Arizona lawmaker says making vets travel to Phoenix is ‘totally unacceptable’
TUCSON – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords today called on the Department of Veterans Affairs to change its policy requiring Arizona veterans to travel to Phoenix to collect emergency educations benefits.
Giffords praised the VA for authorizing the emergency payments while the agency works to resolve problems that have delayed reimbursement for post-9/11 veterans. But she urged that a VA representative be dispatched to Southern Arizona to dispense benefits instead of having payments made only in Phoenix. The University of Arizona has made a similar request.
“Our veterans were there for us when we needed them most,” said Giffords, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. “We need to be there for them. It is totally unacceptable to delay payment of promised education benefits and require veterans to travel to Phoenix if they need emergency assistance.”
There are at least 240 veterans – and likely many more – enrolled at UA who are waiting for the benefits, which are being made available under the new GI Bill. Many other veterans in Sierra Vista and across Southeastern Arizona also have not received promised benefits.
Thousands of veterans across the nation attending college are being forced to take out loans, put off buying textbooks or dig into savings because of delays by the VA in issuing benefit checks. The new GI Bill took effect last month and provides money to cover the costs of attending college for veterans who served in the military after Sept. 11, 2001.
Nationwide, more than 277,000 veterans and their eligible relatives applied for assistance but the VA has fallen far behind in processing payments.
To ease the burden on students, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said the VA will make emergency payments, beginning this Friday, of up to $3,000 to students who have applied for educational benefits and who have not yet received their government payment. But the checks will be distributed only at VA regional benefits offices across the country. The only such center in Arizona is in Phoenix.
University of Arizona officials have asked the VA to send a representative to Tucson to process emergency payments for UA and Pima Community College students, but have not yet been told if that is possible.
Giffords today strongly supported that request and also asked that a VA representative be sent to Sierra Vista to process emergency payments to students attending UA-South and Cochise Community College.
Tommy Mendoza, a Marine who served in Afghanistan, is studying computer repair and network administration at Cochise Community College and has yet to receive VA benefits due him under Post 9/11 GI Bill. The payment, for college tuition and books, computer tools and living expenses, was supposed to arrive in August before classes started.
The college allowed Mendoza to enroll pending payment of his tuition. But he had to borrow computer tools and spend $330 to buy books because the VA check hasn’t yet arrived.
Mendoza said he has called the VA numerous time to ask when the benefits will be processed but has been unable to get an answer. “All they can say is they don’t know,” the 30-year-old student said.
Mendoza said it would be impossible for him to take a day off classes to travel to Phoenix to apply for an emergency check.
“These veterans have done everything asked of them, but they have not received their promised benefits,” Giffords said. “We must not make them now take time away from classes and family to make up for the failings of a federal agency.”