College . 08/08/2008 05:14 PM . Aaron Olmstead

I was recently bemoaning the tens of thousands of dollars that I’ve expended acquiring a college education (as I am wont to do) in conversation with a customer of mine, when, much to my surprise, she informed me that she had already saved all the money necessary for her 8-year-old twin’s future education.

I kid you not.

She hadn’t made some well-intentioned but miserably hopeless goal of hoarding her loose change while her son and daughter grew up, but instead had, by some inconceivable means, set aside the total estimated funds for tuition and college living expenses both of her children would require in ten years.

Needless to say, I was quickly overcome with my own lack of devotion to my yet unborn children. Why hadn’t I started saving? Didn’t I care at all?

The truth is that most childrens’ futures are a little more stark than my client’s lucky little ones – and for the most part, neither them or their parents will start thinking about their education expenses until they reach high school. Plus, due to skyrocketing college costs and the state of our economy, the prospect of getting an education is especially daunting right now – in a could-I-ever-pay-that-back-in-as-long-as-I-live? kind of way.

That is, unless you have a full scholarship, an accommodating allowance or, of course, Pulitzer parents like the ones mentioned above.

Most people don’t possess any of the above. Often, the only means available to meet the impending expenses of the coming school years are through student loans.

But after the recent credit crunch, many sources of student loans have either disappeared or are tightening their credit requirements. A recent survey found that the majority of college students needing loans for the fall semester are still waiting for funding.

“Tuition bills are arriving in the mail, and a tough reality is setting in for millions still needing money to at least partially pay for school. With home equity lines of credit not what they were a year ago, and school costs continuing their upward climb, our survey’s findings were, somewhat unfortunately, in line with our expectations,” Keith Alliotts, CEO of TuitionBids.com informed Market Watch.g

But, take heart: Big Brother has extended his helping hand.

In response to the mounting national concern for this issue, the federal government has enacting the Higher Education Opportunity Act. The bill pressures colleges to lower costs, increases Pell grants, simplifies aid applications, and requires tuition and textbook pricing to be publicized. Fundamentally, it intends to increase transparency, requiring colleges with the highest prices to do some explaining and introduce public availability of pricing comparisons between universities.

Having passed in both the senate and house, the bill awaits only the signature of the President before becoming law.

House Education Committee chairman George Miller, D-Calif explains that “To address soaring costs this legislation will address the transparency and the accountability of the tuition pricing system, shining a bright light on the prices set by colleges and universities,” according to msnbc.com.

Obviously, the legislation is far from being a panacea. The cost of a college education is a still a bit farfetched for parents who have enough to think about with their homes in default. On top of not having any spare cash to pitch towards their kids college fund, they don’t even have the credit to co-sign on an education loan.

But every little bit helps, right?

The new and significantly improved GI bill that went into effect just last week is another big – actually giant – step towards making education affordable. That is, if you’ve served a little time with Uncle Sam.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill, signed by the President just over a month ago, will, in many cases, cover the full price of tuition to any college or graduate school across the nation, and also provides up to $1,000 for books and supplies and a monthly living stipend (which is graduated to account for areas with high living expenses). The tuition cost is capped at the most expensive tuition the veteran’s state of residence, but more expensive private schools offering a veterans-only scholarship will see that scholarship matched dollar for dollar up to the full cost of tuition.

To qualify for the benefits a veteran only has to have served at least 90 days of active duty service post-9/11 and have remaining entitlement. The benefits expire 15 years after their time in the service, and are even transferable to veteran’s family members.

Bob Clark, the Pentagon’s assistant director of accessions policy has high hopes for the bill. “The original GI Bill was said to be one of the most significant social impacts of the 20th century,” he said. “We believe the new bill is going to have a similar impact.”

Clark indicated that the new bill is intended to mirror the original bill’s provisions, which gave World War II veterans the opportunity to go to school wherever they liked and also provided a stipend.

Erica Woodward is one of the new bill’s enthusiastic beneficiaries. She served for 18 months from February of 2003 to August of 2004, and thus qualifies to have 70% of her tuition paid for, in accordance with the bill’s prorating scale.

That scale is as follows:

90 Consecutive Days 40% (Tuition, Books, & Living Stipend)
6 Cumulative Months 50% (Tuition, Books, & Living Stipend)
12 Cumulative Months 60% (Tuition, Books, & Living Stipend)
18 Cumulative Months 70% (Tuition, Books, & Living Stipend)
24 Cumulative Months 80% (Tuition, Books, & Living Stipend)
30 Cumulative Months 90% (Tuition, Books, & Living Stipend)
36 Cumulative Months 100% (Tuition, Books, & Living Stipend)

Woodward spent 9 weeks of basic training at Fort Jackson, in South Carolina, 18 weeks of interrogation and counterintelligence training at Fort Huachuca, in Arizona, and then shipped off to a grueling 45 week Arabic basic language training course at the Defense Language institute in Monterey, California.

Then she got out.

“But even though I was only in trainee during my time, since I was considered active duty military and essentially the property of Uncle Sam, I accrued these benefits,” she explains.

As Woodward, who will be married this October, lives in Washington, D.C., where the cost of living is exponentially higher than her Ohio home, she’ll receive $1700 dollars a month to cover living expenses… enough that as soon as the bill takes effect in August of 2009, she might just be able to go to school full time, and eschew the first, second and possibly third job it often takes to survive D.C.

Asked how she feels about about her entitlement, Woodward gives a mixed response: “Well, on the one hand, I feel kind of ashamed that I didn’t serve out my time and am getting these insane benefits,” she says. “

“But,” she continues, after a pause, “I think there’s no better way to honor someone who’s served honorably – to enable them to pursue higher education like that, it’s really a gift. It opens up a whole new world of possibility for people.”

As school payment prospects disappear, the GI Bill provides an answer for those wishing their savings accounts had started earlier. You’ve probably seen all sorts of enticing enlistment ads about honor, freedom, and being a part of something bigger.

Now you’ve got another reason.

With things as they stand, joining up may be your only shot at getting an education without going bankrupt just a few years into adulthood.

It’s pretty good deal if you think about it. You’ll probably even get an expense paid trip to Iraq.

Aaron Olmstead is the founder and publisher of Kritik.He’s currently researching whether or not the GI bill would pay him back for his college tuition.



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