Quick overview for those not familiar with the new Post 9/11 GI Bill. The VA will pay for your tuition(they pay it directly to the school) and they also give you a housing allowance while you are attending classes. It goes by the rate an E5 with dependants would get, and varies by the location of the school.
Here's the problem, that housing allowance income doesn't count as "real" income when applying for a home loan or apartment, or any line of credit for that matter. My wife and I had a house all lined up, ready to move Aug 1st and we get a call from the lender saying the VA underwriter won't approve it because they won't count the income. So we're like fuck it, just get a better apartment until we build a 'regular' income history. Find a nice place, turn in the paperwork, and whats this? "We're gonna have to look into this and see if its acceptable income", they say.
What the fuck is the point of a housing allowance, if you can't get into any housing with it. Oh, and guaranteed VA home loans for vets? Bullshit, wrong again. They wouldn't give us a $225,000(small for Cali) unless my wife and I have a combined income of over 6 grand a month. The house payment would be less than my rent is now, and you deny me? Obviously I can afford it if I afford my ridiculous rent now. I just got out, just started school and you expect me to be earning 6k a month.
This is mainly for service members, but also general knowledge to US citizens. All the good programs the gov't has in place to thank veterans is BS. They just say how good it is, when its not, just to look good to the people. I'm fucking heated right now.
/rant