Veterans’ education has a price

Standing in a phone booth in Kuwait, Drew Polifko got the news that could have re-shaped his life – he had been accepted to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., just like his great uncle.

But, unlike his great uncle – who used veteran’s benefits to attend Georgetown after fighting in France during World War II – Polifko couldn’t afford the prestigious school.

“I looked at the numbers and realized I couldn’t do it,” he said. “I couldn’t go to Georgetown.”

More than one million veterans are returning from the Iraq War with plans to attend colleges and universities, and many are facing the harsh reality that their education will not be free, he said.

Recent updates to the GI Bill and the Higher Education Act aim to provide more financial aid to veterans, but for many, funds will still fall short. 

“I had the perception that school would be paid for for four years,” said Polifko, 23, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and a student at the University of Montana. “When I realized that was false, it was a bit of a shock. It was another obstacle I had to deal with.”

After turning the Georgetown offer down, Polifko came to UM. He planned to use the money from his veteran’s benefits – $1,100 each month he was in school – to pay for tuition, food and rent.
Still, his stipend wasn’t enough to pay for living costs and out-of-state tuition, so Polifko worked as a custodian 25 hours a week.

Even finding that job was a struggle, especially since his time at war left him 60 percent disabled.

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Polifko’s ears ring with a sound that comes and goes, a sound that nobody else hears. It’s a symptom of ear tinnitus, a disability left over from his days in Iraq.

Polifko’s BlackBerry has become a crutch he relies on every day to remember the short-term things that he can’t. He lives his life by lists, and has whiteboards in three different rooms in his house.

Sometimes he’s angry and he doesn’t know why, and sometimes he’s overly sensitive to light and noise.

These are symptoms of a traumatic brain injury, the most common injury among Iraq veterans. It’s usually caused by the shock waves from explosions that ricochet inside the head.

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Polifko remembers the commercials and advertisements he used to see for the military.

They claimed he would gain real-world experience and earn money for college.

“The way they make it out to be, you think life will be Easy Street,” Polifko said. “And you feel like you deserve it after four years of really hard shit.”

Veterans can’t receive grants because their benefits put them too far above the need level.

But a revised Higher Education Act, which passed on Aug. 14, allows veterans to be eligible for financial aid programs such as the PELL grant or subsidized loans starting in the next school year.

“This is an appropriate action on part of Congress to help these veterans who’ve given so dearly of their time, and sometimes limbs,” said Mick Hanson, UM’s director of financial aid.

Justin Raap, UM’s veteran affairs coordinator, agrees, and said that this could be one of the best things the government has done for veterans.

However, the improvement might be cancelled out by changes made to the GI Bill on Aug. 1.

Veterans usually receive direct checks each month to cover living costs and tuition, but starting next year, these funds will go directly to the university.

“This could be viewed as tuition assistance rather than as veteran benefits,” Raap said.

In that case, veterans would be ineligible for financial aid programs again.

Raap doubts that the changes made in the revised Higher Education Act will come to fruition, but he’s keeping his fingers crossed.

“It’s a guarded hope,” he said. “I really hope for the best, I really do. But I know the potential for things not to occur.”

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Bombs the size of Nerf footballs pounded into the ground like explosive drops of rain. Insurgents were firing rounds into the U.S. military base, mortaring it and the surrounding area.

Polifko ran through the bombs, dodging each blast. Two Marines were killed that day, and four were injured, he said.

It was his first day in Iskandariyah, Iraq – a place also known as the Triangle of Death.

He was stationed there for eight months. At least five times every day his station was attacked by direct fire, grenades, roadside bombs or suicide bombers.

“I’ve lost a lot of friends and seen a lot of stuff people shouldn’t have to see,” Polifko said. “But nothing in life is free.”

It’s a lesson Polifko has learned to apply to everything – even his education.

carly.flandro@umontana.edu