As a new GI Bill moved through Congress in 2008, a handful of influential politicians grew concerned. Would such a generous education program trigger an exodus of service members during two wars? At the Pentagon's urging, the lawmakers proposed a fix: Give troops the option to transfer their benefits to a child or spouse. That policy quickly proved to be one of the most popular provisions associated with the Post-9/11 GI Bill. In 2009, when the law took effect, the Department of Defense announced that in exchange for four more years of service, education benefits could be passed on. In the following year, dependents of service members and veterans--most of them children--represented a fifth of the half-million users of the GI Bill. Service members, veterans' groups, and politicians laud the policy as a well-deserved benefit for military families, many of which have endured the strain of multiple deployments during a period of protracted conflict. That comes at a cost: The Department of Veterans Affairs has spent just shy of $26-billion on the Post-9/11 GI Bill; over the program's life span, it is projected to cost $90-billion. Given such investment, some educators have questioned whether the children of high-ranking officers in particular should benefit from the related Yellow Ribbon Program, which gives some GI Bill recipients even more aid--pledged by participating colleges and matched by the federal government. Of the 900,000 people who have pursued college or technical training on the Post-9/11 GI Bill so far, the VA has not shared what proportion, over all, are dependents. And it does not track whether transferred benefits are more common among officers or the enlisted ranks. But dependents are apparently getting a boost--from not only the GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon Program, but also a patchwork of related policies at the state and campus levels.