ByGeorge!
April/May 2009

GW Makes Major Commitment to Education of Veterans

Former Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), GW student Brian Hawthorne, Veteran Affairs’ Tammy Duckworth, M.A. ’92, and President Steven Knapp at the April 28 ceremony.

In 1944, Donald Balfour, B.A. ’45, became the first recipient of the GI Bill of Rights.Now 65 years later, GW is showing its support to veterans with a major commitment worth an estimated $2.5 million.

On April 28 on Kogan Plaza, President
Steven Knapp announced that qualified
veterans attending GW as undergraduate students will receive free tuition and those attending as graduate students will receive a significantly discounted tuition rate under the
Post-9/11 GI Bill’s Yellow Ribbon Program. The University is the first District institution of higher education and one of the first in the nation to offer a significant commitment under this program.

Under the plan, GW will pay 50 percent of remaining tuition and fee costs for undergraduate veterans after base GI Bill benefits are applied, with the Department of Veterans Affairs also contributing 50 percent, a GW investment of approximately
$18,000 per year per veteran. For graduate programs, GW will pay up to $3,800 per year per veteran and the VA will match this amount. The average admitted Yellow Ribbon qualified veteran will attend GW’s graduate programs at a 55 percent discount. All the University’s graduate programs will participate. GW’s commitment will provide for 360 veteran students for the 2009-10 academic year.

Dr. Knapp was joined for the announcement by Tammy Duckworth, M.A. ’92, assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; former Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), author of the Post-9/11 GI Bill; and GW junior Brian Hawthorne, a student veteran and District director of the Student Veterans of America.

“With this investment in future leaders of our nation, we are honoring our veterans and we are proud to stand with them and their families,” said Dr. Knapp. “We know that the next generation of veterans at GW will make our campus—and our
nation—stronger than ever."

Duckworth echoed those sentiments in her remarks. “There is no better investment than education,” she said. “The Post-9/11 Bill will provide new opportunities that are essential to our veterans, our workforce and our economy.”

A World War II and Korean War veteran and beneficiary of the original GI Bill, Warner said, “America made its greatest investment in the World War II generation and successive generations by passing this law.”

Hawthorne thanked GW for participating in the Yellow Ribbon Program and said the University’s commitment to veterans’ education is more than just money. “It sends a clear message to both the veteran community and academia that those who have
served in harm’s way to protect the ideals of our nation are welcome to better themselves here, in the historic halls of GW, as many in this crowd are doing
today,” said Hawthorne. “Today’s announcement ensures that those who choose to do so will have access to one of the finest educations this nation has to offer to help them in their lifetime of service.”

 


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