If My Husband Won’t Use His New GI Bill Benefits, Can I Use Them?
Q: My husband was in the Marines for four years then went into the Army in 2007. Deployed to Iraq and returned October 2009. He is in for seven more years. He has never used his Benefits GI Bill. Can I use them, I already have a Masters but would like to go back to obtain something more useful to find a job. Please let me know. Thank you very much.
A: You can use his Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to get another degree, provided he agrees to transfer them to you. It sounds like he has met the six years of Armed Forces Title 10 duty time and he has at least four years left on his current enlistment, which is the second service requirement.
Now all he has to do is go to the Transfer of Benefits website and enter into your record how many months he would like to transfer to you. Because he has never used his GI Bill, he will have 36 months of benefits at his disposal. He will want to be patient though as it can take up to 8 to 10 weeks to get it approved.
Once the request is approved, then you can submit VA Form 22-1990e from the eBenefits website to get your Certificate of Eligibility that you will need when enrolling in a GI Bill school.
Because you did not use the GI Bill to get your Master’s degree, there isn’t a problem using GI Bill transferred benefits for another degree.