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Bill would expand work-study options for vets

The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to expand a veterans work-study program for college students in hopes that it would help up to 3,500 more students could find on-campus employment each year.

The bill, HR 1037, would create a five-year pilot program in which veterans could be paid to work in academic departments as tutors, researchers, teachers and lab assistants, or in student services in administrative, records and registration offices.

These are jobs not currently available because the work-study program, open to student-veterans carrying a three-quarters or greater course load, is limited to jobs that are somehow related to the Department of Veterans Affairs, such as working in outreach services, at veterans medical facilities or in National Cemetery Administration offices.

The House passed the bill by a 422-0 vote. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Current job limits have drawn complaints because veterans do not get the same work-study opportunities as nonveterans, according to a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee report on the bill.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., who chairs the economic opportunity panel of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is the chief sponsor of the bill, which would set aside $10 million a year for the pilot project that would run through 2014.

“While providing a student work force to assist VA in day-to-day activities is crucial in providing our student veterans with employment opportunities, my bill would allow veterans additional options of working in academic departments and student services,” Herseth Sandlin said, noting her bill would “put them at par with students that qualify for a work-study position under programs not administered by VA.”

VA officials have expressed concerns about the bill because they do not have the resources or experience to monitor employee performance of academic jobs over which they have no control. At a minimum, it will create an additional workload, VA officials cautioned.

However, major veterans groups support the bill. Mark Seavey of the American Legion said at a May hearing that more opportunities for work-study “would provide needed job skills and experience for veterans so they transition seamlessly ... after honorably serving.”

Raymond Kelly of AmVets said there is another added bonus. “By expanding this program, veterans will benefit by qualifying for jobs on the campus in which they attend, making it much easier to schedule work hours around class commitments,” he said.

The estimate that 3,500 additional veterans would be able to participate in VA’s work-study program each year came from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

CBO also estimated that start-up costs in 2010 for an expanded program would be about $7 million, with about $10 million required in each of the following four years until the program expires.