Gi Bill not the same for skilled grades as for traditional degrees.
A sharp discrepancy exists between veterans using GI Bill benefits for traditional college degrees and those using their benefits to become certified in high-demand skilled trades.
It comes down to numbers, according to union representatives at a Task Force Movement roundtable discussion Tuesday during The American Legion’s 2026 Washington Conference in Washington, D.C. It also comes down to a lack of understanding that the GI Bill can even be used for on-the-job-training apprenticeships and how that all works. Many veterans don’t even know their GI Bill benefits can be used for apprenticeships, the representatives explained.
“In my take, it’s discriminatory,” said Ben Valinsky, national director for programs and education for the International Union of Elevator Constructors Veterans Assistance Program, and a certifying GI Bill benefits official through the union. “They are taking the numbers that we are required to give them and using that to cut the GI Bill benefits for apprentices.”
Veterans who use the GI Bill for on-the-job training through registered unions receive apprentice pay as their monthly housing stipend declines from a full allowance in the first six months to 20% by the end. A student receiving a GI Bill stipend while pursuing a traditional campus degree receives a full housing allowance for 36 months, regardless of any pay elsewhere. The Removing Arbitrary Barriers to Apprenticeship Act of 2026 that would increase the stipend but not remove the incrementally declining rate over the time of an apprenticeship “is a step in the right direction,” Valinsky and The American Legion agree.
The discrepancy prevents many veterans from completing their apprenticeships, representatives said at the meeting. Apprenticeships also stage veterans for well-paying jobs in labor-hungry industries upon completion.
Valinsky offered an example from the private college he attended where GI Bill-using student veterans pursuing traditional degrees could expect about $326,000 in assistance over four years against about $57,000 over the same time for those who pursue careers through qualified apprenticeships in skilled trades. “It’s a tough sell to get people to go into these trades, just from a numbers standpoint.”
“More often than not, people going into trades experience better outcomes,” said Jacob Corsi, American Legion legislative associate. “It’s also more efficient for taxpayers.”
And yet, according to research by American Legion policy analysts in Washington, veterans who use their GI Bill benefits for apprenticeships to attain certifications in skilled trades can expect about half the support of those who pursue traditional degrees. Among The American Legion’s key points:
· Veterans in registered apprenticeship programs have their Monthly Housing Allowance reduced by 20% every six months.
· Registered apprenticeships have less consistency in the income they receive from VA.
· The difference in value creates an artificial incentive to seek a college degree over an apprenticeship.
“Our goals are to identify actionable solutions and create pathways to solving the problems that veterans are facing … in the hopes of ensuring that every generation of veterans has substantially the same or better benefits than the previous generation and to ensure that all veterans receive the benefits to which they are entitled,” American Legion Veterans Employment & Education Commission Chairman Paul Espinoza told attendees of the Task Force Movement meeting.
Union representatives at the Task Force Movement meeting also spoke in support of the GI Bill Parity Act, which would seek to even the GI Bill benefits playing field for veterans who served in the National Guard and Reserve components, whose activations under state orders do not count equally to federal orders in the computation of GI Bill eligibility.
Espinoza said at the meeting that the Legion has again made the GI Bill Parity Act a legislative priority for the second session of the 119th Congress because “a veteran is a veteran, if they wear the uniform, no matter if they are called out in their state for issues like COVID or catastrophes like earthquakes or floods, or whatever it may be. When they put that uniform on, they are a veteran. They are protecting our country no matter what means.”
As members of The American Legion were on Capitol Hill Tuesday in advance of National Commander Dan K. Wiley’s testimony before a joint session of the House and Senate Committees on Veterans’ Affairs March 4, a bill to address the discrepancy between those who use GI Bill benefits for apprenticeships and those who use them for traditional degrees was expected to be introduced this week.
Task Force Movement was established by the White House in April 2022 to fast-track veterans into areas of the U.S. economy in critical need of skilled labor. Those areas have included trucking, cybersecurity, healthcare, maritime service and production, aviation and other skilled trades. The American Legion has a seat on the Task Force Movement Steering Committee.
- Careers