Changes made to the Post-9/11 GI Bill earlier this year – dubbed the GI Bill 2.0 – will allow students to use the education benefit for non-college degrees, offering today’s veterans a smorgasbord of educational choices ranging from four-year degrees at the nation’s elite colleges and universities to trade schools, flight training and apprenticeships.

The expansion of benefits, which begins Oct. 1, 2011, is due to passage of the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Improvement Act of 2010, which was signed into law on Jan. 4, 2011. Whereas the Post-9/11 GI Bill previously was restricted to degree-granting institutions, the GI Bill 2.0 opens the doors of vocational schools to student veterans.