Am I Eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill Transfer of Benefits Option?
Q: Mr Kness, I am a member of the USMC reserve and have been for 20 years. I was enrolled in the MGIB-SR in the 90’s and I used some of the benefit, but I don’t believe I used all of it. Since 2004 I have been deployed 3 times and am currently on the 3rd one now. When complete I will have 30 months of active duty time collective. I was planning on retiring after this deployment but if I am eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill I would like to transfer it to my 2 children. On my initial research it seems I am eligible and I am clear on if I do this I will need 3 more years on contract from the time of transfer. Now for the questions: 1. Will I be eligible and if so for what % of benefits? And if I can transfer theses benefits to my children say 50/50 of whatever benefits I am eligible for is this correct? 2. Will I need to transfer from MGIB-SR to Post 9/11 GI BILL? 3. How shall I proceed? I have read everything I can on this but answers to these question and what information I can gain will determine my path for the near future. Thank you for your time.
A: With 30 months of deployment time, that would put you at the 90% Post 9/11 GI Bill tier, meaning you would get 90% of your tuition paid by the VA directly to your school and you would receive 90% of both the housing allowance and book stipend.
Because you used some of your GI Bill benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill – Selected Reserves (MGIB-SR), you would not be able to get the full 36 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits – you would be able to get the remainder of your unused 36 months though.
Being you are already “retirement eligible” having served for at least 20 years, you should not have to extend for any additional time, however, you will have to make sure you transfer your remaining benefits to your children while you are still serving in the USMC Reserve. Once you are out and retired, it would be too late to make a transfer request.
To find out how many months of benefits you have left, you can call the VA at 888-442-4551 or submit VA Form 22-1990 from the eBenefits website.
If you want to make a transfer request, go to the milConnect website. Enter into each child’s record the number of months you wish to transfer. Once the request is approved, then each child would have to request his/her Certificate of Eligibility from the eBenefits website by submitting VA Form 22-1990e a couple of months before each is ready to start using his/her transferred benefits.
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