If you’re a student veteran and trying to decide which state would give you the best deal on college, you’ve got a new tool to help.
The American Legion, Student Veterans of America (SVA) and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) have teamed up to create an interactive map that indicates by state whether veterans are allowed to attend colleges in those states at in-state tuition rates — regardless of the veteran’s state of residency. The site and map also provide the cost of tuition, room and board for schools in each state.
You can view the interactive map here.
According to outgoing SVA executive director Michael Dakduk, “The virtual map will arm future student veterans with valuable information on where they can maximize their GI Bill and other veteran education benefits. This would not have been possible without the support of The American Legion and the VFW. They remain our strongest allies in advocating for and supporting military veterans in higher education.”
The American Legion gave $5,000 to the SVA for the project.
The American Legion’s lobbying efforts over the past two years have resulted in measures being passed in at least 19 states: Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
In-state tuition laws are being considered by general assemblies in an another 11 states.
According to the Legion’s Economic Division director, Joe Sharpe, “The American Legion contributed to this interactive map project because it saw genuine value in it as an easy-to-use resource for student veterans. We have been leading a state-by-state initiative to convince state legislatures to introduce bills that would make student veterans eligible for in-state tuition rates. And we’re not going to stop until this map shows that our veterans qualify for in-state tuition in the entire United States. We collaborated with SVA and VFW to make this map available to America’s veterans, and we certainly appreciate their efforts as well.”
