In June, Congress enacted the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, commonly called the GI Bill of Rights for the 21st Century. Supporters claim that it does for current veterans what was done for those who served in World War II. The expansion of educational benefits to veterans should be applauded. Any attempt to equate the economic and social forces that gave rise to the first GI bill and its unforeseen consequences with today's circumstances will lead to false expectations about the impact of the new version. The GI Bill of 1944 was designed as a political response to legitimate fears about the sudden return of civilian life of nearly 16 million veterans. Only 23 percent of military personnel in World War II had high-school diplomas, and just 3 percent had college degrees then. Spurred by the GI bill, 7.8 million veterans took advantage of the bill's educational benefits. The characteristics of the military force today, however, barely resemble those of the generation that served in World War II. Most enlisted members of the armed forces now already have high-school diplomas, many have college credits or degrees, and almost all officers have graduated from college. In this article, the author explains the differences of the purposes for the provision educational benefits of the GI bill of 1944 from that of the GI Bill of Rights for the 21st Century.