Today, Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) introduced legislation to expand higher education access for veterans to include those who are enrolled part-time.
Currently, work-study programs are available through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for student veterans enrolled in secondary education programs full-time, including vocational or professional programs. But many veterans have difficulty enrolling full-time while balancing their work, family, and oftentimes a VA-rated disability. Nearly half of all student veterans are married with at least one child in their care.
Rep. Axne’s Student Veteran Work Study Modernization Act would allow part-time student veterans to access the VA Work Study programs, ensuring they can complete their certification or degree without taking on unmanageable amounts of student debt and still care for themselves and their family.
“Student veterans are not your typical student – they might have a family and children, they might have a mortgage, they may have physical or mental health needs. But despite all these demands on them, we aren’t giving our veterans the flexibility they need,” said Rep. Axne. “Our veterans earned their benefits during their service. We don’t need to put limits on their education; instead we need to focus on removing barriers and making sure that our veterans get the education that works best for them. I’m proud to introduce a bill that expands these benefits they’ve earned and allows our veterans to attend school part-time.”
The Student Veteran Work Study Modernization Act is endorsed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Military Veterans Advocacy, Disabled Veterans of American (DAV), Paralyzed Veterans of American (PVA), Veterans Education Success, the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), and the Council for Opportunity in Education.
“Many veterans are older than the traditional college student, have more responsibilities outside of the classroom, and have service-connected disabilities that add challenges to working while attending school,” said DAV National Service Director Jim Marszalek. “Expanding the eligibility of VA’s work study program to include those who are attending school part-time would be a great benefit to our members and to other veterans, and we thank Representative Axne for taking action to address this gap.”
“The Association of Community College Trustees is pleased to support Rep. Axne’s bill to extend access to the Department of Veteran Affairs’ Work Study Program (VAWS) to part-time students,” said ACCT President and CEO Jee Hang Lee. “We know that a great share of veteran students and community college students face financial barriers that preclude them from staying enrolled and completing a college degree and the VAWS programs helps lower those barriers for our veterans. Part-time students deserve work-study opportunities as much as their full-time counterparts do, and oftentimes these students have a greater need. ACCT applauds Rep. Axne for proposing this much needed and overdue expansion of support for veterans who pursue higher education after their military service.”
“Expanding student veterans’ access to Work-Study is greater than any ‘thank you’ that could be said, and we’re grateful to Congresswoman Axne for advocating for this much-needed change,” said Will Hubbard, Vice President of Veterans & Military Policy at Veterans Education Success.
The bill was introduced today with Reps. Andre Carson (IN-07), David Cicilline (RI-01), Madeline Dean (PA-04), Jahana Hayes (CT-05), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Shelia Jackson Lee (TX-18), Kathy Manning (NC-06), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Marie Newman (IL-03), Kurt Schrader (OR-05), Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-04) Mike Thompson (CA-05), and Susan Wild (PA-07).
Additional Background:
Rep. Axne has sponsored measures to expand resources for veterans, and continued to work to expand skills training programs for all Iowans.
In September 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives advanced the Transition for Success Act, bipartisan legislation written by Axne to provide skills training and employment assistance to members of the National Guard and Reserve.
In June, Rep. Axne’s bill to create more mental health resources for veterans living in rural areas became law.
In addition, the House of Representatives approved a measure authored by Rep. Axne to boost funding for career skills training programs at community colleges.
The Axne amendment, which increases funding for these programs at community colleges to $105 million for the upcoming fiscal year, was added to the House appropriations bill that increases federal funding for job skills training programs at the U.S. Department of Labor by more than 10%.
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