95th Congress > Senate > Vote 570
Description: TO PASS H.R. 8701, AFTER STRIKING ALL AFTER THE ENACTING CLAUSE AND INSERTING IN LIEU THEREOF THE TEXT OF S. 457.
Bill summary: (House agreed to Senate amendment with an amendment)
GI Bill Improvement Act - =Title I: GI Bill Improvement Act= - Increases by 6.6 percent the amount of monthly veterans assistance provided for: (1) vocational rehabilitation; (2) education and flight training; (3) survivors' and dependents' education; and (4) correspondence and apprenticeship training courses. Increases by such percentage, the amount of educational assistance benefits used to determine the maximum amount of education loans
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for veterans. Increases the amount of work study allowances for veteran students.
=Title II: Accelerated Payment and Delimiting Period Extension= - Permits veterans enrolled as full-time-students with tuition and fees of greater than $700 for any school-term to accelerate his or her GI bill benefits in the lesser of the following amounts: (1) the educational assistance allowance to which the veteran is entitled; (2) 33.3 percent of the amount by which tuition and fees exceed $700; (3) 33.3 percent of the amount by which the amount of an outstanding obligation of the veteran under a veterans loan exceeds $700; or (4) the amount which the State pays to the Administrator to match the accelerated payment made by the Administrator.
Provides that eligible veterans entitled to educational loans who are eligible for accelerated payment of benefits are entitled to an accelerated benefit loan. Excludes the normal loan requirement that a veteran, before seeking a veterans education loan, seek and be refused a loan under the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Requires veterans to assign to the benefit of the Veterans' Administration the amount of the accelerated payment for which loans' have been made. Provides that veterans who fail to satisfactorily complete the educational program they have been pursuing shall not be eligible for the receipt of any accelerated payment.
Provides that an eligible veteran who is prevented from initiating or completing his chosen program of education within the normal ten year delimiting period because of a physical or mental disability, not the result of his willful misconduct, shall be entitled to an appropriate extension of such period. Extends the delimiting period for two years for those veterans who were full-time students at the time their benefits expired, and who will continue in a full-time education program.
=Title III: Other Education and Training Amendments= - Requires the Administrator to include, immediately following each substantive provision in the promulgation of any rule or guideline a citation to the particular section or sections of statutory law upon which the provision is based.
Requires that the Administrator make available to any eligible veteran, upon such veteran's request, comprehensive educational and vocational counseling services. Requires that efforts be made to acquaint all eligible veterans with the availability of such counseling.
Increases, by five percent, the amount of the administrative expense allowance paid to States to ascertain the qualifications of educational institutions to furnish courses to veterans and to supervise such institutions in so furnishing.
Increases the amount of reporting fees paid to educational institutions to reimburse such institutions for reports or certificates required to be submitted to the Administrator.
Provides for a study of the operation of educational assistance programs to determine (1) the extent to which veterans have utilized their entitlements; and (2) the extent to which they have adjusted to civilian life.
Requires the Administrator to prescribe regulations governing his authority to waive the requirement that no more than 85 percent of the students enrolled in a course receive veterans' assistance.
Exempts any institution with an enrollment of veterans in receipt of educational assistance benefits which comprises 35 percent or less of the total enrollment from the separate course-by-course computation of the 85-15 rule.
Mandates a study examining the need for educational institutions, in computing the 85-15 ratio, to include those students who are in receipt of grants from any Federal department or agency. Directs that a study be conducted on possible methods of improving the process by which postsecondary educational institutions are approved for veterans receiving assistance. Suspends, in certain instances, the satisfactory progress requirements while the latter study is being conducted.
Provides for the granting of relief, notwithstanding existing provisions of law, to certain educational institutions having in their possession valid GI bill educational benefit checks for which such institutions hold a valid power of attorney executed prior to December 1, 1976, authorizing such institution to negotiate such check.
Prohibits the Administrator from suspending or terminating educational assistance benefits unless he has clear evidence that the veteran in question is not or was not entitled to such assistance. Specifies procedural requirements which must be fulfilled before such assistance is terminated.
Mandates a comprehensive study of the vocational rehabilitation program.
Requires the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission to submit a report on the need for the continuation of the authority for the Veterans' Readjustment Appointments.
Authorizes the transfer of the Veterans Cost-of-Instruction program from the Office of Education to the Veterans Administration.
Directs the Administrator to conduct a study to determine the most effective specific methods to aid and encourage veteran homeowners to install in their homes solar heating and cooling and to apply residential energy conservation measures.
=Title IV: Women's Air Forces Service Pilots= - Provides that service as a member of the Women's Air Forces Service Pilots shall be considered active duty for the purposes of all laws administered by the Veterans' Administration, provided that the Secretary of Defense makes certain findings.
=Title V: Effective Dates= - Sets forth the dates upon which certain sections of this Act will become effective.
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Bill titles: An Act to amend title 38, United States Code to increase the rates of vocational rehabilitation, educational assistance and special training allowance paid to eligible veterans and persons, to make improvements in the educational assistance programs, and for other purposes.; A bill to amend title 38, United States Code to increase the rates of vocational rehabilitation, educational assistance and special training allowance paid to eligible veterans and persons, to make improvements in the educational assistance programs.
Original source documents: Digest of the Congressional Record vol. 123-169, p. 17351;
Links for more info on the vote: congress.gov
