Veterans Assistance

[anthonylapoint]

Hello everyone. I am looking for a little help cause I'm running out of hope. I am a veteran. I did 4 years in the Marine Corps. I deployed to Iraq and was in the Invasion of Fallujah. I currently have a 40% disability rating.

I have been going to college and flight school for some time now and finally it's coming to an end. I quit my job this fall in order to finish my last semester at college and to finish my CFI/CFII rating. I thought I would be finished my flight ratings so I could be a flight instructor by now but in my typical fashion, everything takes longer than I originally planed. I finished my exams yesterday so my BAH will be finished by the 1st of the month. I'm going to commit everyday to flight school to finish up asap but that will probably take a month to finish. As a flight instructor Ill commit to teaching 7 days a week. The problem is, there is a month in between without any income coming in. I quit my job so I will not be able to collect unemployment and by time I get a job, I'll be getting hired as a flight instructor.

My question is, is there a assistance program available to help, whether its a veteran program or not? I have been living this way for a long time but things are different now, I have a kid. Connecticut is expensive. Daycare is $1100/month just for 3 days a week and my rent is higher then that. I screwed myself, I should have gone on LOA but like I said, thought I would be teaching by now.

Any help information wise would be great. I'm gonna call the DAV and other sources but its usually the loopholes only the experienced know that really help.

Thanks and happy holidays

Tony

 

[gimpy]

Re: Veterans Assistance

Try contacting your local Voc Rehab office. Might be difficult this time of year.

 

[anthonylapoint]

Re: Veterans Assistance

I'm actually in vocrehab but they don't offer child care assistance or anything of that nature. I tried calling the DAV but they are only around tues and thurs

 

[Switchblade]

Re: Veterans Assistance

Voc Rehab won't even give you a reach around. They will state quite vocally,"We only pay you while you are in class, not on break" Yeah, I get it, pay for the semester only, but when you carry 12 units and one of the 3 unit classes is a full time class for half the semester, the bitches will say you are on break from that class and not in it even though the current, as well as past regulations state clearly that if a student is carrying 12 units DURING the semester, they will be paid the full amount. Guess that tight assed bitch in Nashville didn't get the memo or maybe I just wasn't black enough for her liking. Either way, I took my beef to the government reps, my local congresslady...that should get me through Christmas and December with a nice hefty, oh, yeah, still ain't getting jack until they handle the matter so I guess it's suck it up and drive on time and raman diet...if I didn't save up for this part of the year knowing this was coming. Whew, skirted that crap! Now to wait for the congresslady to do her thing...maybe hear about that in six months or so...

 

[JB5812]

Re: Veterans Assistance

I'm going to be in the same boat man. I'm doing a flight school here in Oregon, and thankfully Oregon pays an additional pay for veterans going to school, separate from the BAH, so I'm using that to cover the periods of inactivity. Sucks, but there really aren't a whole lot of ways to cover your expenses without a job outside of school.

Only thing I can suggest is contacting the VA to see if there are openings to work there. I say this because if you work there, they will be very flexible with your schedule.

Good luck.

 

[gimpy]

Re: Veterans Assistance

They are able to pay you a stipend for something like 6 months after you graduate. I can't remember what the deal is with it, but it was part of the brief here

 

[anthonylapoint]

Re: Veterans Assistance

Gi bill and vocrehab don't care about flight school. Even though each rating is worth 6 credits in my aviation science degree, it doesn't matter. Once college is done, so is BAH, even though I'm flying 4 hours a day. I would rather finish flight school than suffer at some shitty job, which would stretch my training an extra few months. It is bullshit that flight school doesn't credit towards bah. I have been looking for a veterans child care assistance program at least.