GI Bill changes hit graduate students

Military veterans who want to enroll at Columbia Business School or Law School now have to pay thousands of dollars more than they would have just last year, a consequence of revisions to the GI Bill which have capped tuition benefits for veterans attending private universities.

The new GI Bill, which Congress passed in December, limits tuition benefits for veterans attending private schools to $17,500 per year. Congress later passed a grandfather clause, meaning veterans who were enrolled before January 4 were not affected by the new rules.

Administrators at the School of General Studies have said that GS’s large veteran population is likely to decrease slightly due to the new tuition benefits cap. But when it comes to four of the graduate schools with significant veteran populations­—the Law School, the Business School, the School of International and Public Affairs, and Teachers College—the bill’s impact has differed wildly, creating much larger financial burdens for Law and Business students, while leaving SIPA and TC relatively unscathed.

Part of the difference comes down to how much aid each school contributes through the Yellow Ribbon Program, in which the Department of Veterans Affairs matches the University’s funding for veterans. SIPA has increased its annual YRP spending by nearly $90,000 since 2009, while the Law School and Teachers College have increased their grants marginally. The Business School’s YRP contribution has remained stable over the years.

Law School: Nearly 3x the Cost
At the Law School, where about 40 veterans are enrolled, out-of-pocket annual costs increased from $9,000 to $25,000. The Law School had three incoming veterans this year, compared to five the previous year.

The Law School increased its contribution to the Yellow Ribbon Program from $3,000 to $4,500 this year. But Nate Cross, president of the Columbia Law School Military Association, said he anticipates a decrease in the number of veterans attending the Law School, especially since YRP funding is higher at some peer schools.

“Columbia will continue to get a good number of those students, but those with Yellow Ribbon funding will most likely end up elsewhere,” he said. “They’re going to end up at Harvard, UVA, Michigan, or Berkeley.”

The law schools at Harvard University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Michigan cover the full cost of tuition for veterans. It would cost Columbia $12,920 more per veteran to fully fund veterans like these schools.

John Payne, the secretary of the Law School’s veterans association, said a student deciding between Michigan and Columbia law schools this year chose Michigan, in large part because of the cost.

“Obviously, Columbia Law has a great reputation and this isn’t going to happen often,” Payne said. “But I feel it may result in losing a few, one, or two people every given year.”

B-School Takes a Hit
According to Marilena Botoulas, the Business School’s director of financial aid, the Department of Veteran Affairs previously provided $30,300 in annual tuition benefits for Business School veterans taking 30 credits. Now, that amount is capped at $17,500.

Tuition and fees for the full-time Master of Business Administration program total $58,845 this year. The Business School’s contribution to YRP is $2500, leaving veterans on the hook for more than $30,000 per year.

Botoulas, though, said she does not expect any decrease in the number of veterans enrolling in the Business School. She stressed that veterans are eligible to apply for all types of financial aid, and added that the school is working to fundraise for alumni to increase veteran aid.

“Our External Relations and Development office is well aware of these changes, along with the veterans group at the school, is actively working our alumni base to address the revised GI Bill,” she said in an email.

According to the VA’s website, 32 Business School students received a YRP grant this school year. Jason Bennett, the president of the Columbia Military in Business Association, said that the group is working to raise $16,000,000 to endow YRP grants at Columbia, a goal he called a “work in progress.”

“A lot of our peer schools have a greater contribution to the Yellow Ribbon Program and so that, for the qualifying students, that offsets basically the difference” in funding under the new GI Bill, Bennett said.

Michael Zapata, MIBA’s vice president of finance, said an increase in the school’s YRP grant would help marginally. He expressed optimism that the group’s fundraising efforts would pay off.

“I think you take small steps towards building a strong network of veterans and alumni at Columbia Business School,” he said. “The more you focus on building a strong veteran network from the Business School, the greater your contributions or the investments in the endowment will be.”

Still, Zapata said that the education and experience Columbia offers would continue to attract veterans, even if it’s just as expensive as schools like Wharton, Stanford, and Harvard. The “Columbia status” is also a factor, he said.

“Those schools are probably going to cost just as much as Columbia, but I don’t think you get the same international experience or New York experience,” he said. “The benefits definitely outweigh the cost for Columbia.”

SIPA Vets Untouched by New Bill
Unlike veterans at the Business School and Law School, SIPA’s 30 to 35 veterans have not seen any changes to their funding. Grace Han, SIPA’s executive director of admissions and financial aid, said that SIPA is able to cover more of the tuition cost for veteran students than some schools can.

“SIPA’s pretty generous in the sense that if a student is eligible to receive $7,000 [under YRP], we will most likely give them $7,000,” Han said. “For other schools, the student may be eligible for $7,000, but they may have set aside $5,000 for the student or per student.”

Carolina Kay, associate dean for student affairs, said that before this year, YRP grant recipients got $2,000 to $3,000 per year. This year, they are receiving $7,000 to $10,000 per year.

“I would see how it would impact the other schools if they cannot cover the additional cost of each of these veterans,” Kay said.

SIPA has increased its YRP grant pool each year since Columbia joined the program in 2009. This year, SIPA budgeted $150,000 for YRP grants, and based on calculations for the fall and spring semesters, will give 16 students a total of $103,425.

Kay and Han met over the summer with Caleb Weiss, the president of the Columbia SIPA Veterans Association, to discuss the new bill and come up with a solution to deal with the effects of the change. Weiss said he expects the number of applicants to either remain stable or increase over time.

“SIPA’s contribution to the Yellow Ribbon Program has been increased and has come very close to closing that tuition gap, because of the generosity and the understanding of the fellowship committee at SIPA,” he said.

Han stressed that the YRP is targeted specifically at current students or students who are already admitted.

“We’re not using the Yellow Ribbon Program as a marketing tool to attract new students,” Han said. “It’s more of an opportunity for admitted students or current students to receive more funds or additional funds.”

TC: Yellow Ribbon Offsets New Costs
Teachers College increased its YRP contribution from $3000 to $5000 this year, helping to offset the effects of the new GI Bill. Russell Gulizia, the manager of TC’s Office of Doctoral Studies, explained the new bill to administrators and they subsequently decided to increase the amount.

“We will continue to review provisions of the Yellow Ribbon Program on a periodic basis, and consider the possibility [of] future increases at that time,” vice provost William Baldwin said.

Between YRP and the new GI Bill, TC veterans now receive a total of $27,500 in yearly aid. For the 2011-2012 academic year, the cost of tuition for all students was $1,231 per credit.

Gulizia said that increasing the YRP grant will help offset increased tuition costs for veterans. A student taking a typical 24 credits would pay about $30,000.

“If the typical full-time student is 24 credits, at the current costs, at seventeen-five [$17,500], you’d run out of money very quickly, and the student would incur significant costs,” Gulizia said. “But the increase of the Yellow Ribbon Program—if the student was eligible for the Yellow Ribbon—that would cover those costs,” he said.

But Erika Gallegos, a second-year TC student and army veteran, said that for some veterans, the cost of tuition at TC still exceeds the amount of aid available. She suggested that the school give more grants and scholarships to veterans struggling to bridge the gap.

“If they increase their Yellow Ribbon endowment to the same levels as the School of General Studies, students wouldn’t have to worry about taking out as many loans,” Gallegos said. GS offers $8,000 in YRP funding.

Baldwin says he expects a decrease in the number of veterans enrolling in Teachers College.

“I do think that a reduction in educational benefits ... will likely cause a shift in the enrollment of veterans from now higher cost private institutions to lower-cost public ones,” he said.

madina.toure@columbiaspectator.com

A previous version of this article stated that GS offers $7,000 in YRP funding, rather than $8,000. Spectator regrets the error.