Veterans Education: Increased Allowances for the Educational Assistance Test Program

The law provides that the Secretary of Defense shall adjust the rates of subsistence allowance and educational assistance under the Educational Assistance Test Program annually. The law further provides those rates must be adjusted based upon the average actual cost of attendance at public institutions of higher education in the 12-month period since the rates were last adjusted. After obtaining data from the Department of Education, the Department of Defense has determined that the rates for the 2003-04 academic year should be increased by 9.6 percent over the rates payable for the 2002-03 academic year. The regulations dealing with these rates are amended accordingly.