Montgomery GI Bill or Post 9/11 for me?

bigred177

bigred177

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So we're at that time in our training where I need to decide if I want to do the Montgomery or 9/11 GI bill. I thought I'd bring it here since there are people who know much more about this than I do.

I'm not concerned with giving it to a wife/kids. I have a JD already so I don't see myself willingly doing more school. I would like to use one or the other to do my commercial helicopter rating in a few years when I'm done with UPT.

Anything else that needs to go into consideration let me know. What are some of y'all's thoughts on which one would be better for me. I think the Post 9/11 since I have to pay $1200 to the Montgomery one if I want to use it.
 
Post 9/11 is definitely the better choice for flight training. MGIB only pays 60 % of costs (dual training) after you've obtained your PPL. Post 9/11 pays over 12K annually. Suppose to have a PPL as well and both must be an approved 141 school. Don't have to contribute to Post 9/11 as well.

Degree completion programs are a whole different deal but it doesn't sound like you're going that route.
 
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Yea... 9/11 is the way to go. I don't believe you get BAH on MGIB which can be upwards of $2k/mo in some areas.
 
bigred177 said:
Wow, I'm down for that!
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I believe the MHA is if you're attending college greater than 50 % of full time. Check with the VA though to be sure.

Either way, your helo certificate is pretty much paid for with Post 9/11.

Edit: this is an add on to a ME Airplane / COM cert correct?
 
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Velocity173 said:
I believe the MHA is if you're attending college greater than 50 % of full time. Check with the VA though to be sure.
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To get the housing allowance(equivalent of E5 BAH), you have to be enrolled as a full time student as defined by the school you are attending. The definition obviously varies between undergrad and grad programs. An undergrad program may require 12 credits per semester whereas a graduate program may only require 12 credits for the whole year.
 
In San Diego, I was online one class with 6 week classes and took a BS class at a City College. My BAH was about $2050/mo. That was " full time" to the VA.

That's $25k alone in BAH and then school on top paid for. Out here in AR, it's to the tune of $800/mo though.
 
So since I'm Guard, I won't have BAH in every day life. When I vest in the 9/11 Bill, can I get BAH while still in the Guard?
 
bigred177 said:
So since I'm Guard, I won't have BAH in every day life. When I vest in the 9/11 Bill, can I get BAH while still in the Guard?
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I believe so, but obviously best to check with the VA. Once you are eligible to use your Post9/11 GI Bill benefits, it shouldn't matter whether you are still involved with the Guard or not.

The stipulation is that you are not allowed to receive the MHA if you are still on Active Duty where you would obviously be already collecting BAH.

http://www.benefits.va.gov/GIBILL/r...ources/rates/ch33/ch33rates080115.asp#HOUSING
 
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Fearless Tower said:
I believe so, but obviously best to check with the VA. Once you are eligible to use your Post9/11 GI Bill benefits, it shouldn't matter whether you are still involved with the Guard or not.

The stipulation is that you are not allowed to receive the MHA if you are still on Active Duty where you would obviously be already collecting BAH.

http://www.benefits.va.gov/GIBILL/r...ources/rates/ch33/ch33rates080115.asp#HOUSING
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Yea, no double dips. But you should have the Army tuition assistance right? Why mess with your 9/11 when the guard will pay for it all? If/when you get out, then fire that thing up. Go talk to your educational assistance office and get the skinny.
 
Unit74 said:
Why mess with your 9/11 when the guard will pay for it all? If/when you get out, then fire that thing up. Go talk to your educational assistance office and get the skinny.
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Using TA incurs an additional MSO (minimum service obligation). He may not want to further obligate himself.
 
Sounds like the OP wants the rating and not continuing college. If so, find a 141 helicopter school in your area that the VA accepts. Apply to VA for benefits. Few weeks later they'll send you an acceptance letter. Take that letter to the school. Pay for the course up front. VA remburses you up to 12K per year. No MHA with that route.

So, you need 50 hrs of helo time to get an add on commercial. $300 per hr for an R22. You're looking at over 15K.
 
Fearless Tower said:
That seems a bit odd since the GI Bill website itself says they generally consider a minimum of 12 credits a semester to be full time for the purpose of receiving MHA.
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Typically, compressed online courses are considered to be full time. However, you only rate the "other US" BAH rate for E5. In order to get the locality, you have to have a resident enrollment.

So, going online 6 weeks at a time, consecutively plus at least one residency course aka brickand mortar class, you rate the full BAH for the city where the school is primarily registered. I was at Mira Mesa CC for one class per semester, then the rest online. You rate full San Diego BAH.

And this was 9/11 not MGIB.
 
Velocity173 said:
Sounds like the OP wants the rating and not continuing college.
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Good point. Can't use TA for flight training and yes, the MHA would only apply if you were doing the flight training as part of a resident degree program like ERAU.
 
Things have really changed. I did my undergrad on the GI Bill (Army College Fund) in effect at the time, which was a flat allowance of up to $10,000 during full time enrollment. I forget what the monthly disbursement was but I used it all up.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Good point. Can't use TA for flight training and yes, the MHA would only apply if you were doing the flight training as part of a resident degree program like ERAU.
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OSU has a very active program too at KOUN! When I fly in there, HEAD ON A SWIVEL!!! :yikes:
 
Fearless Tower said:
Good point. Can't use TA for flight training and yes, the MHA would only apply if you were doing the flight training as part of a resident degree program like ERAU.
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TA (AVOTEC) used to pay for flight training. Well at $4,500, some of the training. Like $18 million in excess TA funds so congress decided to open it up for vocational schools.

It was a complete disaster of a program at my local flight school. Soldiers were booked solid on their schedule. I was able to block the aircraft for 2 weeks to get my IFR FW. Got it just prior to deployment. A whole bunch of dudes never completed training or were waiting to get back from deployment to start training. Anyway, the school closed up while we were gone and the owner took the funds and left the country. Guess that's what happens when you have a program with no govt oversight. Kinda like the VA mess with students racking up 300K bills to get their RW CFI.
 
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Velocity173 said:
Sounds like the OP wants the rating and not continuing college. If so, find a 141 helicopter school in your area that the VA accepts. Apply to VA for benefits. Few weeks later they'll send you an acceptance letter. Take that letter to the school. Pay for the course up front. VA remburses you up to 12K per year. No MHA with that route.

So, you need 50 hrs of helo time to get an add on commercial. $300 per hr for an R22. You're looking at over 15K.
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Start training right before the end of the fiscal year. Then let it renew and continue on?
 
bigred177 said:
Start training right before the end of the fiscal year. Then let it renew and continue on?
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Well, I actually thought about that in your case. 12K isn't going to cover a RW IFR/COM add on. Therefore, you'd need to get another year of benefits. Based on the VA wording, it's seems like that max (12K) only covers that particular program. You can get renewed for additional programs after that first year though. The school would have to come up with an additional training program (NVG qual, long line qual) to get another year of benefits.
 
Maybe add-on and IFR, then next FY COM and long line. Maybe it just took me more than 50 hrs in one FY to get my add on haha.

EDIT:

I checked out a flight school website in Houston:

POST 9/11 GI BILL

Effective October 1st, 2011, veterans eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill are able to use $10,000 per academic year for Flight Training. An academic year lasts from August 1 to July 31. All Flight Training except Private Pilot is covered. Suggested Airplane/helicopter Flight Training Programs available for $10,000 are:

Instrument
ATP
CFI
CFII
MEI

Sounds like these schools know how to implement it best.
 
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