The Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the GI Bill of Rights, provided a variety of benefits for "veterans" (e.g. "demobilized soldiers," cf. different usage in British English) of World War II. The Act, signed into law on June 22, 1944 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, evolved from the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which had established compulsory military conscription, or "the draft."

The G.I. Bill (which is still in effect, having been revised several times since 1944) was a powerful stimulus for social and economic change in post-WWII America. It made possible the investment of billions of dollars in education and training, housing, and small business investment for millions of veterans, the result of which was a dramatically changed society. The GI Bill fostered the growth of the American middle class. Education, income opportunities, and home ownership combined to improve the standard of living for many Americans. More families were able to raise their children in comfortable environments and provide higher education for their children.

Some of the most significant benefits concerned education. Veterans who attended college or entered vocational training programs received financial assistance to help defray the cost of education and compensate for income they had lost by having been drafted into the military from their previous civilian jobs.

Any veteran who had served at least 90 days was eligible for education benefits. The benefits increased relative to length of service and time spent in a 'combat zone.' The influence on higher education can be seen by a single comparison: In 1940 only 109,000 men and 77,000 women had graduated from college with bachelor's degrees. By 1949, due to the influence of the G.I. Bill, these numbers had risen to 528,000 men and 103,000 women. In all, roughly 2.2 million veterans, about one-third of all those who returned from WWII, entered U.S. colleges and universities under the G.I. Bill.

With this fivefold increase in college registrations within a very short period, schools had to construct temporary housing to accommodate the new students. Existing institutions were forced to expand. Often new campuses had to be created to accommodate the need for administrative, classroom and housing facilities. Many entirely new institutions of higher education were created. New types of higher education institutions, such as the "junior colleges," also began to emerge.

In the long term, perhaps most significant was that higher education changed from its relatively elitist status prior to WWII to an experience that was felt possible for everyone in the post-War years. For the war generation, total enrollment in colleges and universities increased from ca 1.5 million in 1939 to 2.6 million in 1949. For their children, however, access to higher education was regarded almost as self-evident. By 1969, when the first wave of the baby boom had completed higher education, total enrollment was up to 8 million. A generation later, in 1989, enrollment was 13.5 million, and it continues to increase. Higher education had become a commodity, available to all (statistics from the U.S. Dept. of Education, 1995).

Another important benefit of the G.I. Bill was guaranteed low-interest home loans. Any veteran who had served for at least 90 days, or who had been injured or disabled in the line of duty and had been honorably discharged, was eligible for a mortgage of up to 100% of the cost of a new home. The rapid establishment of families by returning G.I.'s, and the the "baby boom" starting in 1946, resulted in a critical need for family housing, preferably with extra bedrooms and yards to play in for the growing children.

Thus was created the new phenomenon of the suburb, symbolized by the first "Levittowns." The suburban concept spread rapidly in the 1950s, as the higher incomes of the first wave of new college graduates in the late 1940s, combined with the GI Bill's low-interest housing loans, resulted in a continuous demand for newer, larger homes. The ratio of U.S. homeowners doubled from 1 in 3 before the war to 2 in 3 after the war. And, as the availability of new suburban homes increased, people left the cities. This eventually gave rise to "inner-city" decay.

There were other benefits of the G.I. Bill as well. Low-interest loans to help start or invest in an existing business were also available to veterans. This caused a boom in small businesses. Increasingly these were located in suburbia, where both owners and customers now lived. Thus grew the impetus toward the modern "exurbs" and "edge cities."

More information can be found in The G.I. Bill, the Veterans, and the Colleges, by Keith W. Olson (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1974). This book, which was runner-up for the Frederick Jackson Turner Prize of the Organization of American Historians, is available in the university library or can be borrowed from John. Overviews are also available at: www.ohiohistory.org and Wikipedia: 'The G.I. Bill of Rights'.