered re-enlisting, but at 50 they are not taking prior service.

Yes the same thing happened to me, although I was on active duty when the MGIB was instituted I had already used all my eligibility under VEAP so I was not able to transition to MGIB. Can't complain I paid my student loans off while I was on active duty so there were no interest charges.

I'm also one of those vets who got caught in the VEAP gap. When this program was presented, I could see that it would never be what it was presented to be. With the contribution limits, it would have taken forever to reasonably save enough for college, unless you never got married or spent all your time at sea and contributed every penny you made. I had hopes that we would all be "Grandfathered" into the Montgomery GI Bill, but that didn't happen either, and with no action or response from congress on correcting this situation, I don't expect much will ever change. We fell through the rabbit hole, just another of the many groups that have had the same experience in one form or another.

i had VEAP and was denied the GI bill as a result. VEAP is pretty much worthless since the nost you can save is 8100 bucks. hardly payment for 1 semester. the DI bill was re instated but people under YEAP are ineligable

Similar experience. Used VEAP in the 80's for school. Went to try and use the Montgomery GI Bill for my daughter recently. Had the benefit reduced by the number of months I received VEAP. Very costly to say the least.

I came in at the VEAP/MGIB transition. There wasn't a lot of information nor anyone that could explain it in a way that made it palatable. That being said, several states offer their own programs. Texas vets (those with a home of record in TX when entering the service) who served honorably are eligible for the Hazlewood Act.

http://www.tvc.texas.gov/Hazlewood-Act.aspx

SGT Mays,
I have a similar issue that has blown into a major disaster. When I first heard about the post 9/11 GI Bill, I made several inquiries about eligibility for obtaining a Ph.D. Without going into excruciating detail, I was assured that 100% of my education would be covered with the post 9/11 GI Bill. Two years into my program, I was informed that the post 9/11 GI Bill money had been used up. Upon further investigation, I discovered that the VEAP money I used for my BA degree in the eighties counted as part of the post 9/11 GI Bill. I was never told this prior to entering the program, but now I was stuck. Since I was near completion with my dissertation, I opted for a student loan for one year. This was in 2013. Then, everything "caved in." My dissertation, after being approved by a three-member committee, was later rejected outright by a fourth scholar, forcing me to start my dissertation from the beginning. To make a long story short, I have been working on my dissertation since 2011 and have incurred over $56K worth of student loans. It has been one nightmare after another.
Scott A. Meehan
USA, MAJ (Ret.)

I served from 1979 to 2000 and don't recall being offered any type of edu benefits.

My Dad told me about the G.I. Bill and I did ask my recruiter if college aid was available. he said yes but failed to tell me it was called the Montgomery bill and you had to contribute your own money. I found out when I wanted to take some night classes at Mira Costa college while stationed at Camp Pendlton. I was so disappointed when I was informed of the changes. My time was 1979 to 1983.

I originally enlisted in 1979, so I was only eligible for VEAP. It was a bad system from the start. It would effectively triple the money we put into it, but it would only triple it at the rate we paid into it. I was "fortunate", in that I paid $100 per month into it. My friend who was married only paid $25 per month. He was planning on going to school part time after he got out... but then he found out that all he could get out was $75 per month IF he went to school full time. At part time, he would get $37.50 per month. What the hell's the point of that? He was pissed, rightly so IMO, and he pulled his money out of VEAP.

I, on the other hand, was planning on going to school full time, and so I would get my money back at the rate of $300 per month. It was nice spending money for 27 months, but had I known then what I found out much later, I would have cashed it all in like my friend did.

After college, I joined the Marines. By this point, the first iteration of the Montgomery GI Bill was the educational benefit. IIRC, a serviceman paid in $100 each month for a year, and then would be eligible for close to $10,000 in total benefits. But having already been in VEAP, I wasn't eligible. Some time later, Congress made us eligible.

Normally, everyone who gets the new GI Bill has 48 months of eligibility. When I investigated, I found out that I would only have 21 months of eligibility, since I already used 27 months with VEAP. And I would have to buy in with about $2500 of my own money. In other words, I would have to pay about 2 1/2 times more than everyone else to receive less than 1/2 of the benefits.

Or to put it another way, I would be penalized now for getting screwed earlier.

As an interesting side note, the VA told me that they don't make the rules, Congress makes the rules. So I contacted my Congressional representation, my Representative and two Senators, all of whom were Democrats. The response I got from them: Those are the VA rules. It wasn't the first time my Democrats proved to be utterly useless.