By Jim Absher

The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced the Post-9/11 GI Bill rates for the 2020-2021 school year. These rates will be effective on Aug. 1, 2020. The Montgomery GI Bill and Dependents' Education Assistance programs will see a rate change on Oct. 1, 2020.

By law, the GI Bill rate increase is tied to the average cost increase of undergraduate tuition in the U.S. For the 2020-2021 school year, that increase will average 2.8%.

More than 80 percent of those taking advantage of their GI Bill benefits are doing so through the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Private & Foreign School GI Bill Rates

Effective Aug. 1, those using the Post-9/11 GI Bill at a private or foreign school will see their maximum yearly GI Bill rate increase from $24,476.79 to $25,162.14.

Flight Training

Those who are enrolled in flight schools will see their annual maximum GI Bill benefit increase from $13,986.72 to $14,378.35.

Licensing/Certification/National Testing

You can be reimbursed up to $2,000 per test for licensing and certification tests. For national testing programs, there is no maximum amount of GI Bill reimbursement. Your entitlement will be charged one month for every $2,099.24 spent; currently, that trigger point is $2,042.06.

Correspondence Courses

You can be reimbursed the actual net costs, not to exceed $12,221.56 annually. That's up from $11,888.70 currently.

Monthly Housing Allowance

The Monthly Housing Allowance is also scheduled to change on Aug. 1, the new rates haven't been announced yet.

If you are attending classroom sessions, your housing allowance is based on the ZIP code of the campus location where you attend the majority of your classes.

For the 2019- 2020 academic year the amount is $1,789.00. This is prorated based on the length of your active-duty service and how many classes you are taking.

If you attend all your classes online, your maximum housing allowance will be $894.50. This is also prorated.