The Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (also known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill) represents a significant federal investment: Between 2009 and 2019, nearly $100 billion was budgeted for the program, which provides postsecondary education benefits to veterans and their families. Over that 10-year period, there were 2.7 million enlisted veterans eligible to use PGIB benefits. Yet, despite the program’s size and implications for broader discussions of college access and tuition-free college, there has been no definitive assessment of its outcomes.
Veterans Education Success was proud to conceptualize, initiate, and support this first-ever research assessment of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, studying every one of the 2.7 million enlisted eligible veterans, in order to assess their usage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, their graduation rates, and their labor market outcomes. Notably, thanks to unprecedented interagency data-sharing, the findings simultaneously account for factors such as veterans’ military rank, military occupation, service in hostile war zones, and academic preparation at enlistment, as well as institution-level data about colleges.
The U.S. Census Bureau hosted the project, working closely with researchers from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and a top-notch research team from the American Institutes for Research, who were embedded at the Census Bureau as Special-Sworn-Status employees of the Census Bureau. This interagency team successfully convinced other federal agencies to share their data and then merged the datasets, ran the analyses, and wrote the reports below.
Thanks to unprecedented interagency data-sharing, the research team was able to study every eligible enlisted veteran in federal databases, including their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit use (using data from VA), payments to schools (using data from VA’s Veterans Benefits Administration), information about schools (from the U.S. Department of Education), degree completion (using data from the National Student Clearinghouse), labor force participation (using data from the Census Bureau), and earnings (using data from the Internal Revenue Service). One of the most important aspects of the project was the “controls” on the findings: The research team was able to draw clear conclusions about student outcomes by accounting for (or holding constant) sociodemographic factors, using data from VA and other agencies, as well as military-specific factors from the U.S. Department of Defense, including military rank, military occupation, service in hostile war zones, and – the most important “control” in the study – academic preparation at enlistment.
The reports below are the result of this eight-year interagency data-sharing effort.
Which Veterans Are Forgoing Their Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits?
The Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (also known as thePost-9/11 GI Bill, or PGIB) substantially increased the education benefit available to military service members who served after September 10, 2001. In this report, we examine the demographic and military characteristics of veterans who have not yet personally used or transferred their PGIB benefits, referred to as “Nonusers” for clarity. This report is part of a series of reports, produced by an interagency research team, that analyze PGIB and its outcomes for veterans.1
A Deeper Look at Post-9/11 GI Bill Outcomes for American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic Veterans
The Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (also known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill, or PGIB) substantially increased the education benefit available to military service members who served after September 10, 2001. This report takes a deeper look at outcomes for American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic enlisted veterans who were eligible for PGIB (henceforth referred to as “veterans” for brevity). 1 More specifically, it looks at these groups’ use of PGIB, degree attainment, and subsequent earnings.
Post-9/11 GI Bill Access and Uptake: Insights and Recommendations from Veterans
The Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (also known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill) (Public Law 110-252) substantially increased the education benefits available to military service members who served after September 10, 2001, but little is known about the outcomes of the Act. An interagency research team merged previously siloed data from multiple government agencies to produce a series of reports analyzing the Post-9/11 GI Bill and its outcomes for veterans. One of these reports, Which Veterans Are Forgoing Their Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits?, leverages these data to present the demographic and military characteristics of veterans who have not yet personally used or transferred their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.1 This companion brief, based on interviews with veterans who have not yet used or transferred their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, highlights their voices and perspectives on why they have foregone using benefits thus far, and it suggests ways the field [...]
Post-9/11 GI Bill-Eligible Enlisted Veterans’ Enrollment and Outcomes at Public Flagship Institutions, With a Focus on The Great Lakes Region
Never before has there been an assessment of the outcomes associated with the critical federal investment in the Post-9/11 GI Bill (PGIB) for American veterans. Thanks to an historic interagency effort to merge previously siloed federal data, we were able to examine how recent military service members from all branches are using their PGIB benefits, along with their outcomes and earnings. This analysis was possible due to unprecedented access to federal data and interagency cooperation. The need for federal agencies to share data about veterans and the PGIB was singled out over the past decade by the bipartisan Congressional Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and by a White House executive order. 1
Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits How Do Veterans’ Outcomes Differ Based on the Type of Education They Received? And How Are Veterans Who Have Not Used Their Education Benefits Faring?
This report examines two questions important to policymakers: How do the outcomes of veterans who used the Post9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (also known as the Post9/11 GI Bill, or PGIB) vary by the type of education they obtained? And how are PGIB-eligible veterans who have not used PGIB faring? This is an interagency research team’s second in a series of reports on the Post-9/11 GI Bill and its outcomes for veterans.1
A First Look at Post-9/11 GI Bill-Eligible Enlisted Veterans’ Outcomes
This first look at the Post-9/11 GI Bill and its outcomes for veterans is possible thanks to unprecedented interagency cooperation, combining and analyzing, for the first time ever, previously siloed federal data. There has never before been any definitive assessment of the outcomes associated with this critical federal investment across military branches. To address this gap in America's understanding of Post-9/11 GI Bill (PGIB) outcomes, the U.S. Census Bureau agreed to host, as one of its first evidence building pilot projects, an interagency data-sharing effort to combine previously siloed data from multiple agencies to enable the first-ever look at combined federal administrative data regarding veterans’ postsecondary outcomes across all branches of the U.S. Military. This project represents an historic interagency effort to examine the PGIB program and how America’s most recent generation of military servicemembers is faring as they return to civilian life. Support from Arnold Ventures enabled a team of [...]