Sound investment: College aid for veterans helps all

Congress sent a bill to President Trump Wednesday with two key points of emphasis for veterans -- a boost to the GI Bill and allowing Purple Heart recipients to receive college aid regardless of their time in service.

We can't stress enough our support for this legislation, or our sincere hope the president will sign the bill into law.

It is commonly accepted that veterans make for some of the best employees and future leaders in industry and commerce because of their training, experience and commitment to executing the mission.

Veterans are taught to instinctively work out solutions to problems when they arise and employ creative, often innovative strategies to achieve the goals they have been tasked with accomplishing.

But to obtain the positions in the civilian world where their talents can be best put to use, our veterans need to be able to obtain the certifications and degrees their respective intended job fields require. And those courses cost money. Lots of money.

Tuitions are higher than ever, and colleges, universities and online institutions of higher learning are in constant competition for those dollars.

Our soldiers, airmen, seamen and Marines, especially those with families with more than one child, do not earn much in the course of their service, at least not as much as their dedication and service to our nation merits.

And while the Department of Veterans Affairs struggles to provide consistent and timely medical and financial benefits to those vets who retire or become disabled in the course of their duties, education assistance is something the VA typically gets right. Enhancing those benefits can and should be done immediately in the course of working to shore up the other aspects of the department which might be falling short of the mission.

Published in Editorials on August 3, 2017 10:09 PM