--- title: Will My GI Bill Benefits Affect My Eligibility for College Financial Aid? description: The Post-9/11 GI Bill is the first to allow veterans to transfer benefits to their spouse or children. Does it affect school financial aid? authors: - name: Kaitlin Mulhere role: Editor url: https://money.com/author/kaitlin-mulhere/ bio: Kaitlin Mulhere is an editor at Money.com. Since joining in 2015, she’s written and edited about a variety of personal finance topics, including banks, credit, student debt, saving strategies and more. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2015 articles: 217 covers: - Education - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/KMulhere - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlin-mulhere-64503048/ published: '2016-09-02T12:47:43.000Z' modified: '2016-09-02T12:47:43.000Z' section: Education tags: - Ask the Expert - College - college costs - expected family contribution - fafsa - FASFA - financial aid - GI Bill benefits transfer - need-based aid - Paying for College - Post-9/11 GI Bill - veterans education benefits word_count: 268 canonical: https://money.com/fafsa-gi-bill-veterans-financial-aid/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![military person writing](https://img.money.com/2016/09/160901_coll_vetbenefits.jpg?crop=0px%2C226px%2C2100px%2C1181px&quality=85) **Q: What impact do Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits that have been transferred from a veteran to a college-bound child have on our Expected Family Contribution? Is it mandatory to report to colleges, and will eligibility for these benefits affect the amount of aid offered to a student? —Peter, Bellevue, Wash.** **A:** The Post-9/11 GI Bill—enacted in 2009—is the first to allow veterans to transfer their benefits to their spouse or children if they [meet certain criteria.](http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/post911_transfer.asp) Veterans education benefits, including the Post-9/11 GI Bill, are considered an entitlement, much like Social Security. That means they will not affect your Expected Family Contribution on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. That includes both the tuition stipend and housing allowance that come with the Post 9/11 GI Bill. You do not have to report GI Bill eligibility on the FAFSA, and in fact, there’s nowhere on the form to list it. Veterans and their dependents who receive their education benefits are eligible for the same menu of federal financial aid as other applicants, including need-based Pell Grants and subsidized student loans. Derek Fronabarger, director of policy at Student Veterans of America, says colleges aren’t supposed to ask about your eligibility for GI Bill benefits, either. If they insist that you report it, Fronabarger recommends reaching out to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Note that the FAFSA does count *noneducation* benefits for veterans (such as Disability, Dependency & Indemnity Compensation, and/or VA Educational Work-Study allowances) as untaxed income. If either the parent or the student receives any of those, that will need to be reported on the FAFSA. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/fafsa-gi-bill-veterans-financial-aid/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Education", "item": "https://money.com/education/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Student Financial Aid", "item": "https://money.com/student-financial-aid/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Will My GI Bill Benefits Affect My Eligibility for College Financial Aid?" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/fafsa-gi-bill-veterans-financial-aid/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/fafsa-gi-bill-veterans-financial-aid/", "name": "Will My GI Bill Benefits Affect My Eligibility for College Financial Aid?", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-09-02T12:47:43.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/fafsa-gi-bill-veterans-financial-aid/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/fafsa-gi-bill-veterans-financial-aid/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2016-09-02T12:47:43.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Will My GI Bill Benefits Affect My Eligibility for College Financial Aid?", "articleSection": "Education", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/09/160901_coll_vetbenefits.jpg?crop=0px%2C226px%2C2100px%2C1181px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "160901_COLL_VetBenefits" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Kaitlin Mulhere", "url": "https://money.com/author/kaitlin-mulhere/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/kaitlin-mulhere/#author", "description": "Kaitlin Mulhere is an editor at Money.com. 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