Pentagon Announces Changes to Post-9/11 GI Bill

The Department of Defense issued a substantive change today to department policy on the transfer by service members in the Uniformed Services of“Post-9/11 GI Bill” educational benefits to eligible family member recipients. 

Effective one-year from the date of this change, eligibility to transfer those benefits will be limited to service members with less than 16 years of total service (active duty service and/or selected reserves as applicable). Previously, there were no restrictions on when a service member could transfer educational benefits to their family members. The provision that requires a service member to have at least six years of service to apply to transfer benefits remains unchanged in the policy.

“After a thorough review of the policy, we saw a need to focus on retention in a time of increased growth of the Armed Forces," said Stephanie Miller, director of Accessions Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense. “This change continues to allow career service members that earned this benefit to share it with their family members while they continue to serve.” She added “this change is an important step to preserve the distinction of transferability as a retention incentive.”   

If a service member fails to fulfill their service obligation because of a “force shaping” event (such as officers involuntarily separated as a result of being twice passed over for promotion, or enlisted personnel involuntarily separated as a result of failure to meet minimum retention standards, such as high-year tenure), the change will allow these individuals to retain their eligibility to transfer education benefits even if they haven't served the entirety of their obligated service commitment through no fault of their own.

All approvals for transferability of Post-9/11 GI bill continue to require a four-year commitment in the Armed Forces and, more importantly, the member must be eligible to be retained for 4 years from the date of election. This policy affects service members in the Uniformed Services which includes the U.S. Coast Guard as well as the commissioned members of the U.S. Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

For more on the policy, visit esd.whs.mil/DD/.