Q&A: Keith M. Wilson
Written by Mark Fitzgerald
MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 5 (July)
of Educational Programs
Keith M. Wilson
Education Director
Keith M. Wilson was appointed director of education service for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on February 22, 2006. In this capacity, Wilson provides executive level oversight in the development of policy, planning and integration of education programs administered by the Veterans Benefits Administration. Approximately 600,000 veterans, servicemembers and dependents pursue education opportunities under these programs annually.
Prior to his current assignment, Wilson was executive management officer to the associate deputy undersecretary of policy and program management. He served as director of the appeals management center from July 2003 until July 2005.
Wilson began his VA career in 1989 at the VA regional office in Lincoln, Neb., and served as veterans service center manager at that office from March 1998 to August 1999. He served in the same capacity at the New Orleans, La., VA regional office from September 1999 until December 2002. He served as assistant director of the Washington regional office from January 2003 until June 2003. In addition to these assignments, Wilson has served on the compensation and pension service advisory committee, and as acting deputy director of the vocational rehabilitation and employment service.
Wilson was born in Orlando, Fla. He is a Navy veteran, having served eight years as an operations specialist. He served aboard the USS Cushing and performed tours of duty in Iceland and Italy. Following military service, he attended the University of Nebraska, where he earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Russian language and in international affairs. Keith M. Wilson was interviewed by MAE Editor Mark Fitzgerald.
Q: Please describe your primary roles and responsibilities as education director?
A: I provide executive level oversight to the Veterans Affairs education programs that we offer to veterans and dependents. We pay benefits to about 600,000 people each year. This involves handling the day-to-day administrative actions to make sure the program runs well and working with stakeholders. Providing educational benefits successfully to veterans requires a lot of different players. I spend much of my time working with schools at the executive level and the technical level to make sure interactions are working well.
We strive to meet the needs of the students that are on campus. We want them graduate. That’s what it’s really all about. We also spend a whole lot of time working with folks here inside the beltway region. Some of our key stakeholders are Congress, particularly the veterans affairs committees in the House and the Senate. We also work with the Department of Defense. So there’s plenty of collaboration.
Q: What are some of your most popular programs?
A: The Post-9/11 GI Bill has received a lot of interest, but that’s really only one of four core programs that we administer. The other GI benefits that were already out there are still out there. We’re actually paying a lot of people under those programs as well. The Montgomery GI Bill is the primary one that folks are aware of; both the active duty component of it, the reserve program component and the reserve educational assistance piece. There is also a different program that we administer just for dependents. Most of our program participants are veterans who no longer have a service obligation. But about 8 percent of the people we pay each year are folks who are still on active duty.
Q: Has it been busier post-9/11 with the engagements abroad?
A: Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill offers a more robust benefit than the other programs that we administer, we’re seeing more people come to us for the first time. So volume-wise we’re seeing more people, but this isn’t really a reflection of military operations overseas, because people are eligible for our educational benefits regardless of where they serve. So even if we didn’t have people in Iraq and Afghanistan, they’d still qualify for VA educational benefits based on their active stateside service.
Q: How would you compare the Montgomery GI Bill to the Post-9/11 GI Bill?
A: This is an interesting topic because both of the programs are very good. But they’re structured differently. What that means is the best program for a specific individual is really dependent on what their situation is. There are some programs that the Post- 9/11 GI Bill doesn’t cover that the Montgomery GI Bill covers; for example, apprenticeship and on-the-job training. Additionally, the payment structure between the two is very different. Broadly speaking, the Post-9/11 GI Bill is the better program financially for most people. However, taking into account that there are a lot of variables, there are still plenty of people who are better off under the Montgomery GI Bill.
So the direction the VA has taken on this is to make sure that we can help individuals answer questions that they need to be able to answer before they can make a sound decision on what the best program is for them. As part of our outreach effort, we put that information on our Website. We also go out and talk to people to make sure they can answer those questions. One of the big questions is a financial one that asks people to look at other aid packages that they may be eligible for, such as Pell Grants and Stafford Loans.
There are also non-financial questions that need to be answered. The date by which someone needs to use their benefits, the delimiting date, is different between the programs. So how long out someone would want to use the program would be a determining factor in which program they would want to use. The Post-9/11 GI Bill does have a new component to it. This is something we’ve never administered before, but certain servicemembers do have the ability now to transfer unused GI Bill benefits to their dependents. This dovetails nicely with what DoD is doing under some of its education programs.
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges and opportunities in integrating various educational programs?
A: At the end of World War II, we were about the only game in town for veterans who wanted to go to college. It was simple: They used the GI Bill. It’s very different now. There are a lot of educational opportunities that servicemembers can pursue while they’re on active duty. There are many more opportunities besides the VA to pay for college. You’ve got campus and state-based aid, scholarships, grants and other awards. There are also more manners in which students can pursue education. Online training, for example, is obviously very prevalent today. So integrating what we offer to students with all of these other programs and opportunities is a continual process. And part of the challenge is making sure veterans know that we are just one piece of the puzzle—a significant one, from our perspective, but just one piece.
Q: How much does the development of good policy influence the planning side of these programs?
A: This is really key to everything. If we don’t have a good foundation from a public policy perspective, it makes it very difficult for veterans to really use the programs. We have multiple GI Bill programs that we’re running. We’ve got the Montgomery GI Bill for the active duty servicemembers, the Montgomery GI Bill for the selected reserve, the Reserve Educational Assistance Program and the Post-9/11 GI Bill. All of these were put together from 1984 onward with specific goals in mind, and they’ve all met those goals. From a user’s perspective, however, this can be mind-boggling in a way because most of our students are eligible for more than one of those programs. Helping them understand their options is one of the most important things we do right now.
Q: What kinds of educational programs have you been most encouraged by in recent years?
A: The interesting thing about GI Bill programs is that they reflect how society views veterans and veteran status. Following the evolution of the GI Bill, things did eventually taper off. We ran a program in the 1970s called the Veteran’s Educational Assistance Program that was not very successful, I think largely because it really was an afterthought in veterans benefits issues.
But what you saw beginning in the mid 1980s with Montgomery GI Bill was different; the education and transition of veterans back into society became more and more important. The Montgomery GI Bill was enacted in 1984, but improved significantly in 2001 when you saw four legislative increases that improved the payment rate under that program.
Congress then enacted the Reserve Educational Assistance Program. The interesting thing about this program is that it is a piece of legislation specifically designed to provide educational opportunities to active guard reservists. But since 9/11, the country has been very dependent on guard reserve members being activated. So seeing this enacted was a good reflection of the way society saw their role.
With the enactment of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, I think you saw a move towards emphasizing the importance of guard reservists and their service come to full fruition. Under this bill, guard reservists, depending on how long they are activated, can get the same GI Bill benefit as someone who is on full-time active duty. So it’s been interesting to see how those programs have evolved over the last couple of decades.
Q: How has your background and education helped you in your current position?
A: Well, I’m a product of the GI Bill. I went to college under the GI Bill at the University of Nebraska and, quite literally, it’s the program that allowed me to succeed. I owe a lot to VA overall, but I owe a lot to the GI Bill program because I simply wouldn’t
have had the opportunity to go to college without it. Q: What do you think are some of the most important issues facing vets today?
A: From an education perspective, making sure they are utilizing fully the opportunities that are available to them. This sounds simple, but it’s more complex than I think people generally recognize. It’s one thing to realize that there’s a GI Bill program out there for you, but it’s quite another to make the conscious decision and the sacrifices needed to go back to school full time after you’ve been away from an education environment.
Most of our students are fresh out of high school. They went directly into the military and did their four to eight years and left. At that point in your life, it’s not always an easy thing to make that decision that you’re just going to go back to school. First of all, they think they’ve got forever, and they don’t. Secondly, as we all know, life takes over and things get in the way, even if you’ve got the best intentions of going back to school. So having that rigor, having that self-discipline and getting back into school is important.
It’s an interesting fact that after World War II only about half of the people who were able to use the GI Bill actually did use it. A lot of people think that everyone used it, that it was just a routine thing that when they got out of the service—they went to college and they graduated and that was it. But that’s simply not the case and I think it’s telling. The numbers we have now for the Montgomery GI Bill indicate that about 70 percent of the people who are eligible to use the program are doing so. But that’s still a full 30 percent who aren’t using the program.
So we can do everything possible to get the word out there about the programs, and we think the Post-9/11 GI Bill is going to bring even more people into college, but that’s only part of it. Once they get into college, they’ve got to graduate and make it worthwhile.
Q: Any new support programs to help vets who are transitioning from the battlefield to civilian and campus life?
A: As part of a pilot project, the VA has begun placing some of our vocational and rehabilitation counselors at campuses to help veterans with their transitional needs, whatever they may be. Regardless of whether these needs are related to posttraumatic stress disorder or other issues, we want to make sure we’re providing the best services and support possible, or bring them into the services that exist in a given area.
Q: How prepared do you think the average vet appears to be for college and for a post-military career?
A: I am one that is not convinced that there is the average veteran. I say that because the veteran population really is simply a microcosm of our society as whole. So a veteran’s experience and preparation is as broad as the rest of American society. Veterans develop a lot of skills that are very important to succeed in college, and they get these skills while they’re in the military. They’re taught discipline, to overcome difficulties and rely on their own abilities, and they’re taught self-confidence.
These are all skills that lead to success in college and in the workplace. These skills are vitally important, and if you talk as I have to educators across the country, they’ll tell you that they are appreciative of having veterans in their classes, because veterans are self-motivated and quality students and they bring experience to the classroom that you don’t find in the rest of the student population. This helps increase the diversity of opinions on a college campus.
Q: How much do you think education factors into preparing vets for the workplace?
A: Number one: veterans are very well positioned to compete for jobs because in the military they’ve developed a level of maturity that you normally don’t see in young people. That’s a good thing. Number two: they bring a good deal of experience to the job. Number three: if they have college degree, they also bring another level of knowledge to the position. When you line those three things up together, it’s hard to compete with a veteran.
Q: There have been some hiccups with the implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Do you see things running more smoothly on the administrative end?
A: We’re confident that we’ve overcome the hiccups. Last year, the fall semester was a challenge. We’ve tried to be very candid about that. But we recovered in the spring semester and I think that went very well. So we really are confident that we’ve got the pieces in place to have a successful fall this year.
Q: Has distance learning, in your opinion, changed the landscape of military education? How so?
A: Online learning has really been a game changer for higher education. I think that’s a good thing. As long as the quality of education is there, the more flexibility that we can offer to students, the better off everybody is. So overall, I think online education has been a positive and I hope it will continue to be and just keep getting better. You have to keep in mind the needs of your population and audience. Flexibility is important for everybody. So if you’re giving them quality education, I don’t think the mode of delivery is the most important issue. The important issue is that they’re getting the information and retaining it.
Q: What have been some the biggest lessons you’ve learned since assuming your position in 2006?
A: The number of stakeholders and the diversity of interests I’ve had to deal with on a regular basis has been enlightening. Early on in this position, I looked at schools, for example, as a rather homogenous group, and now I know that that’s just not the case. It’s certainly not the case to say all schools believe this or all schools believe that. Schools are unique, just as the veteran population is unique. The stakeholders involved with higher education are unique as well. So this has been quite an education.
Q. What visions and key opportunities do you see on the horizon?
A: We’re working hard with Congress on making the Post-9/11 GI Bill even better and that will always be something that’s near and dear to our hearts. It’s a great program, but we want to continue to make it even better and make sure we’re meeting the needs of as many of our potential students as we can.
Q: Any closing thoughts?
A: The main message I want to get out to our veteran and servicemember population is to make it count. They have the most robust education program I believe that we’ve ever administered. It’s important for them to make it count. This country needs good leaders; it needs veterans that are leaders, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure they get their education and go to the next step and become the leaders in government and private industry that we need. ♦