What did the GI Bill do for many returning World War 2 veterans?

Answer 1

The GI Bill of Rights paid for a college education for any veteran who wanted to go - tuition, fees, books, and housing. Multitudes took advantage of this offer, and college campuses in the late 40s were crammed full. This became, as a result, the most educated generation up to that time in America. Many schools had to build housing for married students to accommodate these vets with their families. These guys were serious students. They had suffered through a Depression childhood, capped that off with a World War, and they were ready to get on with it. After graduation they bore down during the 50s and turned America into the modern marvel it became. We're still sort of gliding on the momentum that generation gave us. Another benefit under the GI Bill was the right to a one time only, no qualifying, no questions asked, no money down home loan. A building boom began as soon as the war was over and lasted for twenty-five years. There had been little building activity after the Great Depression hit in 1929. Then, during the war, war workers had pockets bulging with money from the overtime of 90 hour weeks at good paying jobs, but housing materials could not be had, all being rationed to the military, so there was no building then either. (Consumer goods and cars were not being made either, so there was almost nothing to spend the money on). So after the war, with returning vets with their GI Home Loans and war workers with fat savings, all that pent up demand for housing, cars and consumer goods created an economic miracle. This was when America moved to the suburbs, subdivisions sprang up like mushrooms, so did apartment complexes, and new highways had to be built to carry people to work in town in their new cars. As the educated WWII vets took hold in the economy and demands were satisfied, during the 1950s per capita income DOUBLED in America. We'll never see that happen again.