"GI Bill" Is Now A Registered Trademark Of The VA

According to a October 16, 2012 VA Press Release:

"President Obama signed Executive Order 13607 on April 26, 2012, directing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Defense, and the Department of Education to undertake a number of measures to “stop deceptive and misleading” promotional efforts that target the GI Bill educational benefits of Servicemembers, Veterans, and eligible family members and survivors. Trademarking “GI Bill” was part of that order to protect military families from being misled by schools that target their federal education benefits.
Today GI Bill is an officially registered trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office."

What's this about?
In the wake of improvements in the GI Bill, some sleezebags decided they could use the "GI Bill" name for financial advantage. A company named "QuinStreet" set up GIBill.com to send veterans to for-profit schools that, by no coincidence, were clients of QuinStreet.
A posse of state attorney generals sued, and in June a settlement awarded GIBill.com to the VA. That solves one problem, but suing one-by-one is inefficient.
In response, Obama proposed the trademarking of "GI Bill". This would not only allow more efficient resolution of such scams, it also puts marginal operators on notice; they should move on to another scam.
Some in the world of business and the law criticized the very idea of trademarking "GI Bill"; for example: "Obama Wants to Trademark the GI Bill. Good Luck With That" By Kristen Hinman, Business Week, April 27, 2012
However, these complaints are basically silly. First, they misunderstand the difference between a law and the NAME of a law. Trademarking a name does not affect the operation of the law; citizens can still read the law, write about the law, use the name of the law in political speech, and so forth ... just as I can write about Disney, Microsoft and Boeing even those names are protected intellectual property.
Second, while it is true that this sort of trademark is unusual, that's because the situation is unusual; it just isn't that common for private organizations to pretend to be government organizations for the purpose of extracting money from citizens. Personally I think a horsewhipping would be more appropriate (... cool down, I'm joking ... maybe ...) but sending lawyers after them might be just as bad. There are many absurd situations in which the law has not yet been tested because no-one's gotten around to doing something that stupid.
Finally, maybe someone will contest this trademark; maybe someone will peddle "GIBill Coffee" or something, and fight it all the way up to the Supreme Court. And maybe they'll win. Who knows? That would get Congress off the stump so it passes a law protecting the name.

GI Bill and Predatory Schools (#veterans law)

What kind of predator would seek out veterans and their GI Bill benefits?
Tom Tarantino of IAVA reports:

"I recently attended a briefing held by Senators Tom Harkin and Tom Carper from the Senate Health Education and Labor (HELP) Committee on a potentially serious threat to student veterans and their families. Since implementation of the New GI Bill, for-profit colleges have received a disproportionate amount of GI Bill dollars. Of the ten educational institutions collecting the most V.A. benefits, eight are for-profit schools. Together, those eight schools collected $1 billion of the over $5 billion used in 2010 to educate veterans. Many of them have not returned the educational value and employment services that were promised to veterans when they enrolled.

This is a serious issue that IAVA has been tracking for over a year. Now we have the data and information to back up what we’ve been hearing from veterans who have been victimized. In anop-ed in the New York Times, Holly Petraeus said that predatory schools see veterans and service members as dollar signs in uniform.

It’s important to note that there are many for-profit schools that provide education and services to veterans who use distance learning or seek vocational degrees that are not available elsewhere. These schools are helping veterans and their families continue their educations and find meaningful employment. However, several reports have found that other for-profit schools will do anything to tap this pool of students. As a result, veterans, service members, and their families are not getting the educational training they have earned and they lose out on their benefits and credits. Many come out with degrees that do not help them achieve their professional goals. IAVA is fighting for ways to protect veterans’ educational options while ensuring that the bad actors in the for-profit educational industry are no longer able to take advantage of veterans and their families.

We currently do not know how many veterans have suffered at the hands of predatory schools. If you’ve had bad experiences with a for-profit college, email us at newgibill@iava.org. ...."

More at http://www.newgibill.org/blog/veterans_threat_new_gi_bill.

Similar comments have come from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. This looks like an issue to be careful about, whether you're a veteran or advising a veteran.gi

May 23 Deadline for Yellow Ribbon Agreements: Contact your Alma Mater!

A recent VA Press Release:

"Schools Encouraged to Join VA’s Yellow Ribbon Program
Colleges and Universities Must Sign Agreements before May 23

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki is encouraging interested colleges and universities to join the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in participating in the Post-9/11 GI Bill Yellow Ribbon Program for the upcoming 2011-2012 academic year.

“Through shared responsibility, VA and our Nation’s colleges and universities are working together to ensure that our Servicemembers, Veterans and dependents receive the education benefits they have earned,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “I strongly encourage any interested school to formally sign up with us before the May 23 deadline to guarantee their participation.”

Interested schools should visit VA’s Web site for more information at http://gibill.va.gov/school-certifying-officials/yellow-ribbon-agreement/ , where they will find a copy of a letter recently sent to all school presidents and department heads, an agreement form, instructions, and an easy-to-follow checklist.

The Yellow Ribbon Program is a provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill that allows degree-granting institutions to voluntarily enter into a formal agreement with VA to fund tuition and fee expenses that exceed either the annual $17,500 private institutions cap recently instituted by Congress or the in-state tuition and fees charged out-of-state residents attending public institutions.

The institution can contribute up to 50 percent of those expenses and VA will match this additional funding for eligible students. This may enable qualified students to attend school tuition-free.

This Post-9/11 GI Bill program is available for Servicemembers and Veterans at the 100 percent benefit level, specifically those who have served at least 36 months on active duty or served at least 30 continuous days and were discharged due to a service-related injury after Sept. 11, 2001. The benefit can be transferred to eligible family members.

Effective Aug. 1, 2011, under a new law passed by Congress, there is a cap on the maximum payment of tuition and fees at $17,500 per academic year for private and foreign schools, a change from the previous Post-9/11 GI Bill. The law also provides for full payment of in-state tuition and fees (undergraduate, graduate or doctoral) at public institutions.

The institutions of higher learning (IHL) requesting participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program must enter into an agreement with VA each year, whether to renew participation from the previous academic year or enter first year agreements.

For the 2010-2011 academic year, VA signed more than 1,200 Yellow Ribbon agreements with IHLs across the nation. For a complete listing of the schools presently participating, go to www.gibill.va.gov/GI_Bill_Info/CH33/YRP/YRP_List.htm .

Additional information about the Post-9/11 GI Bill, including upcoming changes to the Post-9/11 GI Bill based on recent legislation can be obtained by visiting VA’s Web site at http://www.gibill.va.gov/  and www.gibill.va.gov/benefits/post_911_gibill/Post911_changes.html  or by calling 1-800-GIBILL-1 or 1-888-442-4551.

Things to do:

• If you're interested in attending a school, ask immediately whether it has a Yellow Ribbon agreement and, if not, encourage it to apply immediately.
• If you're the alumnus of a school, ask whether it has one and, if it doesn't, encourage it to apply. This may not benefit you directly but it'll be good for your school and for the veteran community.

GI Bill Implementation Plan

The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 or “New GI Bill” has been enacted into law, but how will it be implemented in reality is yet to be seen.

Military.com reports:

"VA Outlines Plans for New GI Bill Implementation - November 25, 2008

On Tuesday, November 18, 2008, the Department of Veterans Affairs offered details on their implementation plans for the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008. Keith Wilson, Director of the Office of Education Service, unveiled their interim plan to meet the requirements of benefits delivery in the short-term and long term.

According to Wilson, VA has begun improving the current information technology (IT) system internally in order to meet the August 2009 deadline and he expects to keep this system in place until November 2010.

Wilson told congress that the plan relies on increased automation and an expected increase in staffing of as much as 400 employees. The report indicates that VA will begin hiring in January and expects to be fully staffed by March 2009.

Mr. Wilson also detailed their long-term plan, expected to go into effect near the end of 2010. The long-term plan will rely on support from the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) to help develop a permanent rules-based automated system.

Related Articles:
VA’s GI Bill Implementation Timeline

The full article by 10Meters.com.

Please read more about the Post 9/11 GI Bill on Military.com.

You are also encouraged to visit the VA GI Bill website to make sure you fact-check all the rumors and completely understand the new benefit and its purpose"

(Full Article Here)

Kudos to Military.com for reporting on this and other important issues. Check out its GI Bill Overview! And, when in doubt, check the official GI Bill website: http://www.gibill.va.gov/, especially its GI Bill FAQ.