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Post 9-11 GI Bill vs. Montgomery GI Bill

Hi everyone and welcome (or welcome back) to the blog “Soldier to Student”. In this post I am going to compare the Post 9-11 GI Bill with the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB). Both of these are federal education grants offered to qualifying veterans. To qualify for the Post-9/11 GI Bill you must have started your service on or after September 11, 2001, and one of these must be true: you served for at least 90 days total on active duty, you served for at least 30 days on active duty (without a break) and were honorably discharged with a service-connected disability, or you received a Purple Heart. To qualify for the MGIB, the required service start date depends on certain factors, like when you served on active duty and whether your military pay decreased. You must have served between 2 and 4 years. The minimum amount of time you must have served depends on other factors. Both benefits provide 36 months of coverage but note, in certain situations, you may be eligible for more than 1 education benefit. But you can only get a maximum of 48 months of combined education benefits. How much time do you have to use benefits? For Post-9/11 GI Bill If your last day on active duty was on or after January 1, 2013, you can use your benefits at any time. Your benefits won’t expire. For MGIB you have 10 years from your last day on active duty to use your benefits. The biggest difference between the two is payments. Post-9/11 GI Bill sends payments directly to your school for tuition.Then if eligible they will pay you a housing allowance directly every month. There is also a book and supply stipend that they will pay for you at the start of the enrollment period. As for Montgomery GI Bill it is just a flat rate payment they send to you every month. This can be different depending on the school and location so I recommend using the “Check the current payment rates for …” link on the 'Compare Education Benefits' page on the VA’s website (click on the links for both Post 9-11 and Montgomery). I will link it below.


https://www.va.gov/resources/compare-va-education-benefits/ 


I hope this helps anyone looking for some additional information on the differences between the Post 9-11 GI Bill and the Montgomery GI Bill. As always, please leave any questions in the comment section.

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