Higher Education and Veterans’ Economic Opportunity and Mobility

The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, or Post-9/11 GI Bill, enacted in 2008, continued a tradition of providing access to college, training, and other programs for former military personnel. The act made the most generous and comprehensive federal investment in veteran higher education in U.S. history. Then, in August 2017, the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act—the Forever GI Bill—became law and expanded those benefits.

Veteran’s Day provides an opportunity to honor the nation’s veterans and reflect on the role that programs and policies, such as those promoting postsecondary education, play in supporting former members of the military and their families after they complete their service. A robust body of literature documents the relationship between education and moving up the economic ladder: Previous Pew research has shown that earning a college degree triples the chances that individuals raised in the bottom 20 percent of income will make it to the top 20 percent. Similarly, research by the Student Veterans of America indicates that “today’s student veterans, using the Post-9/11 GI Bill, perform better than their peers.”

Please join us on Nov. 13 as experts discuss the past, present, and future of the GI Bill; access to education benefits for former service members; and veterans’ student debt. The panelists will also examine the role of postsecondary education in the short-term opportunity and long-term economic mobility of veterans and their families.

Moderator:

Sarah Sattelmeyer, The Pew Charitable Trusts

Panelists:   

Kelsey Baron, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives

Barrett Bogue, Student Veterans of America

Tanya Ang, Veterans Education Success

Zachary Huitink, Institute for Veterans and Military Families, Syracuse University

Thomas Meyer, The Philanthropy Roundtable

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