ATLANTA (July 4, 2012)---Unemployed veterans may be heading back to school by the thousands under a new federal program that pays for as much as a year of education.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs officials say out-of-work veterans can get back in the job market in such high demand fields as health care, management and legal services.

So far, there has been an enormous response to the program called the Veteran Retraining Assistance Program or VRAP.

More than 27,000 unemployed veterans have applied and 13,083 have already been accepted.

The program is first-come, first-serve for qualified veterans between the ages of 35 and 60 who are unemployed at the time of the application.

Veterans who are currently receiving unemployment benefits or are enrolled in a federal or state job-training program do not qualify.