Q: I've heard different things about the GI Bill--isn't it a great way to pay for all of my college expenses?

• Military recruiting literature trumpets educational benefits of up to $72,900; for most recruits, the benefit tops out at $38,700. That works out to $1,075 a month for 36 months, only 75 percent of the average cost of attendance at a public four-year college or university.
• To be eligible for those benefits, servicemen and women have to contribute $1,200 up front, out of their own pockets, during the first two years of service. Virtually all do so, but nearly one-in-three never collect any educational benefits--and they don't get a refund.
• GI Bill benefits may be counted as student financial resources when veterans apply for federal student aid, possibly making many veterans ineligible for Pell Grants or subsidized student loans that could fill the gap.

Mead further describes the government's response regarding these benefits:

• Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), an Iraq veteran, have introduced a bill to raise veterans' benefits so they cover the full cost of tuition, room and board, books and fees.
• Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) has introduced a bill that would cover those costs and also provide full-time student veterans a monthly $1,000 stipend.
• Both bills would also eliminate the individual contribution benefit.
• The Bush administration says the Clinton/Murphy and Webb bills would be too expensive--the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates the cost of the Webb bill, for example, to be at $5.4 billion a year.