Do i have to worry about the GI BILL?

Question

Im in the navy, going into bootcamp next week. Do i have to wait for 2 years?

Do i put money in it? Where does the Tuition assistance come in? Can someone put it in simple terms?

Answer 1

you pay 600 dollars out of each months paychecks

Answer 2

Yes, you have to put money in for the GI Bill. The way it works is this: for 12 months they take out $100 from every paycheck. If you opt for the "kicker" they take out $141.67 each month. So you put a total of $1200 to $1700.

Sounds like a lot, right? But when you go to use it, you have up to $30,000 ($35,000 if you got the "kicker"). It is disbursed monthly directly to you. You get 1025/month without the kicker and 1225/mo with the kicker.

Tuition assistance is something different. Basically, TA pays a percentage (I think it's around 80%) of your tuition for you to take classes while on active duty. In exchange you owe more time, but if you are still on a commitment then you serve concurrently. For example, if you still owe 1 year from your initial commitment and then get TA and owe 2 years for that, your total commitment becomes 2 years. You don't put any of your own money into TA, they take it out of your hide instead.

While on active duty, you can combine TA and GI Bill to pay 100% of tuition and fees. You can also just use the GI Bill, but there are other rules there that I am not familiar with.

So you might be saying "what if I don't plan to go to college?" First off, go to college. Second, even if you don't, the MGIB is still worth it. You can use the money for vocational/technical school, flight training, almost an kind of accredited job training. You can also (I believe) transfer unused parts of your benefit to your spouse or child.

Bottom line: You will NOT regret signing up and I promise you will NOT miss the 100-140 bucks a month. Don't let anyone talk you out of this benefit, it's one of the most valuable programs available to you.

Answer 3

If your recruiter hasn't explained this to you, he/she is an idiot.

Simply put, you "contribute" a certain amount of money on a monthly basis. This contribution is taken directly out of your paycheck, you have no choice in the matter, and will pay this for 1 year. The government then matches your contribution, as well as depositing an additional amount in the account.

This money is for you to go to college, and cannot be touched during your initial tour of service. If you decide to re-enlist, then you can use the MGI Bill to pay for your college/books while still on active duty. If you get out of the military, you have 10 years in which to use it. If you don't use it, the government will absorb the money.

Congrats on joining the military. Good luck to you.

Answer 4

You can use your GI benefits after leaving the military. You can contribute, tax free, but not required. Tuition assistance is a program to reimburse you for educational costs to you during military service.

Your GI Bill is good for 10 years after you get out.

Answer 5

They will explain it all to you in boot camp and will give you the opportuity to start having money withdrawn to go towards your MGIB. The amount they take out is nothing compared to what you get back. I don't know what the minimum time in service is before you can start using it, but I would recommend reading up on it, just search MGIB or try www.military.com. Whatever you do, don't pass it up, it's basically FREE money! Well....except for all the blood, sweat, and tears the navy is going to get out of you. Anyway once you start school, they just deposit whatever amount you are owed into your bank account, some people I know just call it "fun money". You can use it for whatever you want, but you have to prove you're in school before you can get it. Good luck, hope that helped a little.

Answer 6

My boyfriend is in the army, and I believe that after your service is up, that's when your tuition money comes in, should you choose to use it. Typically the military pays tuition for the number of years you served, depending on what you may or may not have worked out with your recruiter.

Answer 7

I believe you pay 100 dollars out of each months paychecks. When your contract expires you can get the money. You MUST get an honorable discharge of some kind. You can use those funds up to 10 years after you resign

Answer 8

all of that will be explained to you during In Processing.

you will pay $100/month for 12 months. you will NOT be allowed to seek outside education on your own time while you are in Boot camp, A and C schools. which could very well be 2 years.

every base has an Education Office that can help you, and every Command has a Command Career Counselor that can help you. Utilize them.

Answer 9

it's veterans benifits, so yes you have to wait. no you don't pay into it.