Amherst Alters Veteran Aid Policy

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative file photo. U.S. Navy sailors work aboard USS New Orleans in the Seventh Fleet area in August 2021. Amherst student Joe Reigel served aboard USS New Orleans during his Navy career before enrolling at Amherst College. Reigel says he paid about $16,500 during his first year after the college counted his VA disability compensation and assets when calculating institutional financial aid. Amherst has since changed that policy but says the change will not apply retroactively. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Desmond Parks)

A disabled Navy veteran says he paid about $16,500 out of pocket during his first year at Amherst College after the school counted his monthly VA disability compensation and savings when calculating institutional financial aid.

Veterans at the Massachusetts college spent the summer pressing administrators to change that policy.

Amherst ultimately agreed.

The college says it will no longer count student disability income when determining institutional financial need. It will also stop counting veterans’ Thrift Savings Plan assets and rewrite its veteran financial aid information to make the process clearer.

But for Navy veteran Joe Reigel, the change came too late to recover the money he says he already spent.

Amherst says the new rules apply going forward and will not be applied retroactively.

Reigel, a member of Amherst’s class of 2029, entered the college with 100 percent eligibility for the Post 9/11 GI Bill and approval for the Yellow Ribbon Program.

Before enrolling, he told The Amherst Student that he believed his costs would be covered.

Reigel had served in the Navy, including a 2021 deployment aboard USS New Orleans in the Indo Pacific.

But shortly after committing to Amherst in 2025, he learned that his VA disability compensation would affect the amount the college expected him to contribute toward his education.

At the time, Reigel said he was receiving approximately $3,830 per month in tax free VA disability compensation.

An email obtained by The Amherst Student shows an associate dean of financial aid telling Reigel in June 2025 that his disability income would affect his required contribution.

The email also told him that cash assets he had accumulated were affecting the calculation.

Reigel said there was no resolution during his first year.

He ultimately paid approximately $16,500 out of pocket, according to the investigation published Wednesday.

That amount is Reigel’s account of what he personally paid. Amherst did not dispute in the article that its previous methodology counted disability income.

Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Matt McGann told The Student that Amherst had historically followed common guidance used for what colleges call Institutional Methodology when evaluating financial need.

McGann said Amherst reviewed that approach, partly because of feedback from student veterans, and decided it would no longer consider student disability income when calculating total income.

Reigel was not the only veteran who raised concerns.

The Student interviewed five current Amherst veterans.

Four described confusion or frustration involving military benefits, income or the financial aid process.

One National Guard medic who deployed to Iraq told the newspaper that Amherst initially included his military income in a way that left him facing a potentially large contribution.

According to the investigation, the issue included combat related pay.

The veteran challenged the calculation and Amherst eventually revised his aid package.

McGann told the newspaper that Amherst generally does not consider combat pay when calculating institutional financial aid.

The dispute also exposed a broader source of confusion.

Amherst advertises to veterans that their tuition will be 100 percent free when qualifying benefits and institutional programs apply.

But tuition is not the same thing as the complete cost of attending college.

Housing, meals, insurance and other expenses can add thousands of dollars beyond tuition.

The Student reported that Amherst’s own veteran information emphasized free tuition without clearly explaining to prospective veteran students how VA disability compensation, personal assets or certain other benefits could affect the college’s separate calculation of institutional aid.

During the summer, Reigel and fellow veteran Joey Cano began pressing college administrators for changes.

They met with senior Amherst officials and raised concerns involving disability compensation, military benefits, retirement assets and communication with veteran students.

By Aug. 21, Amherst had agreed to several changes.

An internal email obtained by The Student said the college would stop considering student disability income as part of total income.

It would reduce how heavily it considered assets belonging to independent students.

Veterans’ Thrift Savings Plan assets would no longer be included.

The college also agreed to redesign its veteran webpages to better explain how financial aid works.

The changes represented a significant victory for the veterans who had pushed the issue.

But one question remained for students who had already paid under the previous system.

Would Amherst give any of that money back?

For Reigel, the answer was no.

He told The Student that he asked administrators to return the money he believes he would not have been required to pay under the new methodology.

Amherst declined.

McGann said financial aid improvements at the college have historically been applied prospectively rather than to previous academic years.

He said this policy change would be treated the same way.

That means Reigel’s financial aid calculation changes going forward, but the approximately $16,500 he says he paid during his first year will not be recalculated under the new policy.

The situation also highlights an important distinction between federal and institutional rules.

Student Veterans of America Vice President of Research Abby Kinch told The Student that Amherst’s old practice of considering VA disability compensation was not necessarily a violation of financial aid rules.

But she also said reducing institutional aid because of VA disability compensation is not a universal Yellow Ribbon practice.

Federal financial aid rules have also changed.

VA disability compensation previously appeared as untaxed income on federal student aid forms, but that changed with the simplified FAFSA beginning with the 2024 to 2025 award year.

Private colleges can still use their own methodology when deciding how much institutional aid to provide.

Amherst has now chosen to treat VA disability compensation differently.

For current and future veterans, the college says disability income will no longer reduce the institutional aid calculation and veterans’ TSP retirement assets will no longer count.

For Reigel, however, that change does not erase the roughly $16,500 he says he already paid.

(Source: OAF Nation)