Some of my fellow Hoosier veterans are mad as hell, etc., etc., over a legislative proposal that would end the guarantee of a full college scholarship for the children of Indiana's disabled veterans:
Since 1935, Indiana has guaranteed full payment of tuition and normal fees so that children of disabled or deceased veterans can attend college.
The revisions sponsored by Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, would allow a 100 percent benefit to the children of deceased veterans or veterans who are at least 80 percent disabled. Children of those with lesser disabilities would receive aid at a minimum of 20 percent plus the percentage of the parent's disability.
Those currently enrolled in the program or children of those wounded in combat would not be subjected to the changes.
Veterans groups say the changes would "devalue their sacrifice." An Indiana American Legion spokesman says cutting budgets should not be at "the expense of vetrans," and an Indiana VFW representative says the proposal goes against the goal of Indiana "to educate our children and keep them in the state." I can appreciate the sentiments, and taking care of the education of disabled vets' children is a nice gesture. There are plenty of worse things to spend tax money on.
But we can see in this program in microcosm the problem with larger, federal entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare. Because of the increase in deployments, the program has a growing number of beneficiaries (nearly 6,000 students during the 2009-2010 school year), but the funding has stayed stagnant. The unhappy choice is to cut back on some benefits for some recipients now, or cut back a lot more benefits for a lot more recipients in the future. Even with the changes, notes Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, Indiana will still have the most generous such program in the nation.
