There are now two parts to the GI Bill, the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 and the Montgomery GI Bill. The Original part of the Bill was passed into law by FDR a few days after D-day.
The goal of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 was to ensure that veterans came home to jobs when they were back from this war instead of unemployment like the last war provided. In the Bill, it offered veterans $500 a year for college tuition and other associated educational costs with a $50 a month allowance for single men (married men got a little more). Veterans were also given mortgage subsidiaries so they could purchase homes with relative ease.
7.8 million WWII veterans benefited from this and 2.2 million used it on higher education, so that soon, nearly half the student on college campuses were veterans eager to start the lives and catch up on missed time. They demanded course work that would prepare them for careers from their colleges leading to an emphasis on degree programs that could get them into the higher paying jobs, meaning the jobs and college degrees were no longer limited to the upper class.
Such was the success of the first bill that, in 1984, Ronald Reagan signed the Montgomery GI Bill into law to increase the decreasing numbers of people to voluntarily serve, even in peacetime. To be eligible, the soldier needs to have received an honorable discharge, a high school diploma, and serve in active duty for the duration of their enlistment. What they receive, if they so choose, is the chance to give up $100 of their pay a month for the first 12 months of service so they can be eligible for $400 a month for 36 months going towards their tuitions.
Biography:
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Effects+of+the+GI+Bill
Mr. Stewart briefly went over GI's today, but I didn't know much about who they were and what they benefited from the war, so your blog post helped explain it to me. I find it interesting that even though this bill is put in action, a lot of veterans still end up homeless. Is it because of mental problems? or is because the bill doesn't extend to everyone?
ReplyDelete