Veterans benefits should be welcomed
twblackwell Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 02:18:15 PM GMT 
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The Ministry of Defence has announced that veterans are to be offered free university education after their service is over on a ‘no strings attached basis’. The proposals offer what looks like a UK-version of the popular ‘G.I. Bill’ programme in America.
The measures set out in The Nation's Commitment: Cross-Government Support to our Armed Forces, their Families and Veterans are a good step forward in linking opportunity with public service.
The history of the G.I. Bill, at first controversial, is set out here – and remains in U.S. social memory one of the great pieces of enabling legislation of the war / post-war period for what Americans call the 'American middle class.'
The G.I. Bill helped my New Jersey-born father, the son of an army sergeant, in his life. 18 months of military service in 1946 entitled my father to free university education, where his aptitude for history was first recognised.
From there he accessed scholarships which took him to Ivy League universities, a doctorate in Russian history and a life as an academic and a teacher.
He was just one example of a popular and long-running programme which successfully links public service with greater opportunity for individual advancement for the working- and middle- class in the services.
Time magazine writes of the Bill this year as “among the most significant pieces of legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress.”
“Its education benefits threw open the doors of élite academies to the masses: in 1947, veterans made up almost half the nation's college students...it effectively created the American middle class.”
Interestingly the Republicans seem to want to water it down these days.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1810309,00.html
While university education is largely taken care of by the state here in the UK already, this move to help troops is a welcome one. Together with other schemes to many young service-men and women, (by having in service training / recognition of qualifications), it can make a difference. The government also proposes to help with housing opportunities.
The recommendations are set out in today's report:
Free further or higher education for Service leavers. For Service leavers with more than six years' service, the Government will fund in full the tuition fees for either a first Level 3 (broadly A level or vocational equivalent) or a first Foundation or full degree;
The history of the G.I. Bill, at first controversial, is set out here – and remains in U.S. social memory one of the great pieces of enabling legislation of the war / post-war period for what Americans call the 'American middle class.'
The G.I. Bill helped my New Jersey-born father, the son of an army sergeant, in his life. 18 months of military service in 1946 entitled my father to free university education, where his aptitude for history was first recognised.
From there he accessed scholarships which took him to Ivy League universities, a doctorate in Russian history and a life as an academic and a teacher.
He was just one example of a popular and long-running programme which successfully links public service with greater opportunity for individual advancement for the working- and middle- class in the services.
Time magazine writes of the Bill this year as “among the most significant pieces of legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress.”
“Its education benefits threw open the doors of élite academies to the masses: in 1947, veterans made up almost half the nation's college students...it effectively created the American middle class.”
Interestingly the Republicans seem to want to water it down these days.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1810309,00.html
While university education is largely taken care of by the state here in the UK already, this move to help troops is a welcome one. Together with other schemes to many young service-men and women, (by having in service training / recognition of qualifications), it can make a difference. The government also proposes to help with housing opportunities.
The recommendations are set out in today's report:
Free further or higher education for Service leavers. For Service leavers with more than six years' service, the Government will fund in full the tuition fees for either a first Level 3 (broadly A level or vocational equivalent) or a first Foundation or full degree;
Improved access to educational opportunities for Service children. Including uninterrupted Special Educational Needs support and a review of admissions policy which will ensure that Service children are not disadvantaged in the allocation of school places;
Expansion of options for finding homes. Steps to make it easier for Service leavers to find a home, either through the purchase of their own properties or through improved access to social housing;
As local councillor representing an inner-city ward which is also home to a large barracks, I have often wondered why programmes like this weren't already in operation in the UK.
The government should surely look at further measures which promote public service and individual advancement.
http://regentsparklabour.blogspot.com
As local councillor representing an inner-city ward which is also home to a large barracks, I have often wondered why programmes like this weren't already in operation in the UK.
The government should surely look at further measures which promote public service and individual advancement.
http://regentsparklabour.blogspot.com
Veterans benefits should be welcomed | 2 comments (2 topical)
Veterans benefits should be welcomed | 2 comments (2 topical)
