In a recent hearing, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee heard from agency officials and veterans’ advocates regarding education, training, and housing benefits for improving “success after service.” Ensuring veterans have access to the benefits they have earned and need to transition to post-service life is the key mission for the congressional committee and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). 

Members of the committee largely focused on the adequacy of housing assistance and on employment/training opportunities in areas such as cybersecurity.  Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT) inquired about the VA’s outreach effort with respect to the 85-15 “reset” Ricardo DaSilva, Program Integration Officer in the VA’s Education Service, outlined the Department’s outreach through monthly Office Hours, the development of FAQs, and conferences.

Justin Monk, representing Student Veterans of America, urged the committee to approve a technical corrections bill to address issues that have arisen with regard to the Training in High-demand Roles to Improve Veteran Employment (THRIVE) Act and the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020. The House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees have been working to finalize legislation that would:

• Clarify that the prohibition against “incentive compensation” language in the GI Bill does not apply to the recruitment of foreign students and specify that the VA will use the same interpretation of “incentive compensation” regulations as the Department of Education does when considering compliance by institutions; 
• Modify consumer information requirements with an aim toward reducing the reporting burden on institutions; 
• Permit students in their final term of a program to take non-required courses if needed to carry a greater-than-half-time load (and thereby retaining their eligibility for a housing allowance); and
• Extend several special provisions enacted in response to COVID-19.

NAICU has joined several other higher education associations in a letter urging prompt consideration of this package of technical amendments.