May 9, 2008
Veteran Education: To Big A Price To Pay?
Harry Smith: Congress's "Costly" New GI Bill Would Be A Real Thank You To Our Military
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Play CBS Video Video Uncle Sam: Deadbeat Dad? Military recruiting ads virtually promise a college education. But the GI bill, which covered all costs for World War II veterans, is leaving today's soldiers high and dry. Thalia Assuras reports.
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We no doubt ask too much from our military already. A real thank you would be the guarantee of a college education and the prospect of fully participating in the American Dream, says Harry Smith. (CBS/iStockphoto)
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Photo Essay Week In Iraq Photos A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
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Interactive Iraq: 5 Years At War Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, the war wears on.
Congress is struggling with a new veterans bill that would include full tuition payments for college.
Republicans, including the president, have said it’s too expensive, and a number of conservative Democrats have added their voices to the opposed chorus.
The estimate two year cost for the program is around $700 million - that’s $11 billion over ten years.
Does that sound like a lot of money to you?
People who volunteer to serve and have little choice but to go to Iraq and Afghanistan, sometimes over and over again, should receive the same respect their grandfathers got. World War II changed America for all kinds of reasons, but chief among them was a GI bill that put college within the reach of tens of thousands of young men who might never have considered it otherwise.
We no doubt ask too much from our military already. A real thank you would be the guarantee of a college education and the prospect of fully participating in the American Dream.
By Harry Smith
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
