Chief Tango sends us a link to the NBC News article that reports that Department of Veterans’ Affairs not only can’t pay benefits to veteran/students in college, they can’t pay their work/study help in a timely manner;
Ashley Metcalf, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan — and the student veteran who organized the survey of other VA “work-study” employees at 18 campuses — said he’s been living on credit cards since June and was forced to obtain an emergency loan because the VA has failed to compensate him for about 100 hours he’s logged in the VA program.
“How can this happen? If I was working for McDonald’s and they said they’re not going to pay me for 10 weeks, I’d have a lawsuit,” said Metcalf, an Air Force veteran now enrolled at t
I worked in the campus VA office at Oswego while I was in college and the work we did there was absolutely essential to the operations there. It wasn’t a Jobs Corps program where we showed up for a few minutes each day and sat around drinking coffee. We did the drudgery of the volumes of paperwork and recordkeeping for veterans enrolled in the school. And we got paid minimum wage.
The program was a great help to veterans who were at the school, but jeebus, they need to be paid for their work, Eric. I’ll bet when they need money for another training conference, they’ll find it in a timely manner. They should be paying their part time employees in the same manner.
Part of the problem is the payroll system. The whole paperwork chain with that program is messed up. Contracts are lost, pay vouchers have to be submitted multiple times and the support people are over worked and slow to respond.
Does this include GI Bill payments? I don’t even know if there was a “work/study” program when I went back to school (early ’80s), I worked as a bar tender. My GI Bill checks were never late. My kids loved it because that meant Peter Piper Pizza!?
The Work Study Program provides part time employment for students receiving VA educational benefits. They can work 20-25 hours per woeek in an approved location providing services to veterans. It may be on or off campus working for financial aid, employment offices, va offices or other governmental entity providing services to veterans.
When I was in school a couple of years ago, I was pretty much living off of my GI Bill money. At the beginning of one school year, I wasn’t paid until December. Late October, I had to get an emergency loan from the VA that they said would be charged from my GI Bill.
I got the check in the mail the day before my GI Bill began again. By that time, my landlord was filing for eviction and I had no electricity or phone/net/cable at my house. I was able to take care of everything.
No, they are telling me that they over paid me by the amount of the emergency loan (even though they already subtracted it from my GI Bill money… and that was about four years ago…
Damn these horror stories make me cringe. (Knock on wood) I have had no issues either with my monthly payments or my pat when I was a work/study
Another issue is simply the ineptitude of the pension claims.I retired with 20% diability in 2000, due to hypertension. I had a massive stroke ( Was paralyzed on my left side) In April of 2011 because they never got it under control. I spent 7 weeks in ICU and acute rehab. Filed my claim in May 2011, Pension Exam in August 2011. Hospital records release form signed in May 2011, Have gotten 3 letters saying they are determining status. 18 months later …