Am I eligible for the GI Bill?

What does the new gi bill actually cover?

• I'm about to get out of the military and was wondering what exactly does the gi bill cover. For example, my home of record is Illinois but I'd like to go to Univ. of Texas. The gi bill covers the highest in-state tuition at the highest cost public university. Now does that mean I'd be charged as an out of state student and the gi bill just covers the cost of the in state tuition and I'd have to pick up the rest of the tab myself, or will I be charged as an in-state student and the gi bill will cover everything? The way they make it sound is that you can go to any public university in the US and the new gi bill will cover everything, but my friend who got out last year said she has to pay the amount of tuition the gi bill doesn't cover because she is going to the University of Tennessee (which is a public school) and her home of record is Georgia therefore she is being charged as an out-of-stater. But just recently I heard that the new gi bill DOES cover all the costs if I were to go to U. of Texas. So which is it?

• Answer:

  It only covers up to so much each semester. So if you are being charged out of state tuition, it may not fully cover all the costs. However, since you are from Illinois, you can get school for free anyways after being Active duty for 6 months, through the Illinois Veterans Grant. In which case, depending on your BAH zipcode, if you were to stay in Illinois, you would actually make more money off of the old GI BIll than the new one. Texas has a similar law in place for their veterans. Best bet would be to ask the schools VA rep that you are planning on going to. Edit: That's why I said you need to check the BAH for the zipcode of your school. For instance if I went back to my old college (WIU) with the new gi bill, I would only be getting about 500 dollars a month for BAH, and the Veterans Grant would pay for the rest. But if I stayed with the old GI Bill I would be getting that 1400 a month instead, with my school still payed for. But if you are going to go your route with it, and not using the GI bill at the same time as the Veterans Grant, you are a different situation :).