By Curtis L. Coy
Colleagues and Fellow Veterans, How about a tool launched in early February, a significant upgrade seven months later, then another upgrade three months later, no downtime, over 485,000 users in those ten months and the only complaint is that customers want more. Would you believe that would be a government IT system?
We’re talking about the GI Bill® Comparison Tool. This week we launched our latest upgrade – reinforcing our commitment to improving Veteran outcomes. By refining this tool, we are arming our Nation’s Veterans with the information that they need to make informed decisions on how to use their VA education benefits.
Updated features of the Comparison Tool include:
* Search functionality that allows users to search for schools and employers near where they live * A feature that will compare multiple schools * The ability to compare the benefits of multiple GI Bill programs for those that may be entitled to more than one benefit * School-level complaint data compiled from the Feedback System
Enabling our Veterans to make the best use of their hard-earned benefits is just one of the ways we are working to improve our service and demonstrate our dedication to your VA. Over 1 million Veterans and their families have taken advantage of their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits – this number is only going to grow with time! We encourage you to share this information about our expanded GI Bill Comparison Tool. Click here to check out the new version of the GI Bill Comparison Tool [ http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/comparison ]_. _
Over the coming months we will continue to improve the functionality and features of our Comparison Tool. One feature under consideration would allow GI Bill users to rate their schools and/or employers (OJT/Apprenticeships). Our current plan would be to focus on answering the following questions, rating the school on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).
* How would you rate the institution overall?
* How would you rate the quality of classes?
* How would you rate the institution’s Veteran friendliness?
* How would you rate the institution’s employment preparation?
* How would you rate the institution’s recruiting/marketing practices?
We are also considering providing those taking the ‘survey’ the opportunity to make a brief comment similar to those on websites like Amazon.com or Yelp. We would like to hear your feedback on these proposed rating questions and functionality. Please feel free to email us at where our development team will review any feedback submitted.
As always, to learn more about GI Bill benefits, or to view our Comparison Tool, please visit our website at www.benefits.va.gov/gibill [ http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill ]. Also, be sure to join the conversation and community on our GI Bill Facebook page at www.facebook.com/gibilleducation [ http://www.facebook.com/gibilleducation ].
V/R
Curtis L. Coy
Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Opportunity
Veterans Benefits Administration
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
*Please Remember:*
* If you would like to review prior messages sent through this listserv, click http://benefits.va.gov/vow/economic_opportunity.htm.
* If you would like to research, find, access, and, in time, manage your VA benefits and personal information please visit and/or register at https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits-portal/ebenefits.portal.
* If you looking for a job or an employer committed to hiring Veterans, please register on the Veterans Employment Center (VEC) at: https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/jobs
* If you are seeking employment in the federal government, particularly the VA, our VA for Vets high-tech tools and resources can help. Visit online at http://vaforvets.va.gov/Pages/default.asp [ http://vaforvets.va.gov/Pages/default.aspx ] or call 1-855-824-8387.
If you would like to contact us about your VA education benefits:
You can send us a secure email that will usually be answered within 48 hours. You can also search for answers to frequently asked questions and register to be notified of any updates to the information. This contact method is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can also be utilized worldwide. Click here to enter the "Ask A Question" site or here to review our frequently asked questions.
You can call 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551). This line only accepts calls from 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM central time Monday – Friday.
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