Correction appended
Veterans who attend Dartmouth though the GI Bill's Yellow Ribbon Program will likely not have to pay tuition in order to attend the College, according to regulations announced by the Department of Veterans Affairs last week and interviews with College administrators. College President James Wright, who helped create the program as part of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, said that the final regulations are a marked improvement over former drafts because they create a structure in which more private universities, such as Dartmouth, can participate in the program.
The Yellow Ribbon Program is a provision of the new GI bill passed in summer 2008, which updated post-World War II education funding for veterans. While the bill originally provided veterans with funds for tuition up to the cost of their most expensive in-state public school, the Yellow Ribbon Program offers colleges and universities the opportunity to create partnerships with Veterans Affairs to fund tuition expenses at private schools, or for out of state undergraduates. The institution can waive up to half of the expenses that exceed the tuition of the most expensive in-state public school, and Veterans Affairs will match the amount waived by the institution.
Wright, who pushed for the Yellow Ribbon Program and provided input to the GI Bill's sponsors, said he is pleased with the modifications that have been made.
"I think this fully equalizes higher education opportunities for veterans," Wright said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "All they should have to think about is where they want to go to school, not where they can afford to go."
In the final version of the regulations, each participating college can choose a maximum number of students to whom it will offer aid, as well as the percentage of the tuition cost above that of the most expensive in-state public university that it will cover. Veterans Affairs will match the college's contribution.
Unlike earlier versions, the final regulations also allow programs within universities, including graduate schools, to set their own policies with respect to the Yellow Ribbon Program, Wright said.
None of Dartmouth's schools intend to cap the number of eligible veterans or provide less than 50 percent of the tuition left over after Veteran Affairs' initial contribution, according to school officials.
"We want to participate 100 percent in the Yellow Ribbon Program," said Diane Bonin, director of financial aid at the Tuck School of Business.
Officials at the Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth Medical School and the Undergraduate Financial Aid Office expressed similar sentiments.
Veterans Affairs is expected to send agreements to college and university officials sometime next week, according to Laura McClay, the senior associate director of Undergraduate Financial Aid.
"I don't see any reason why each school [at Dartmouth] isn't going to sign on and agree to participate fully," she said. "This program helps us continue to support veterans as much as possible."
Dartmouth intended to participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program regardless of what form the final regulations took, Wright said, but the new version of the program makes it easier for other institutions to participate.
Previous drafts required the entire university to sign one agreement, despite varying tuition costs and enrollment limits, which might have restricted some private schools' abilities to participate, Wright said.
Veterans Affairs has adequately addressed this concern in the final regulations, Wright said.
"I'm sure being able to limit this to undergraduates will increase the number of small private schools, like Willamette, that sign on to the Yellow Ribbon Program," said Patty Hoban, director of Financial Aid at Willamette University, a liberal arts school in Oregon with 1,800 undergraduates.
Because the College meets 100 percent of financial need, and because veterans applying for financial aid at the College are considered to be independent, veterans' financial aid packages will not change drastically under the Yellow Ribbon Program, Wright and McClay said.
While the College's financial aid program might not change significantly, however, the Yellow Ribbon Program may prompt more veterans to apply Dartmouth, Wright said.
"This may affect Dartmouth, though, because 'sticker shock' shouldn't be a factor for veterans deciding to apply anymore," Wright said. "If veterans know about the Yellow Ribbon Program, they'll feel more confident applying to any private college and won't disregard colleges with higher tuition before they find out about financial aid."
Wright lobbied heavily for the Yellow Ribbon Program, and the entire GI Bill, to be as accessible and as expansive as possible, and is now urging as many schools as possible to participate, McClay and Bonin said.
"There are many compelling reasons for us to pro-actively support access to higher education for our country's veterans," Wright said in a February address on the Yellow Ribbon Program at a National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities meeting. "I would argue it is the right thing to do for them, an important thing for us to do for our nation and the wise thing to do for our institutions."
The original version of this article incorrectly identified Diane Bonin as the director of admissions at the Tuck School of Business. In fact, Bonin serves as the director of financial aid at Tuck.
