Cunningham Helps Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Minimize Impact of Coronavirus on Student Veterans

March 23, 2020
Press Release

Mt. Pleasant, S.C. ­– Rep. Joe Cunningham (SC-01) today helped introduce the Student Veteran Coronavirus Response Act of 2020, critical bipartisan legislation to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student veterans as schools and universities continue to take proactive measures to mitigate the spread of the virus.

“As Congress works together to respond to this public health emergency, we cannot forget about our student veterans,” said Rep. Joe Cunningham. “I’m proud to work with Democrats and Republicans to ensure Lowcountry student veterans have confidence that the benefits they have earned will be waiting for them on the other side of this pandemic. Under this bipartisan legislation, we can ensure that no student veteran will have their housing or work study payment cut off, exhaust their disaster housing stipend continuation payments, or lose their benefits due to a school closure from coronavirus.”

Here’s how this new legislation works for student veterans:

  • Work-Study During Emergencies: As institutions of higher learning are switching to solely online instruction and as campuses are shutting down as a precaution, student veterans who work on campus through VA’s work-study program will lose an important source of income. This bill gives VA the latitude to continue paying student veterans who lost their position on campus due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
  • Expands Protections For Student Veterans During Emergencies: Currently, if schools close for up to four weeks during a term, VA can continue paying housing and allowances to student veterans. This bill builds on these protections by covering all emergency situations, including public health emergencies like those caused by the current spread of COVID-19. 
  • Bridges Digital Divide: In order to halt the spread of COVID-19, many schools have begun moving to online classes, but not all students and schools who were attending on-site classes were able to make this transition online. This legislation would restore the interrupted term or semester of their education benefit to students who could not complete classes because of an emergency. With this fix, student veterans will continue to receive housing benefits through the end of their term and will not have their GI Bill eligibility charged for any class they were unable to complete and receive credit for if their schools or program shut down due to an emergency situation. 
  • Veterans Are Not Penalized For Emergency Situations: This legislation would stop the eligibility clock for student veterans and eligible dependents impacted by school closures during emergency situations by allowing VA to extend the “use or lose” date for VA education benefits.
  • Extends School Closure Protections to Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) Veterans: This bill would ensure parity for veterans in the VR&E program by including protections against sudden school closures or terminations of programs that could not transition to online learning, allowing VA to pay housing and subsistence allowance through the end of a term when schools shutter, and preventing veterans from losing eligibility time when they did not receive credit for classes taken. In addition, it would provide two additional months of subsistence allowance to veterans currently participating in the VR&E program who may face difficulty securing employment as a result of COVID-19’s impact on near-term employment prospects.