Research Note

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1 Research Note Updates of ARI Databases for Tracking Army and College Fund (ACF), Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) Usage for , and Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefit Usage for 2015 Winnie Young Human Resources Research Organization Personnel Assessment Research Unit Tonia Heffner, Chief January 2017 United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences

2 U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences Department of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G1 Authorized and approved for distribution: MICHELLE SAMS, Ph.D. Director Research accomplished under contract for the Department of the Army by Human Resources Research Organization Technical Review by Dr. Erin O Brien, U.S. Army Research Institute NOTICES DISTRIBUTION: This Research Note has been cleared for release to the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) to comply with regulatory requirements. FINAL DISPOSITION: Destroy this Research Note when it is no longer needed. Do not return it to the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences. NOTE: The findings in this Research Note are not to be construed as an official Department of the Army position, unless so designated by other authorized documentation.

3 REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE 1. REPORT DATE (dd-mm-yy) October REPORT TYPE Final 3. DATES COVERED (from... to) July 2014 to April TITLE AND SUBTITLE Updates of ARI Databases for Tracking Army and College Fund (ACF), Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) Usage for , and Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefit Usage for AUTHOR(S) Winnie Young 5a. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBER W91WAS-09-D b. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER c. PROJECT NUMBER A792 5d. TASK NUMBER 329a 5e. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Human Resources Research Organization 66 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 700 Alexandria, Virginia SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences th Street (Bldg 1464/Mail Stop 5586) Ft. Belvoir, VA PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 10. MONITOR ACRONYM ARI 11. MONITOR REPORT NUMBER Research Note DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Distribution Statement A: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Contracting Officer s Representative and Subject Matter POC: Dr. Elizabeth Rupprecht 14. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words): This report describes the updating of the U.S. Army Research Institute s educational benefits usage database with Montgomery GI Bill and Army College Fund data for Army Regular, Reserve, and Guard components over the 2012 through 2014 period. For the Regular component, the report includes tabulations of program participation and benefit usage, type of educational program entered, and time between separation and start of education benefits. For Reserve and Guard components, the report includes tabulations by benefit eligibility status, VA training time type, and type of educational program entered. The tabulations are presented by entry cohort, going back to the 1985 entry cohort for all three components, and by separation year for the Regular component. Furthermore, this report also presents analyses of the Post-9/11 GI Bill on Regular and Reserve components based on the FY15 data files from Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC). 15. SUBJECT TERMS Military education benefits 16. REPORT Unclassified SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF 17. ABSTRACT Unclassified 18. THIS PAGE Unclassified 19. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT Unlimited 20. NUMBER OF PAGES 21. RESPONSIBLE PERSON Tonia Heffner Chief, PARU U.S. Army Research Institute Standard Form 298 i

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5 Research Note Updates of ARI Databases for Tracking Army and College Fund (ACF), Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) Usage for , and Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefit Usage for 2015 Winnie Young Human Resources Research Organization Personnel Assessment Research Unit Tonia Heffner, Chief U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, th Street, Bldg 1464, Fort Belvoir, VA January 2017 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited iii

6 UPDATES OF ARI DATABASES FOR TRACKING ARMY COLLEGE FUND (ACF), MONTGOMERY GI BILL (MGIB) USAGE FOR , AND POST-9/11 GI BILL BENEFIT USAGE FOR 2015 CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION... 1 ARMY COLLEGE FUND DATABASE... 1 Background... 1 MONTGOMERY G.I. BILL DATABASE... 2 Background... 2 Files... 2 Preliminary Analysis... 2 Analysis for Tables... 3 POST-9/11 GI BILL DATABASE... 3 Background... 3 Preliminary Analysis... 4 Analysis for Tables... 6 TABULATIONS AND DOCUMENTATION... 7 APPENDIX A: MGIB FY12/FY13 UPDATES: REGULAR ARMY BY COHORT YEAR... A-1 APPENDIX B: MGIB FY12/FY13 UPDATES: REGULAR ARMY BY SEPARATION YEAR... B-1 APPENDIX C: MGIB FY12/FY13 UPDATES: ARMY RESERVE... C-1 APPENDIX D: MGIB FY12/FY13 UPDATES: NATIONAL GUARD... D-1 APPENDIX E: POST-9/11 GI BILL BENEFITS: RESERVE. E-ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. APPENDIX F: POST-9/11 GI BILL BENEFITS: ACTIVE ARMY... F-1 iv

7 Updates of ARI Databases for Tracking Army College Fund (ACF), Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) Usage for , and Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefit Usage for 2015 Introduction The provision of educational benefits is an important and expensive Army program designed to aid recruiting and to address larger social goals. Accordingly, the US Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) collects and analyzes program participation and benefit usage information and provides it to Army G-1 (Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel) to support its reporting to Congress. The ARI educational benefits usage database pulls source data from Army personnel records, the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), and the Veterans Administration (VA) Program. The source data includes participation and benefit usage rates for Army College Fund (ACF), Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB), and Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefit programs, calculated separately for each accession cohort. Three databases were processed, updated, analyzed, and archived in this effort. The ACF database contains data on individual Soldiers who enlisted between fiscal years 1981 and 1986; the MGIB database contains data on individual Soldiers who enlisted after 1 July 1985 and enrolled in the Montgomery GI Bill program. A third database is the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (Chapter 33) or Post-9/11 GI Bill. It contains information on a new veterans benefit program that went into effect on 1 August This program provides a vehicle for Soldiers who served after 11 September 2001 to receive educational benefits and also an option to extend such benefits to their spouse and dependents. Background Army College Fund Database The ACF/Chapter 32 database was updated on an annual basis from 1986 to The database was created originally using the Army Accessions data files from the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPCOM). The database was divided into three separate cohorts: the FY81 and FY82 (FY81/82) accessions cohort, the FY83 and FY84 (FY83/84) accessions cohort, and the FY85 and FY/86 (FY85/86) accessions cohort. The data for each cohort were updated annually using the latest information on benefits usage from VA Chapter 32 data until At each update, critical information was first extracted from the VA data file and then merged into each of the three cohort files. A different set of variable names by time period and cohort was used for each update to support longitudinal analyses. At the end of each fiscal year, DMDC provides ARI with a de-identified (i.e., with all PII information removed) copy of the VA Chapter 32 data for selected record types. Nearly 3.9 million records were received on the FY10 VA benefit usage data file. These records are cumulative and contain information on contributions and benefit usage, educational objective and level, and related facility and training information. 1

8 Previous efforts from 1986 to 2002 used the most recent VA Chapter 32 data to update information on the ACF FY81/82, FY83/84, and the FY85/86 accessions cohorts. In this latest update, a decision was made to no longer request additional Chapter 32 data from DMDC. All DMDC ACF data from FY03 through FY10 were archived to facilitate future updates when there is such a need. Soldiers who enlisted before 1985 would now be close to 50 years old so continued benefits usage would be expected to be minimal. Background Montgomery G.I. Bill Database The MGIB database was started in 1991 and was originally updated on an annual basis. Since March 1993, ARI has received updates from DMDC each quarter. This allowed the analysis of MGIB usage on a quarterly basis. Around the fall of 1999, DMDC began to convert the existing legacy system into the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS). As a consequence, no MGIB data were available from DMDC until April The first quarterly data containing Regular Army records received from DMDC after the conversion was as of September 2001, with a new record layout, data dictionary, and more variables than previously provided on the earlier quarterly files. With the help of DMDC staff familiar with the database, we were able to identify the variables needed for analysis. In April 2002 we also began receiving quarterly data files for Soldiers in the Army Reserve and National Guard. Prior to that point, data were only available for Soldiers in the Regular Army. Files Ten quarterly MGIB data files were processed for the current effort: September 2012 through December 2014, as the previous study ended with tabulations based on September Upon the processing of each quarterly de-identified data set, three sets of tabulations were created one for the Regular Army, one for the Army Reserve, and one for National Guard. Four quarterly MGIB data files were selected to be used to produce the tables: September 2012, December 2012, March 2013, and June The remaining six MGIB quarterly files that were not used for reporting were archived to CD. Preliminary Analysis While creating the March 2010 tabulations in the previous study, we discovered a problem with the MGIB Chapter 1606 (Reserve and Guard) data. There was a dramatic increase in cases where the VA Training Time Type Code (byte 55) and VA Training Category Code (byte 54) were coded as unknown. The VA Training Time Type Code described whether a Soldier used the benefits on a less than half-time, half-time, three-quarter time, or full-time basis. The VA Training Category Code variable described the type of education a Soldier pursued, such as undergraduate, graduate, or vocational/ technical. Overall, an alarming 94% of the cases had a value of "Z" for Unknown in one or both of these fields. This situation was reported to DMDC. Further inspection of these data indicated that the VA has erroneously updated the replication table with unknown values in these two variables. Over time, the VA Training Time Type Code variable has returned to a more acceptable 2

9 range of 81% of the unknown value instead of 94%. However, the VA Training Category Code remains missing for all cases. This resulted in the inability to generate Table 3 (Type of Educational Program Entered) in the current effort. Only Table 3 for the Reserve and National Guard tabulation was affected by this problem. The tabulations for the Regular Army were not affected. Analysis for Tables For the Regular Army component, this report includes tabulations of program participation and benefit usage, type of educational program entered, and time between separation and start of education benefits. For Reserve and Guard components, tabulations are provided by benefit eligibility status, VA training time, and type of educational program entered. The tabulations are presented by entry cohort, going back to the 1985 entry cohort for all three components. Benefit usage figures for recent cohorts in the Regular component are small / low as would be expected for this type of program. As each cohort ages and members leave the Service, usage rates pick up. An estimate of steady state usage rates can be inferred from the older cohorts. An additional set of tables was created under this effort for Regular Army that focuses on time between separation and MGIB benefit usage for veterans. Instead of using entry cohort, separation cohort from 1988 to 2013 was used in the analysis of benefits usage rates. Entry cohort included all Soldiers who entered the Army; the separation cohort is a subset of the entry cohort. The separation cohort was chosen because the purpose for this research was to only include cases who were separated from the Army. Benefit usage is reported for Veterans with three or four years of service and also for those with years of service greater than four years, and for those who took advantage of the program within first two years after separation and within 10 years after separation. Background Post-9/11 GI Bill Database On 1 August 2009, the newest GI Bill officially known as the Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (Chapter 33) became effective. This new program provides Soldiers who served after 11 September 2001 the opportunity to receive full tuition and fees, a new monthly living stipend, as well as a books and supplies stipend. The Bill also extends these benefits to the spouse and/or dependents of the Soldiers who are qualified to participate in the program (benefits must be transferred before the Soldier separates from the military). The Post 9/11 GI Bill payments are based on the amount of creditable active-duty service since 10 September These benefits are also available to the Reserve and Guard members. Since 2009, DMDC has been charged with the task of capturing, processing, and extracting the Post 9/11 GI Bill data transferred from the VA. Based on a draft record layout available from DMDC in 2012, the Chapter 33 database contains about 150 data elements, although not all the data elements were populated at the time the record layout was created. The data elements include information about the Soldier, including paygrade, personnel status, entitlement condition, incentives taken, VA education program and payment information, as well as information about benefit transferability and the transferee (dependent). 3

10 ARI received the Post-9/11 research data from DMDC in December The files captured the benefit data from 2009 to September A total of three data files with associated record layouts and data documentation were received from DMDC: a file associated with the Sponsor, a file associated with the transfer of benefits from Soldier to dependent, and a file associated with the dependent (transferee, if any). Preliminary Analysis Preliminary descriptive statistics were run on all three files and all the relevant variables to verify the accuracy of the layouts and coded values. The Sponsor file has 538,290 cases and 96 variables. Based on the descriptive statistics, there were eight variables that have all zeros or missing data (see Table 1). Table 1-A: Sponsor Variables with Missing Data Item # Item Name Item Type Width Position/Location 39 Incentive Kicker Begin Date Char 8 Pos Incentive Re-Enlistment Kicker Begin Date Char 8 Pos Incentive Kicker End Date Char 8 Pos Incentive Re-Enlistment Kicker End Date Char 8 Pos VA Chap 33 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Chap 33 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA Training Award Begin Calendar Date Char 8 Pos VA Training Award End Calendar Date Char 8 Pos We also identified 21 variables (see Table 1-B) that had fewer than 10% of the cases with valid values and therefore not suitable for all analyses. Table 1-B: Sponsor Variables with Few Valid Values Item # Item Name Item Type Width Position/Location 19 Initial Entry Training End Date Char 8 Pos Reserve Component Category End Date Char 8 Pos Incentive Student Loan Repayment Begin Date Char 8 Pos VA Benefit Payment Dependent Amount Num 11 Pos VA Rural Benefit Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Rural Benefit Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA Tutorial Assistance Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Tutorial Assistance Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA Yellow Ribbon Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Yellow Ribbon Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA Chap 1606 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Chap 1606 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA Chap 30 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Chap 30 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA License and Certification Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA License and Certification Payment Date Char 8 Pos

11 78 VA National Exam Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA National Exam Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA Ch30 Refund Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Ch30 Refund Payment Date Char 8 Pos As the Post-9/11 database continues to mature, some or all of these variables may be populated over time. The Dependent file has 123,056 cases and 54 variables. This file contains duplicate records for those sponsors who have more than one dependent on the benefit program. A total of 85,888 (83%) unique records represent those who sponsored one dependent, where 15,567 (15%) of the records sponsored two dependents and the remaining 1,955 (2%) cases sponsored three or more dependents. Based on the descriptive statistics, there were four variables that have all zeros or missing data (see Table 1-C). These four variables are: Table 1-C: Dependent Values with Missing Data Item # Item Name Item Type Width Position/Location 10 VA Education Entitlement Months Quantity Num 2 Pos VA Benefit Payment Months Quantity Num 2 Pos VA Chap 33 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Chap 33 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Date Char 8 Pos We also identified 16 variables that had fewer than 10% of the cases with valid values. These 16 variables are: Table 1-D: Dependent Variables with Few Valid Values Item # Item Name Item Type Width Position/Location 6 Transfer End Date Char 8 Pos VA Rural Benefit Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Rural Benefit Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA Tutorial Assistance Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Tutorial Assistance Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA Yellow Ribbon Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA Chap 1606 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Chap 1606 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA Chap 30 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Chap 30 Lump Sum Kicker Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA License and Certification Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA License and Certification Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA National Exam Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA National Exam Payment Date Char 8 Pos VA Ch30 Refund Payment Amount Num 9 Pos VA Ch30 Refund Payment Date Char 8 Pos The Transfer file has 1,118,962 cases and 14 variables. This file contains transaction records regarding the transfer of benefits from Army active service members and veterans to their 5

12 dependents. This file contains one or more transaction records per sponsor; about 38% of the cases only have one record in the transfer file, 27% have two records, 22% have three records, and about 0.01% have 10 or more records. The average is about 2.17 records per sponsor. Preliminary analysis also showed that most of the dependent transferees were children (69% of the cases), with spouses (26%) and step-children (5%) also being dependent transferees. We focused our initial analysis of the Post-9/11 data on the sponsor file in an attempt to replicate analyses similar to those from Chapter 30 and Chapter One of the key factors in those analyses was to compare the eligibility sample against the user sample to estimate the percentage of eligible who make use of the benefit. After much discussion with DMDC staff familiar with the Post -9/11 data files and records, we learned that the sponsor file only contains current users who have signed up and used the benefits. The file does not contain cases that are eligible but have not applied for and used the program. Unfortunately, it is not possible to identify the eligible sample within the scope of this effort. After several initial attempts in generating meaningful statistics, we identified a new set of tabulations for these data. Analysis for Tables The final set of tables was developed in coordination with the U.S. Army Human Resources Command Army Continuing Education Division (HRC-ACES). Active Army Tables. Three tables were created focusing on the Active component. The first table (Table E1) used Active component category code for those who used Post-9/11 benefit and was separated by Time in Service and VA Benefit Year from 2009 through Benefit usage was further broken down separately for Enlisted, Warrant Officers, Officers, and Cadets (Tables E2- E4). The second table is similar to the first table with two additional variables added: VA Payment Percentage Rate Code and VA Payment Benefit Amount. For VA Payment Percentage Rate Code, we used the Post-9/11 tiers of 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% and 100% (Tables E5-E16). The third table presented similar information as the first table but was restricted only to those sponsors who had been approved for transfer with Transferability Service Representative Verification. Reserve Tables. An additional three tables were created focusing on the Reserve component. The first table used Reserve component category code for those who used Post-9/11 benefit and grouped into four categories: Selected Reserve (SELRES), Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), Standby, and Retired. The table was separated by Time in Service and VA Benefit Year from 2009 through Benefit usage was further broken down separately for Enlisted, Warrant Officers, Officers, and Cadets. The second table is similar to the first table with two additional variables added: VA Payment Percentage Rate Code and VA Payment Benefit Amount. For VA Payment Percentage Rate Code, we used the Post-9/11 tiers of 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% and 100%. The third table presented similar information as the first table but was restricted only to those sponsors who had been approved for transfer with Transferability Service Representative Verification. 6

13 Tabulations and Documentation Tabulations of the updated MGIB databases are presented in four appendixes. As described previously, each appendix presents a series of tables for each analysis group (e.g., cohort year), as detailed below. Each series of tables is presented four times, representing quarterly reports generated for September 2012, December 2012, March 2013, and June Appendix A: MGIB Regular Army Analysis Tables (by Cohort Year) Takers Users Percent Users Type of Educational Program Entered Time Between Date of Separation and Start of Army College Fund Time Between Date of Separation and Start of Army College Fund (Percent of Cohort) Time Between Date of Separation and Start of MGIB Alone Usage Time Between Date of Separation and Start of MGIB Alone Usage (Percent of FY Cohort) Appendix B: MGIB Regular Army Analysis Tables (by Separation Year) MGIB Benefit Usage for Veterans with 3-4 Years of Service (within 2 years after separation) MGIB Benefit Usage for Veterans with More Than 4 Years of Service (within 2 years after separation) MGIB Benefit Usage for Veterans with 3-4 Years of Service (within 10 years after separation) MGIB Benefit Usage for Veterans with More Than 4 Years of Service (within 10 years after separation) MGIB Benefit Usage for Veterans with 3 or More Years of Service (within 2 years after separation) MGIB Benefit Usage for Veterans with 3 or More Years of Service (within 10 years after separation) Appendix C: MGIB Army Reserve Analysis Tables and Appendix D: MGIB National Guard Analysis Tables SR Basic Benefit Eligibility Status VA Training Time Type Type of Educational Program Entered FY Cohorts Tabulations of the Post-9/11 databases are presented in two appendixes. As described previously, each appendix presents a series of tables for each analysis group (i.e., Reserve and Active Army), as detailed below. 7

14 Appendix E: Post-9/11 Analysis Tables (for Active Army) Benefit Usage (from ) by Time in Service VA Payment Benefit Amount by Time in Service, and VA Payment Percentage Rate Code Transferability Report with approved status Appendix F: Post-9/11 Analysis Tables (for Reserve Component) Benefit Usage (from ) by Reserve Component Category Code and Time in Service VA Payment Benefit Amount (from ) by Reserve Component Category Code and Time in Service, and VA Payment Percentage Rate Code Transferability Report with approved status from

15 APPENDIX A MGIB FY12/FY13 UPDATES: Regular Army by Cohort Year A-1

16 September 2012 Table A1: Takers as of September 2012 Cohort MGIB Alone 2YR ACF 3YR ACF 4YR ACF 5_6YR ACF Total ACF Total * 1073* 2955* * * 1151* 3137* * * 917* 3399* * Total *An undercount of Army College Fund (ACF) participants for the cohorts was acknowledged in 1999 by the Army Personnel Command (PERSCOM). The undercount was a result of the ACF data element not being populated in the Army system for those years. After the problem was discovered, PERSCOM attempted to re-capture the missing information for those cases. Unfortunately, many of the Army cases had already separated from active duty and their records no longer existed in the Total Army Personnel Data Base (TAPDB) system. A-2

17 Table A2: Users as of September 2012 Cohort MGIB Alone 2YR ACF 3YR ACF 4YR ACF 5-6YR ACF Total ACF Total Total A-3

18 Table A3: Percent Users as of September 2012 Cohort MGIB Alone 2YR ACF 3YR ACF 4YR ACF 5_6YR ACF Total ACF Total % 74.60% 68.50% 58.80% 0.00% 65.30% 55.90% % 69.00% 64.50% 54.10% 0.00% 62.20% 46.00% % 71.20% 64.50% 61.10% 0.00% 67.00% 45.10% % 73.50% 66.40% 64.80% 0.00% 68.10% 42.20% % 75.90% 69.60% 67.70% 0.00% 71.40% 41.10% % 66.90% 64.70% 60.50% 0.00% 63.30% 41.40% % 63.30% 59.30% 54.60% % 57.70% 39.10% % 61.50% 59.30% 53.60% 0.00% 56.40% 41.00% % 61.20% 59.50% 52.60% 0.00% 56.70% 38.70% % 59.60% 54.60% 52.90% 0.00% 54.70% 36.90% % 58.20% 57.60% 50.80% 0.00% 55.00% 37.80% % 61.70% 55.10% 51.60% 0.00% 53.70% 36.80% % 85.60% 88.40% 74.40% 0.00% 79.00% 35.70% % 77.80% 80.50% 72.00% 0.00% 74.60% 34.70% % 77.00% 76.00% 69.60% 0.00% 71.40% 33.80% % 64.60% 66.70% 50.90% 0.00% 53.80% 33.90% % 61.90% 57.00% 44.40% 0.00% 47.50% 31.10% % 49.90% 44.90% 34.30% 0.00% 37.10% 27.50% % 27.90% 20.50% 24.70% 0.00% 24.10% 21.40% % 22.10% 15.10% 9.90% 0.00% 12.10% 14.10% % 29.00% 11.20% 5.50% 14.00% 7.70% 7.10% % 16.30% 4.80% 3.50% 4.30% 4.40% 3.60% % 3.40% 2.10% 2.00% 1.60% 1.90% 1.70% % 0.60% 1.00% 0.80% 0.80% 0.90% 0.70% % 0.00% 0.30% 0.30% 0.30% 0.30% 0.30% % 0.00% 0.10% 0.10% 0.00% 0.10% 0.10% % 0.00% 0.00% 0.50% 0.00% 0.20% 0.00% % 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% A-4

19 Table A4: Type of Education Program Entered as of September 2012 Raw Numbers ACF MGIB ALONE Total Database Education Level Code A: Graduate B: Undergraduate C: Non-Degree, College D: Voc/Tech, Post HS Z: Unknown Total Percent ACF MGIB ALONE Total Database Education Level Code A: Graduate 5.10% 4.95% 4.99% B: Undergraduate 87.06% 81.49% 83.14% C: Non-Degree, College 2.00% 3.61% 3.13% D: Voc/Tech, Post HS 5.82% 9.92% 8.70% Z: Unknown 0.02% 0.03% 0.03% Total % % % Note. Frequency missing = 1185 A-5

20 Table A5: Time Between Date of Separation and Start of Army College Fund as of September 2012 A-6 Cohort Before Separation 1YR 2YRS 3YRS 4YRS 5YRS 6YRS 7YRS 8YRS 9+ YRS Total Total Table A6: Time Between Date of Separation and Start of Army College Fund as of September 2012 (Percent FY Cohort)

21 A-7 Cohort Before Separation 1YR 2YRS 3YRS 4YRS 5YRS 6YRS 7YRS 8YRS 9+ YRS Total % 56.60% 16.10% 7.70% 5.30% 3.80% 2.60% 2.10% 1.60% 2.80% % % 56.00% 16.20% 7.50% 5.20% 3.60% 2.60% 2.20% 1.80% 2.90% % % 56.40% 16.70% 8.00% 4.80% 3.00% 2.80% 2.00% 1.70% 2.60% % % 56.60% 18.50% 8.00% 4.50% 2.80% 2.40% 1.60% 1.50% 2.20% % % 56.10% 18.00% 7.60% 4.10% 3.60% 2.40% 1.90% 1.60% 2.50% % % 50.60% 17.80% 8.50% 5.30% 3.80% 3.20% 2.60% 2.50% 3.50% % % 49.10% 17.40% 8.40% 5.50% 4.20% 3.10% 3.10% 2.40% 3.90% % % 45.10% 17.40% 9.60% 6.20% 5.00% 3.60% 3.20% 2.70% 3.90% % % 42.30% 19.50% 9.60% 6.30% 5.00% 4.00% 3.60% 2.90% 3.70% % % 41.20% 19.00% 11.20% 6.30% 5.30% 4.00% 3.30% 2.30% 3.80% % % 39.00% 20.30% 11.50% 7.50% 4.70% 4.50% 3.30% 2.90% 3.30% % % 38.50% 21.10% 12.00% 7.40% 5.30% 4.00% 3.50% 2.40% 3.30% % % 42.40% 24.20% 10.80% 7.30% 4.50% 3.60% 1.90% 1.90% 1.40% % % 43.00% 25.20% 12.50% 6.70% 4.50% 2.20% 1.80% 1.20% 0.70% % % 46.90% 25.20% 12.00% 5.80% 3.80% 2.10% 1.50% 0.70% 0.30% % % 48.20% 24.00% 11.50% 6.80% 3.70% 2.30% 1.00% 0.40% 0.20% % % 51.20% 23.80% 11.20% 5.70% 3.10% 1.30% 0.60% 0.20% 0.00% % % 55.40% 24.40% 10.00% 4.60% 1.60% 0.80% 0.20% 0.10% 0.00% % % 62.30% 21.00% 8.30% 3.20% 1.70% 0.10% 0.10% 0.10% 0.00% % % 72.20% 17.10% 4.80% 1.80% 0.30% 0.10% 0.30% 0.00% 0.00% % % 69.90% 18.20% 4.40% 1.00% 0.20% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 73.90% 13.60% 5.20% 0.70% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 78.10% 10.50% 2.90% 1.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 85.80% 8.50% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 78.80% 9.10% 6.10% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 80.00% 20.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % % 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % Weighted Avg: 2.50% 50.50% 18.90% 9.10% 5.60% 3.90% 2.90% 2.30% 1.80% 2.60% %

22 Table A7: Time Between Date of Separation and Start of MGIB Along Usage as of September 2012 A-8 Cohort Before Separation 1YR 2YRS 3YRS 4YRS 5YRS 6YRS 7YRS 8YRS 9+ YRS Total Total

23 Table A8: Time Between Date of Separation and Start of MGIB Alone Usage as of September 2012 (Percent of FY Cohort) A-9 Cohort Before Separation 1YR 2YRS 3YRS 4YRS 5YRS 6YRS 7YRS 8YRS 9+ YRS Total % 42.10% 16.20% 9.80% 6.70% 5.00% 4.00% 3.50% 2.80% 6.30% % % 39.10% 15.40% 10.10% 7.40% 5.40% 4.60% 3.60% 3.30% 6.20% % % 37.80% 17.20% 9.60% 6.80% 5.30% 4.40% 4.00% 3.50% 6.60% % % 39.70% 16.10% 9.10% 6.80% 5.00% 4.40% 4.20% 3.60% 7.00% % % 38.00% 15.70% 8.90% 6.90% 5.40% 4.80% 4.30% 4.10% 7.20% % % 34.90% 15.20% 9.50% 6.90% 6.00% 5.40% 4.70% 4.20% 7.20% % % 33.10% 14.40% 9.30% 7.40% 6.40% 5.50% 5.30% 4.60% 7.20% % % 32.40% 15.80% 9.50% 7.40% 6.30% 5.50% 5.00% 4.70% 6.90% % % 32.20% 15.30% 9.90% 8.20% 6.70% 5.80% 5.40% 4.40% 6.50% % % 30.70% 15.80% 10.20% 8.40% 7.20% 6.50% 5.30% 4.40% 5.80% % % 31.80% 17.10% 11.40% 8.50% 7.20% 5.60% 4.50% 3.90% 5.30% % % 32.90% 18.00% 12.00% 8.60% 6.70% 5.50% 4.30% 3.70% 4.40% % % 35.00% 19.10% 11.80% 8.60% 6.30% 5.00% 4.20% 3.40% 3.00% % % 38.00% 19.60% 12.40% 8.10% 6.00% 4.30% 3.40% 2.50% 2.20% % % 41.20% 20.10% 12.20% 8.00% 5.60% 4.10% 2.70% 1.60% 0.80% % % 44.00% 21.20% 11.90% 7.60% 5.40% 3.40% 2.00% 0.90% 0.50% % % 46.80% 21.70% 11.60% 7.70% 4.50% 2.30% 1.20% 0.40% 0.30% % % 53.60% 22.00% 10.80% 5.50% 2.60% 1.00% 0.40% 0.20% 0.10% % % 59.50% 20.90% 9.20% 3.80% 1.70% 0.50% 0.10% 0.10% 0.00% % % 66.80% 18.30% 6.10% 2.30% 0.70% 0.30% 0.20% 0.10% 0.00% % % 68.80% 16.90% 4.60% 1.90% 0.20% 0.10% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 70.00% 16.80% 3.90% 1.10% 0.20% 0.10% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 75.30% 13.10% 3.10% 0.70% 0.70% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 83.10% 7.90% 2.50% 0.40% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 84.50% 7.30% 1.80% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 77.80% 22.20% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % % 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % % 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % Weighted Avg. 4.60% 39.80% 17.50% 10.20% 7.10% 5.40% 4.30% 3.60% 3.00% 4.50% %

24 MGIB Regular Army Data as of December 2012 Table A9: Takers as of December 2012 Cohort MGIB 2YR 3YR 4YR 5-6YR Total Total Alone ACF ACF ACF ACF ACF * 1074* 2955* * * 1151* 3141* * * 917* 3403* * Total *An undercount of Army College Fund (ACF) participants for the cohorts was acknowledged in 1999 by the Army Personnel Command (PERSCOM). The undercount was a result of the ACF data element not being populated in the Army system for those years. After the problem was discovered, PERSCOM attempted to re-capture the missing information for those cases. Unfortunately, many of the Army cases had already separated from active duty and their records no longer existed in the Total Army Personnel Data Base (TAPDB) system. A-10

25 Table A10: Users as of December 2012 Cohort MGIB 2YR 3YR 4YR 5-6YR Total Total Alone ACF ACF ACF ACF ACF Total A-11

26 Table A11: Percent Users as of December 2012 Cohort MGIB 2YR 3YR 4YR 5-6YR Total Total Alone ACF ACF ACF ACF ACF % 74.50% 68.40% 58.60% 0.00% 65.20% 55.80% % 68.80% 64.30% 54.00% 0.00% 62.00% 45.90% % 71.00% 64.30% 60.80% 0.00% 66.80% 44.90% % 73.30% 66.10% 64.50% 0.00% 67.90% 42.00% % 75.60% 69.60% 67.30% 0.00% 71.20% 41.00% % 66.80% 64.60% 60.30% 0.00% 63.10% 41.20% % 63.10% 59.20% 54.40% % 57.50% 39.00% % 61.40% 59.10% 53.50% 0.00% 56.20% 40.90% % 60.80% 59.40% 52.50% 0.00% 56.50% 38.60% % 59.50% 54.40% 52.70% 0.00% 54.50% 36.80% % 58.90% 57.50% 50.80% 0.00% 54.80% 37.70% % 61.60% 55.00% 51.50% 0.00% 53.70% 36.70% % 85.10% 88.40% 74.30% 0.00% 78.90% 35.70% % 77.90% 80.40% 72.00% 0.00% 74.60% 34.70% % 77.30% 76.00% 69.50% 0.00% 71.30% 33.80% % 64.70% 66.60% 50.90% 0.00% 53.80% 33.90% % 62.00% 57.00% 44.40% 0.00% 47.60% 31.10% % 49.90% 44.90% 34.30% 0.00% 37.10% 27.50% % 27.90% 20.60% 24.70% 0.00% 24.20% 21.40% % 22.50% 15.20% 10.00% 0.00% 12.20% 14.20% % 29.00% 11.20% 5.60% 13.70% 7.70% 7.10% % 16.70% 4.90% 3.60% 4.50% 4.50% 3.70% % 3.40% 2.20% 2.10% 1.80% 2.00% 1.80% % 0.60% 1.10% 0.90% 0.80% 1.00% 0.80% % 0.00% 0.40% 0.30% 0.30% 0.40% 0.40% % 0.00% 0.10% 0.20% 0.10% 0.10% 0.10% % 0.00% 0.00% 0.50% 0.00% 0.20% 0.00% % 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% A-12

27 Table A12: Type of Educational Program Entered as of December 2012 Raw ACF MGIB ALONE Total Database Education Level Code A: Graduate B: Undergraduate C: Non-Degree, College D: Voc/Tech, Post HS Z: Unknown Total Percent ACF MGIB ALONE Total Database Education Level Code A: Graduate 5.14% 4.99% 5.03% B: Undergraduate 87.03% 81.45% 83.11% C: Non-Degree, College 1.99% 3.61% 3.13% D: Voc/Tech, Post HS 5.81% 9.90% 8.69% Z: Unknown 0.03% 0.05% 0.05% Total % % % Note. Frequency missing = 1182 A-13

28 Table A13: Time Between Date of Separation and Start of Army College Fund as of December 2012 A-14 Cohort Before Separation 1YR 2YRS 3YRS 4YRS 5YRS 6YRS 7YRS 8YRS 9+ YRS Total Total

29 Table A14: Time Between Date of Separation and Start of Army College Fund as of December 2012 (Percent of FY Cohort) A-15 Cohort Before Separation 1YR 2YRS 3YRS 4YRS 5YRS 6YRS 7YRS 8YRS 9+ YRS Total % 56.60% 16.10% 7.70% 5.30% 3.80% 2.60% 2.10% 1.60% 2.80% % % 56.10% 16.20% 7.50% 5.20% 3.60% 2.60% 2.20% 1.80% 2.90% % % 56.40% 16.70% 8.00% 4.80% 3.00% 2.80% 2.00% 1.70% 2.60% % % 56.60% 18.50% 8.00% 4.50% 2.80% 2.40% 1.60% 1.50% 2.30% % % 56.10% 18.10% 7.60% 4.10% 3.70% 2.40% 1.90% 1.60% 2.50% % % 50.60% 17.80% 8.50% 5.30% 3.80% 3.20% 2.60% 2.40% 3.50% % % 49.10% 17.40% 8.40% 5.50% 4.20% 3.10% 3.10% 2.40% 3.90% % % 45.10% 17.40% 9.60% 6.20% 5.00% 3.60% 3.20% 2.70% 4.00% % % 42.20% 19.50% 9.60% 6.30% 5.00% 4.00% 3.60% 2.90% 3.80% % % 41.20% 19.10% 11.10% 6.30% 5.30% 4.00% 3.30% 2.20% 3.90% % % 38.90% 20.30% 11.50% 7.50% 4.70% 4.50% 3.30% 2.90% 3.30% % % 38.40% 21.10% 12.00% 7.40% 5.30% 4.00% 3.50% 2.50% 3.30% % % 42.40% 24.00% 10.90% 7.20% 4.60% 3.50% 1.90% 1.90% 1.40% % % 42.90% 25.30% 12.40% 6.70% 4.60% 2.20% 1.90% 1.20% 0.80% % % 46.70% 25.10% 12.00% 5.90% 3.80% 2.10% 1.50% 0.80% 0.30% % % 47.80% 23.80% 11.60% 6.80% 3.80% 2.40% 1.00% 0.50% 0.20% % % 50.80% 23.90% 11.30% 5.90% 3.20% 1.40% 0.70% 0.20% 0.10% % % 54.80% 24.40% 10.20% 4.80% 1.70% 0.90% 0.20% 0.10% 0.00% % % 61.40% 21.20% 8.70% 3.30% 1.70% 0.10% 0.20% 0.10% 0.00% % % 71.80% 17.60% 4.60% 1.90% 1.20% 0.10% 0.30% 0.00% 0.00% % % 68.80% 18.80% 4.70% 1.00% 0.30% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 71.90% 14.20% 5.70% 0.70% 0.70% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 77.20% 11.20% 3.10% 0.90% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 85.30% 7.80% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 79.10% 9.30% 4.70% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 68.80% 18.80% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % % 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % Weighted Avg: 2.50% 51.00% 18.70% 9.00% 5.50% 3.80% 2.80% 2.30% 1.80% 2.60% %

30 A-16 Table A15: Time Between Date of Separation and Start of MGIB Alone Usage as of December 2012 Cohort Before Separation 1YR 2YRS 3YRS 4YRS 5YRS 6YRS 7YRS 8YRS 9+ YRS Total Total

31 Table A16: Time Between Date of Separation and Start of MGIB Alone Usage as of December 2012 (Percent of FY Cohort) A-17 Cohort Before Separation 1YR 2YRS 3YRS 4YRS 5YRS 6YRS 7YRS 8YRS 9+ YRS Total % 42.00% 16.20% 9.80% 6.70% 5.00% 4.00% 3.50% 2.90% 6.30% % % 39.10% 15.40% 10.20% 7.50% 5.40% 4.60% 3.60% 3.30% 6.20% % % 37.80% 17.20% 9.60% 6.80% 5.30% 4.40% 4.00% 3.50% 6.70% % % 39.60% 16.10% 9.10% 6.80% 5.00% 4.30% 4.20% 3.60% 7.00% % % 38.00% 15.70% 8.90% 6.90% 5.40% 4.80% 4.30% 4.10% 7.30% % % 34.90% 15.20% 9.50% 6.90% 5.90% 5.40% 4.70% 4.20% 7.30% % % 33.10% 14.40% 9.30% 7.40% 6.40% 5.50% 5.30% 4.60% 7.30% % % 32.50% 15.70% 9.50% 7.40% 6.30% 5.50% 4.90% 4.70% 6.90% % % 32.20% 15.30% 9.90% 8.20% 6.60% 5.80% 5.40% 4.40% 6.60% % % 30.70% 15.70% 10.20% 8.40% 7.20% 6.50% 5.30% 4.40% 5.90% % % 31.70% 17.10% 11.40% 8.50% 7.20% 5.60% 4.50% 3.90% 5.40% % % 32.80% 18.00% 12.00% 8.60% 6.80% 5.50% 4.30% 3.70% 4.50% % % 34.90% 19.10% 11.90% 8.60% 6.40% 5.00% 4.20% 3.40% 3.10% % % 37.90% 19.60% 12.30% 8.10% 6.00% 4.30% 3.50% 2.60% 2.30% % % 41.00% 20.10% 12.20% 8.00% 5.60% 4.10% 2.80% 1.60% 0.80% % % 43.70% 21.20% 11.90% 7.60% 5.40% 3.40% 2.00% 0.90% 0.60% % % 46.50% 21.70% 11.60% 7.80% 4.50% 2.40% 1.30% 0.50% 0.30% % % 53.20% 22.00% 10.90% 5.50% 2.70% 1.10% 0.50% 0.20% 0.10% % % 59.20% 20.90% 9.30% 3.90% 1.70% 0.60% 0.20% 0.10% 0.00% % % 66.40% 18.30% 6.30% 2.40% 0.80% 0.30% 0.20% 0.10% 0.00% % % 68.20% 17.10% 4.80% 2.00% 0.30% 0.10% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 69.00% 17.10% 4.10% 1.20% 0.20% 0.10% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 74.90% 13.10% 3.30% 0.70% 0.70% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 82.80% 7.80% 2.30% 0.30% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 81.30% 6.70% 2.20% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % 75.00% 19.40% 2.80% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % % 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % % % 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% % Weighted Avg: 4.60% 39.70% 17.50% 10.20% 7.20% 5.40% 4.30% 3.60% 3.00% 4.60% %