Vets may face benefits cuts

DANVERS – With four young children and no job, Stefanie McBride does not know how she will continue studying aviation at North Shore Community College after April when a federal veterans benefits program is cut.”I would not be able to afford supplies, even pencils and pens, without it,” McBride.The Army veteran and Lynn resident is enrolled in the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP). Created in 2011 as a tuition assistance resource for unemployed veterans ages 30 to 60, VRAP pays veterans $1,640 a month, with the payment amount adjusted to reflect the amount of time students in two-year colleges spend in classes.”This helps, but it’s not the tons of money (people) think it is,” said North Shore veterans services coordinator Kristine Babcock.Babcock said federal officials originally slated the program for expiration this spring, but its success prompted supporters to push for a congressional extension through June.Navy veteran Jon Foss said the extension is critical because he needs financial help paying for the four college courses he needs to take to round off his computer-oriented business degree. After being laid off from his building contract supervisor job, Foss spent two years looking for work.”I got no call backs, nothing,” he said.He heard about VRAP and connected with Babcock, who helped the Salem resident get enrolled in North Shore and the tuition program.”Kristine got me through. Now I know I can get a job,” he said.Babcock sent petitions with more than 200 signatures to U.S. Rep. John Tierney’s Washington office last Friday urging his support for the VRAP extension.”Just as I supported the legislation creating the program, I support the pending bill to extend the VRAP beyond the date it is currently scheduled to expire. It is imperative for Congress to swiftly act and extend VRAP so student veterans do not experience any disruption in their benefits,” Tierney stated in an email Wednesday.Babcock said veterans aided by VRAP have graduated with top grades. She said 14 veterans are currently enrolled in the program, including two men who formerly lived in a Boston veterans homeless shelter.”They’re straight-A students; now their funding is going to be cut,” she said.Coast Guard veteran Steph LaPlante graduated from North Shore with an associate degree in medical administration. She said the two-year college program sharpened her skills and brought her out of the depression she fell into after losing her job.”Now I am able to have top skills. I have confidence,” she said.McBride “jumped back into education” after her youngest child finished kindergarten. VRAP money helped her pay to put gasoline in her car for the commutes back and forth to the Danvers campus from Lynn.”It even paid for food at the cafeteria,” she said.She has her sights set on a job at Logan International Airport or the River Works and said extending VRAP benefits will put similar goals in reach of other veterans.”Being older, we appreciate it,” she said.