Today, about 1 million of the fewer than 3 million people in DoD overall, including reserve forces, are eligible for the benefits of the new GI Bill. But that’s still a lot of people who can get a free undergraduate education at fine schools located all around the country or, if the veterans choose an online program, at wherever their home computer may be.

The new bill is a fantastic deal for veterans, particularly because college is a lot more expensive today than it was a half-century ago, when a person could earn enough from a summer job to pay for the upcoming school year. But the bill is also complicated.

Take the Yellow Ribbon program, for example, in which the VA matches up to 50 percent of the difference in a school’s tuition compared with the amount allowable in a particular state. How many schools ultimately participate remains to be seen: anomalies in various states’ tuition rates for public school systems means some of the more expensive schools in the country will be much harder pressed to participate.

Prospective students and schools are still sorting through all the details, and Congress may well change some of those details, if veterans groups and university coalitions have anything to say about it.

As the new editor of Military Advanced Education, I will be working with our contributors to track interest and participation in the new GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon program. What are you seeing so far? Please e-mail or call me with any comments or questions.