College Scholarships Available for U.S. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

NEW YORK, April 7, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- College scholarship money is now available for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan war theaters to offset the severe limitations of the current GI Bill. The Fund for Veterans' Education (FVE) is providing this need-based financial assistance to close the gap between GI Bill benefits and actual higher education costs to veterans from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces who served in Afghanistan or Iraq since September 11, 2001 and who are currently enrolled or will be enrolling in a public or private college or university or a vocational-technical school.

The FVE was founded by legendary financier Jerome Kohlberg, a World War II veteran who benefited from the original GI Bill of 1944, which at the time, fully paid for a U.S. veteran's higher educational pursuits. This paved the way for his very successful career; he became a pioneer in the investments industry as the senior founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts & Co.

Launched in 2007, the FVE has already awarded scholarships to 96 veterans -- at least one from every state, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories -- for the '07-'08 terms. The goal is to award 1,000 scholarships over the next three years.

"The current GI Bill is depriving far too many of our troops returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts of the same educational opportunities that I and some eight million other Americans so greatly benefited from," said Mr. Kohlberg, who has committed $8 million to the FVE. "Our program should serve as a model for what the government must do for this new generation of veterans."

The FVE is now accepting applications for veterans who are interested in receiving scholarship funding for the fall 2008 and spring 2009 terms. The deadline to submit an application is June 15th and the names of the new recipients will be announced in mid-August.

Under the current GI Bill, the maximum educational benefit available to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan is just $1,101 a month, or $39,636 over four years. On average, returning veterans receive only slightly over $6,000 a year. Those veterans who served combat tours with the National Guard or Reserves are eligible for even less -- typically just $440 a month. There is an initial non-refundable buy-in cost to the troops of $1,200 to be eligible for the GI Bill. If the benefits are not used, this "combat tax" is lost to the veterans, resulting in some $230 million going into the government coffers, rather than back to the veterans. In addition, benefits used under the GI Bill count against eligibility for federal student aid, with such support reduced if veterans receive any GI Bill funds. And there is a 10-year limit on assistance from current education benefits.

The FVE is being administered by Scholarship America, the largest non-profit private sector scholarship and educational support organization. Scholarship America is administering the new Fund for Veterans' Education.

Veterans who are interested in applying for FVE scholarships should visit www.VeteransEducationFund.org or www.scholarshipamerica.org.