WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representatives Tom Kean, Jr. (NJ-07) and Morgan McGarvey (KY-03) Monday introduced the Veterans Flight Training Responsibility Act of 2024, a bipartisan bill to expedite the flight training process for veterans by removing the one-year requirement for accessing their GI Bill benefits.
Currently, under the GI bill, a student can only take out $26,000 during an academic year, so once those funds run out, students have to wait until the next academic year to resume their flight training.
“Student veterans are going through their GI bill too fast and end up having to pay out of pocket or wait a semester before they use their GI bill the next academic year for flight training,” Kean said. “I am proud to introduce this bill, with my colleague Rep. McGarvey, to expedite the flight training process for veterans, so they can pursue their aviation careers without financial burden or unnecessary delays, honoring their service with the support they deserve.”
“We should be making it easier, not harder, for our veterans to use their education benefits however they see fit,” McGarvey said. “This legislation makes it easier for veterans to become pilots by creating more flexibility in their benefits to attend flight school while also setting a cap on how much flight schools can charge, ensuring bad actors won’t screw over our vets in the process. I’m glad to join with Rep. Kean in this bipartisan effort and look forward to its passage.”
More specifically, this bill would:
- Cap the flight training fees to $100,000 for public flight training institutions.
- Allow student veterans to use their GI Bill throughout the whole year, instead of taking time off or paying out of pocket.
