House Approves Education Bills
By PVA National Staff
Recently, the House approved a pair of education-related veterans bills: H.R. 4625, the Protect the GI Bill Act, which increases transparency and accountability among educational programs that receive VA funding; and H.R. 4162, the GI Bill Planning Act, which would eventually end the Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB). Both bills have been received by the Senate where they await further action.
H.R. 4625 ensures that schools receiving GI Bill funding inform prospective students of key items, including the cost of attendance, how much their benefits cover, and student outcomes. It also empowers State Approving Agencies to flag or suspend new enrollments to schools that violate these requirements. H.R. 4625 also aligns the definitions of an eligible child in VA and the Department of Defense (DoD) for the purpose of education benefit transfers and bans schools from misrepresenting themselves while marketing, recruiting, and enrolling students. Currently, DoD includes wards and foster children while VA does not. The second bill, H.R. 4162, gives new enlistees six months instead of two weeks to decide whether to pay $1,200 or opt-out of the MGIB benefit. It also ends new enrollments in the MGIB by October 2029.
