KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Veterans of Foreign
Wars is pleased to announce it is a recipient of a $100,000 Google Global Impact
Award to improve veterans’ higher education. Through
the support of Google, the VFW will join the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF),
Student Veterans of America (SVA) and the Posse Foundation in a cross-coalition
effort to conduct the first nationwide analysis of U.S. veterans’ higher
education and implement proven best practices that help veterans persist in
college.
As part of this initiative, VFW will expand its “1
Student Veteran” program, which is dedicated
to quickly resolving problems that student veterans often encounter when
accessing their GI Bill benefits.
1 Student Veteran expedites the
education claims and appeals process, allowing student veterans to simply email
1studentveteran@vfw.org and explain any problems they are experiencing. A VFW staff
member specializing in student veterans issues will acknowledge receipt of each
inquiry within 24 hours or one business day, and will then either intervene
with the VA on behalf of the student veteran or recommend other courses of
action—free of charge.
“The VFW is extremely excited to
have been named a recipient of a Google Global Impact Award and to team up with
other veterans service organizations that believe strongly in higher education
for veterans. The 1 Student Veteran program eases the often frustrating process
of receiving one’s VA education benefits and allows student veterans to focus
on their coursework. That’s a great first step toward success,” said VFW
National Commander Bill Thien.
The VFW is the only major veterans
service organization that has an outreach program dedicated specifically to
resolving VA-related educational problems. To learn more
about 1 Student Veteran, click here.
Last year, VFW’s nationwide network of 1,200
VA-accredited service officers helped more than 125,000 veterans to obtain $3.7
billion in earned compensation and pension from the VA at no cost to the
veterans. Through direct access to VA Regional Offices,
VFW Service Officers are able to resolve most GI Bill issues within a few days,
whereas filing a formal appeal with the VA may take months.