What to know about transferring your GI Bill to a dependent

The GI Bill is one of the best benefits you can walk away from the military with. Unfortunately, figuring out what to actually do with it isn’t always as straightforward as it sounds. Use it yourself? Save it for later? Or, transfer it to your kids? And if you decide on the latter: Is it really as simple as it sounds?

To talk through those questions and kick off my veteran’s education interview series, I tracked down my younger brother, Joshua Burgess, an active duty senior chief petty officer in the Navy, closing in on 20 years of service — five in the Marines and another 14 in the Navy.

While in the military, he used Tuition Assistance, a separate education program, to get a bachelor’s degree in environmental management through the University of Maryland. With retirement getting close and a family to consider, he decided to transfer his GI Bill benefits to his two daughters, who will each get 18 months of his education benefits. When we spoke, Josh walked through the hiccups he ran into as he started the process, the tips and tricks he picked up along the way, and the things he’d do differently if he were starting it all over again today. 

This article has been lightly edited for clarity and style.

When you started the transfer process, were there any surprises?

Honestly, the process feels like it’s designed to be screwed up. I’m sure it’s just a bureaucratic necessity, but this is a very consistent sentiment from other members of the military who I’ve spoken with who also transferred their benefits. 

My only real bone to pick with the process is the timing aspect of when you are able to transfer. You must have served more than six years and have four years of service remaining. Typically, enlistments are four years, and let’s say I’m at six years of service and decide I want to do this; I can’t just draft a two-year reenlistment extension — maybe possible depending on the situation, but not very likely — I would have to wait until I’m at eight years and then reenlist out to 12. If the military gets you for 12, they’re probably going to get you for 20. 

The last piece of this that you have to read between the lines to see is the part of the instruction that says you must have four years of service remaining. 

From someone who has done this, it is a nail-biting experience, and you rack your brain going between instructions and [the] website trying to make absolutely sure it was done correctly. 

There is still a fear that when I retire and initiate this process for my girls, that some tiny piece of this was done wrong or missing something that I wasn’t aware of they will deny the benefits. And once you’re out, it’s too late. 

Now that you’ve gone through that, what’s one thing you know now that you wish you’d realized at the start? 

Do not use your GI Bill while you are in. Because of the new limitations on Tuition Assistance — how many classes you can take per quarter — some people dip into the GI Bill to try and knock out their degree faster than just utilizing TA. The problem with that is that you don’t receive the housing allowance that’s included with the GI Bill while they are active. 

They are throwing away thousands of dollars of benefits every time they dip into the bill while active. 

Do you have any advice for other veterans or active duty personnel looking to either use or transfer their benefits? 

The number one thing I tell people who are active is [to] leave their GI Bill alone; if you are going to transfer it, get into the weeds on the instruction and plan to get the timing right. You must do it in conjunction with a reenlistment ceremony, not as an afterthought once your reenlistment has been approved.

If you could go back and do it again, is there anything you’d do differently regarding your Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits?

Not really. I think I was able to get a lot out of tuition assistance and save some money in the future by saving the GI Bill for my girls.

This article is the second in an ongoing education column under the Field Guide vertical on Task & Purpose. If you’d like to share your experiences for a future column, email Task & Purpose’s editor-in-chief, James Clark, at James@taskandpurpose.com, with the subject line Field Guide: Education interview.