On January 18, 2012, Dan Tallon of Iowa City (left), an Iowa National Guard infantry specialist who returned from Afghanistan this summer, and David Johnson of Iowa City, a clerk in the Registrar's Office at the University of Iowa, watched as the Senate approved Senate File 2007, an additional investment in college tuition assistance for returning soldiers like Tallon.
Republicans and Democrats in the Iowa Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday, January 18 to ensure that state tuition help for Iowa’s returning soldiers would not be cut almost in half.
Senate File 2007, sponsored by Senator Brian Schoenjahn of Arlington, would benefit soldiers at Iowa’s universities up to $1,300 per semester in additional aid - if the Iowa House also approves the legislation and Governor Branstad signs it.
Last month, the Iowa National Guard reported that dollars budgeted available for its tuition assistance program would fall short of the increased demand. In fact, the average grant could have fallen from 90 percent to 50 percent of tuition.
On Wednesday, several senators, including Schoenjahn, met with Dan Tallon, a recently returned soldier from Afghanistan who is in his third year at the University of Iowa.
“I’m all for helping Iowa’s returning soldiers attend Iowa colleges,” said Schoenjahn. “They will gain new skills and it will help reduce Iowa’s skilled worker shortage. We can do right by our returning soldiers and help build a stronger Iowa economy at the same time.”