New STEM Scholarship Rules Prioritize Veterans Who Exhausted GI Bill, Extend Pension Limits to 2033

The Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship Opportunity Act is making some targeted adjustments to the scholarship program that helps veterans fund degrees in high-demand Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. Essentially, this bill is reorganizing the priority list for who gets this money and adding a critical new rule about when you can actually use the funds.

Clearing the Path for STEM Scholars

The biggest change here is how the VA decides who gets priority for the limited STEM scholarship funds (Section 2). The bill eliminates an existing priority group and adds two new ones that are designed to reward commitment. The new top priority (Category A) goes to veterans who have already used up all their educational assistance under their main benefits chapter (like the Post-9/11 GI Bill). This means if you’ve maxed out your primary benefits but still need more time to finish that engineering degree, this bill puts you at the front of the line.

Following closely behind is the new Category B, which favors veterans who are already enrolled and have officially declared a major in an approved STEM field. The idea is to make sure the scholarship dollars go to people who are actively pursuing these degrees right now. While this restructuring is meant to clarify who gets the funds, it does mean that veterans who previously fell into the now-eliminated second priority group will need to see where they land in the new, slightly shuffled system.

The Fine Print on Funding Access

Here’s the part that matters most for planning your education budget: a new rule dictates that you can only start using the Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship after you have completely exhausted every last bit of your primary educational benefits (Section 2). For the veteran balancing school and work, this is a major planning detail. You can’t use the STEM scholarship funds to fill gaps or stretch out your primary benefits; you must drain your GI Bill first. While this is likely an administrative move to ensure the primary benefit is maximized, it means veterans need to be strategic about when they apply and how they time their final semesters, as access to the supplemental STEM funds is now strictly sequential.

Extending Pension Rules

Separately, the bill includes a provision that affects how long certain rules governing veterans’ pension payments remain in effect (Section 3). Specifically, it pushes back the expiration date for certain limitations on when pension payments can be made. These specific rules, which govern fiscal controls on pension payments, were set to expire on November 30, 2031, but this bill extends that deadline to March 31, 2033. For most veterans receiving a pension, this simply means the existing administrative rules and controls will stay in place for an extra sixteen months.