Post 9/11 GI Bill for Business School (update 2012)

This is an update on the Post-9/11 GI Bill for MBA programs. Since it's inception, the post 9/11 GI Bill has proven to be one of the most poorly managed and difficult military benefits ever created. The program has improved a lot in how it's processed and managed, but it's still a major pain go to figure out. However, once you get through the bureaucracy, it is a tremendous financial benefit to have.

The following calculations are for the 2011-2012 school year (the post 9/11 GI Bill has changed several times since its troubled start). Add about $1000 a year for 2012-2013. All information, and credit for the information, belongs to ArmyJMO.

Private Schools:

School	Year 1 Tuition & Fees	Year 2 Tuition & Fees	GI Bill Tuition Assistance (2 Years)	Yellow Ribbon Slots	Yellow Ribbon Amount	Total Out of Pocket Costs       (2 Years)	Living Allowance per month
Chicago (Booth)	$55,872	$54,252	$35,000	10	$4,540	$56,964	$1,566
Columbia	$58,750	$58,750	$35,000	32	$2,500	$72,500	$2,754
Cornell (Johnson)	$53,796	$53,796	$35,000	21	$99,999	$0	$1,167
Dartmouth (Tuck)	$56,160	$56,160	$35,000	Unlimited	$15,000	$17,320	$1,230
Duke (Fuqua)	$52,922	$51,382	$35,000	30	$18,000	$0	$1,161
Harvard Business School	$61,396	$61,396	$35,000	60	$10,000	$47,792	$2,274
MIT (Sloan)	$52,900	$52,900	$35,000	20	$7,500	$40,800	$2,274
New York (Stern)	$51,942	$51,942	$35,000	25	$10,000	$28,884	$2,754
Northwestern (Kellogg)	$54,000	$54,000	$35,000	50	$15,000	$13,000	$1,566
Stanford GSB	$56,928	$56,928	$35,000	Unlimited	$9,000	$42,856	$2,076
UPenn (Wharton)	$61,082	$61,082	$35,000	30	$10,000	$47,164	$1,623
Yale School of Mgt.	$56,530	$56,530	$35,000	50	$5,000	$58,060	$1,923

Public Schools:

School	Berkeley (Haas)	Michigan (Ross)	UCLA (Anderson)	Virginia (Darden)
Year 1 In-State Tuition & Fees	$44,266	$50,575	$45,385	$48,900
Year 2 In-State Tuition & Fees	$44,266	$50,575	$45,385	$48,900
Year 1 Out-of-State Tuition & Fees	$51,246	$55,575	$52,580	$53,900
Year 2 Out-of-State Tuition & Fees	$51,246	$55,575	$52,580	$53,900
GI Bill Tuition Assistance (2 Years)	$88,532	$101,150	$90,770	$97,800
Yellow Ribbon Slots	10	Unlimited	30	Unlimited
Yellow Ribbon Amount	$10,000	$99,999	$7,500	$2,500
Total Out of Pocket Costs In-State (2 Years)	$0	$0	$0	$0
Total Out of Pocket Costs for Out-of-State (2 Years)	$0	$0	$0	$0
Living Allowance per month	$2,133	$1,323	$2,175	$1,365

Takeaways:

• If you qualify for the the Yellow Ribbon program, you have a huge financial benefit. Take the Yellow Ribbon amount above and multiply by 4 to see what you will get over your 2 years, since the number listed is per year, and the school matches the VA contribution. 
• So do I qualify? Unless something changes, officer time served as part of an initial commitment (for example, 4 years for ROTC and 5 years for a service academy) do not count towards time eligibility for the GI Bill. One needs 36 months of total service beyond their initial obligation to be 100% eligible (and hence also eligible for the Yellow Ribbon program).
• What if I'm getting out immediately after my initial service commitment? Many often add 90 days of service beyond the initial contract (you can take your terminal leave while you begin the school year), and then qualify for the minimum eligibility, which is 40% of the benefits. This is around $7,000 a year plus E-5 BAH at your school zip code. HBS for example, has E-5 BAH rate of $2,274 per month. You only get BAH for 9 months, since summer session doesn't count.... so 100% would be around $20,000. Minimum eligibility of 40% would therefore yield a yearly BAH of  $7,000... plus the $8,000 for tuition, which gives you around $15,000 a year if you qualify for the minimum 90 days. 
• In the above scenario, most applicants would also qualify for school scholarships to offset costs. Often increasing GI Bill eligibility simply means you will get less in school scholarships (this is school dependent). Therefore, from a purely economic point of view, it never pays to stay in the military an extra year if you can get a top MBA sooner. Note: this is not an encouragement to stay in or get out, it merely comments on the economics of the decision.
• Some schools may have a zero total cost to the student, such as UVA, Duke, UCLA, Haas, Ross, and Cornell. Some schools are almost no cost, such as Tuck and Kellogg.

In Summary:

• Apply for your benefits early. The VA can be worse than the DOD in processing paperwork.
• Understand your benefits, as it will have an impact on you and you family. However, I don't recommend significantly changing application plans for financial reasons... your preferences for school in terms of ranking, geography, and career goals should outweigh the relatively modest short term financial differences. If you are undecided or fairly evenly split between a couple of schools, the GI Bill benefits can help you decide which way to lean.