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The GI Bill

Learn about the origins and effects of the GI Bill, which provided American veterans with housing and tuition benefits. 

Overview

  • Enacted by Congress in 1944, the GI Bill sent more than eight million World War II veterans to school between 1945 and 1956.
  • It also backed home loans, gave veterans a year of unemployment benefits, and provided for veterans' medical care.
  • The bill was a huge success, propelling Americans to new heights of education and helping to fuel the economic prosperity that characterized the postwar era.

The GI Bill

After the end of World War II, American soldiers anxiously awaited their return to civilian life. Those stationed in Europe, Asia, and the Pacific hoped they would soon be reunited with their families and quickly employed in the bustling industrial economy of the United States.
The US government was anxious, too, but for a different reason. World War II had revived American prosperity after more than a decade of depression, and the government was desperate to fend off the economic turmoil that 15 million veterans reentering the workforce might wreak.
Hoping to provide servicemen and women with a measure of financial security upon their return (and, hopefully, siphon a substantial proportion of veterans away from the labor market and into educational programs), President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen's Readjustment Act on June 22, 1944. Commonly known as the GI Bill, the Servicemen's Readjustment Act offered veterans a year of unemployment pay after their homecoming; guaranties for loans to purchase homes, businesses, or farms; and tuition and living stipends for college or vocational programs.
Photograph of President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Servicemen's Readjustment Act while seated at his desk, with many supporters standing behind him.
Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Servicemen's Readjustment Act (GI Bill) into law, June 1944. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Not everyone greeted this plan with enthusiasm. Accustomed to a pre-war society where college education was reserved for the elite, the president of the University of Chicago griped that "Education is not a device for coping with mass unemployment . . . colleges and universities will find themselves converted into educational hobo jungles."1
But this judgment proved premature. The GI Bill was an unprecedented success, sending eight million veterans to school in the decade after World War II and completely reinventing American higher education. Despite the hefty price tag of the program - about $14.5 billion dollars - veterans who took advantage of the educational subsidy earned, on average, $10,000-15,000 more per year than those who did not, generating ten times the cost of the program in tax revenue. Consequently, some analysts have called it "the best investment the US government has ever made."2

Origins of the GI Bill

In 1944, FDR was running for reelection, seeking an unprecedented fourth term as president of the United States. During the Great Depression, he had won broad popular support through the New Deal, which sought to use government programs to ensure baseline economic security for the American people. During his State of the Union address in 1944, Roosevelt proposed a radical "economic bill of rights" that would guarantee American citizens employment, health care, education, and housing.3 In the midst of the wartime economic boom, however, this promise of security failed to animate voters as it had a decade earlier.
What did get their attention was Roosevelt's promise that returning GIs (a nickname for soldiers derived from their "general issue" uniforms) would be entitled to certain perks for their faithful service. With the assistance of the American Legion, the economic bill of rights was revamped as the GI Bill of Rights.
The GI Bill, as it was abbreviated, had three key components:
1) Educational support. Veterans were entitled to $500 per year toward tuition and as well as a living stipend of $65-90 per month depending on whether the veteran had a family to support during his or her schooling.
2) Unemployment benefits. The GI Bill stipulated that veterans could receive $20 per week for a year while looking for work. More than eight million veterans took advantage of this benefit.
3) Loan guaranties. Although the government did not give veterans money to purchase homes, businesses, or farms, it pledged to back veterans' borrowing, making it much easier for them to get credit.
The GI Bill also provided for veterans' medical care, even building new hospitals to meet the increased demand.
Cartoon depicting a white male soldier sitting at the base of a tree, surrounded by "thought bubbles" suggesting different paths in life to him: Job, Back to School, G.I. Bill of Rights, Job training, Business for yourself, Government employment, Job prospects, Self Analysis, Changes.
Cartoon depicting the many choices available to GIs upon their return. Image courtesy National World War II Museum.

Scope of the GI Bill

From 1945 to 1956, about 50% of the American veterans who served in World War II availed themselves of one or more aspects of the GI Bill. 2.2 million veterans went to college, 3.5 million went to technical or vocational school, and 700,000 took instruction in agriculture. The number of Americans who earned college degrees more than doubled before and after the war, from just over 200,000 in 1940 to nearly half a million in 1950.4
The GI Bill expanded American university instruction from a curriculum focused solely on the liberal arts to one encompassing a range of career paths, including science, business, and engineering. Historian James T. Patterson has called it "the most significant development in the modern history of American education."5
The government guaranty for home and business loans also prompted an economic boom, financing the construction of thousands of new homes, like those that sprang up in suburbs such as Levittown, New York.
Overall, the GI Bill was a major factor driving the prosperity of the postwar era. Not only did it save the American economy from a potential unemployment epidemic, it was also the gift that kept on giving: as more Americans took advantage of higher education, they earned higher wages, and could therefore pump more money into the economy by buying homes and consumer goods.

What do you think?

Imagine you were returning from World War II. Which of the GI Bill benefits do you think would be most important to you and why?
Why do historians believe the GI Bill to be so transformative in American education?
How was the passage of the GI Bill related to the rise of America suburbia?

Want to join the conversation?

  • leafers ultimate style avatar for user J
    Why were people so opposed to people other than them learning. The article said "the president of the University of Chicago griped that 'Education is not a device for coping with mass unemployment . . . colleges and universities will find themselves converted into educational hobo jungles.'" Why were they so inconsiderate?
    (23 votes)
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    • winston baby style avatar for user JMaginot1
      I imagine education made people feel very superior, it still does now for some people. They generally didn't trust someone without education, probably feeling that there should be some other way for people to get a job. If you look for only a certain type of person to work with, why would you work to educate poorer people as to have them work alongside you? (Hope that helps.)
      (46 votes)
  • stelly blue style avatar for user Jorge Daniel Garcia
    Why/How was Franklin D. Roosevelt able to be president for four terms? I thought you could only be reelected one time.
    (12 votes)
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  • stelly blue style avatar for user Jorge Daniel Garcia
    Why is it called the GI Bill?
    (4 votes)
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  • leafers seed style avatar for user abbieeot
    I see that a lot of men did not avail of the educational support. Was it mainly only younger soldiers that used the educational grants and did older soldiers ignore the educational support or did a mix of all ages go on to education after the war?
    (7 votes)
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  • spunky sam blue style avatar for user Elissa Ladwig
    in paragraph 3 when it said 14.5 BILLION$ how much would that be in today's curency USA
    (3 votes)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user matthew Sikes
    would the GI bill also help push people to enlist in the military so they can benefit from the GI bill to?
    (3 votes)
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  • blobby green style avatar for user Serwe, Trenton
    why didnt the government allow the Gi bill to help out all veterans
    (2 votes)
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    • aqualine tree style avatar for user David Alexander
      Let's make a distinction between legislation and implementation.
      The legislation was made for all.
      But at the implementation level, regulations were applied. These regulations made it difficult, even impossible, for some people, particular people of color, to get the benefit of the legislation.
      "The Government" is a big outfit. Sometimes its right hand doesn't know what its left hand is doing. Sometimes evil people get into government and use its complexities to do evil to other people (and the example of uneven application of good legislation in the case of the GI bill is one such instance).

      I personally benefited from the GI bill after I left the Army in 1972. I used it for dental care, and for education, eventually getting through a couple Master's degrees. I'm grateful. But I recognize that many of my Black and Brown sisters and brothers at arms were unjustly denied what was mine just for being white and asking.
      (5 votes)
  • leaf green style avatar for user Bevely E Buerger
    So Levittown was a outgrowth of the Suburb move? More veterans working and educating themselves and having children wanted to get out of towns and away from the chaos? They also were creating unknowingly better schools with children from similar classes attending. And, small businesses that became important to filling the needs of suburbia so the people didn't have to drive to the big city for provisions. Did not Levittown set a standard for the creation of more jobs, better education, small business and a more social atmosphere? Perhaps also a type of independent community for people?
    (2 votes)
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    • duskpin ultimate style avatar for user Harriet Buchanan
      Suburbs were great for the people who moved there, but it was also known as "White Flight" because it tended to leave behind the uneducated and people of color. The problems it is creating today are that suburbs are dependent on having an automobile. There is little mass transit to reduce pollution. Also, as the suburban population ages, it creates difficulties for senior citizens when they are no longer able to drive.
      (4 votes)
  • blobby green style avatar for user llgilramos
    Who is eligible to receive benefits?
    (2 votes)
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    • aqualine tree style avatar for user David Alexander
      The GI Bill changes with time. Generally, though, it is for persons who have served the armed forces of the United States and have died while in service or have been discharged in honorable conditions. If getting those benefits is something to which you aspire, plan on serving in the uniformed armed service. Ask before you enlist, though, because the benefits you may be able to claim after your discharge may be keyed to the date upon which you take the oath.
      (3 votes)
  • blobby green style avatar for user layramirez
    How was Franklin D. Roosevelt able to be president for four terms?
    (3 votes)
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