SVO-iusb

Two weeks ago I received an email from my university concerning my G.I. Bill benefits, which briefly stated that in order for me to receive them for the fall 2016 semester I had to fill out some paperwork. This came as a bit of a surprise since I’d been using my benefits for the last three years without having to fill out any additional paperwork.

So of course I’ve been dragging my feet completing the form that was attached to the email, which I will get to in a moment, but what confused me most was the necessity of the additional paperwork. In a previous blog entry I talked about the hindrance of an opt-in program versus an opt-out program so I went in search of why the policy changed. I re-read the email, which was helpful and businesslike in a way that I appreciated but did not provide the answer I was searching for. I scrubbed the Office of Veteran Student services website for the university, which I’ll cover in a future blog post, but even under the helpful links and news section there was no explanation to this drastic change.

I know to some it may seem a minor, insignificant change and as I review the form, which I wasn’t able to find on the website but only have it because of the original email, it could easily be completed in a few minutes. Instead of going into depth with the form I’ll just attach it to the blog and anyone interested can review it, like most paperwork it’s bland and to the point, though it does make me question what the previous university procedure had been. Some of the questions had never been asked of me before so either they now had just become important, or is the form also being used to gather demographics of the veteran students at the university? In previous years my G.I. Benefits were easily applied for by the university, with only a single problem over the years which was quickly resolved, and there was little I personally had to do to apply. I simply registered for classes, background things happened at the university and the VA paid for most of my tuition, after which I paid for the remaining.

I even took a semester off from school after I completed my undergraduate and the following semester went smoothly, which how most opt-out policies run. But now, with this opt-in policy, I wonder how many problems there are going to be and in the end it is only going to frustrate university administrators and create more burdens for student veterans. I guess we’ll see as I turn in the paperwork later this week.

Link to form: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7iKH6PnsV75dzRHXzQyYmotbHdXVjRCUWZZVkZWSzJVcm8w

 

-Public Intel