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Serving Those Who Have Served Their Country

By James Wright

In April, the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan passed the 4,500 mark while the conflict entered its sixth year. Today, hundreds of thousands of young men and women are serving their country, but unlike the World War II generation, these young people are not eligible for the same level of educational benefits made possible by the GI Bill of 1944. That piece of legislation, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt, provided fully for postsecondary education and the results were revolutionary. The GI Bill democratized ambition and access to American higher education by expanding to an altogether different population the idea of attending college and providing the means for them to do exactly that.

The GI Bill, along with the civil rights movement and the women's movement, transformed American higher education by improving access. But there is still much work to be done to ensure that our institutions are fully accessible. Currently, two-thirds of high school students go on to college, but the percentage of low-income students who pursue higher education is far lower. Many military veterans have low incomes and a new GI Bill that provides adequate support to veterans would enable more low-income students to attend college while also paying a national debt to these young people and investing in the future of this republic—just as the original GI Bill did in the 1940s. During World War II, the higher education community was at best indifferent to the GI Bill. This time around, we need to stand together in affirming how important educational benefits are to the men and women serving in the military. . . .

Excerpted from the spring 2008 issue of The Presidency. To subscribe to the magazine, please call (301) 632-6757, or order online through ACE's bookstore. For more on this topic, see also "Back to the Future: Veterans Go to College" in the spring 2008 issue of CenterPoint, ACE's quarterly e-magazine for lifelong learning professionals.