What's Behind the Battle Over the New GI Bill?

by Barbara Barrett

Despite all the medals he won in the military, Marc Edgerly, 26, will deal with $50,000 in loans once he leaves college. (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin / AP)

    Washington - The GI Bill touted by recruiting posters and the Pentagon often falls short for more than a million troops returning from war, paying just over half the national average cost of a public college education.

    The program, which provides college benefits for veterans, doesn't pay for books and housing, causing many students to work.

    "They use it to live off of," said Henry Johnson, a financial aid officer who works with veterans at Durham Technical Community College, where nearly 200 veterans attend school. "They need the money for their food, for their rent, for their transportation."

    The Senate is poised to vote as soon as today on a new GI Bill tucked inside a massive funding measure. It could affect 1.4 million men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

    The Bush administration opposes the legislation. Department of Defense officials said this spring that the richer benefits could tempt soldiers to leave the military. And President Bush has threatened to veto the legislation if it includes anything beyond his funding request.

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