There have been number of conflicting accounts regarding the availability of the new chapter 33 veterans' educational benefits under the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, enacted June 20, 2008. Final rules for this program were published in the Federal Register on March 31, 2009. NASFAA staff has worked with the Veteran's Administration to obtain the latest information on the status of these benefits.
Benefits are in fact being processed and sent out, but the process entails a number of steps. Students (or prospective students) must apply to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for a determination of eligibility; since applications were first accepted in May, approximately 196,000 original applications were received as of last week from individuals requesting chapter 33 benefits. This number includes dependents as well as veterans. The VA has sent certificates of eligibility to approximately 143,000 of those applicants. A determination of eligibility by the VA requires the applicant's service information from the Department of Defense.
Once eligibility is determined, a certificate of eligibility is sent only to the applicant, who must then share it with his or her educational institution. No benefit can be paid, however, until the school submits an enrollment certification to the VA. Schools were able to start submitting enrollment certifications on July 6; to date, about 14,700 submissions for chapter 33 applicants have been received by the VA, and approximately 5,300 have been processed. It routinely takes an average of 30 days from the submission of the enrollment information by the school to the issuance of funds to the school for the tuition and fee benefits. Payment may be delayed beyond that period if the VA needs to request additional information or clarifications from either the student or the school.
The certificate of eligibility indicates whether the applicant will receive 100% of the basic chapter 33 benefit, or some percentage of it, depending on length of service. It does not give a dollar amount, since the amount depends on the state in which the student will attend school and the actual amount of tuition and fee charges imposed by the school for the student's enrollment status.
The basic chapter 33 veteran benefits for tuition and fees (which are separately determined) are limited to the highest amounts charged by state institutions to their in-state students. For some states, the establishment of these caps was delayed because the state budget had not yet set the tuition and fee charges for the year. This situation also delayed enrollment certification, since that information includes the student's actual tuition and fee charges. In other cases, confusion over how to determine the highest in-state charges caused figures to change. A chart of the state caps as of August 17 is available on the VA Web site at http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_Bill_Info/CH33/Tuition_and_fees.htm.
A veteran who served long enough to be eligible for the maximum benefit will receive the full amount of tuition and the full amount of fees charged, up to the respective cap indicated for the state in which he or she is attending school. If the qualifying military service is of shorter duration, only a specified percentage of the maximum benefit can be paid; the percentage ranges from 90% down to 40% depending on the length of service. A student whose certificate of eligibility indicates some percentage other than 100 will receive that percentage of the state caps if his or her charges exceed the caps, or that percentage of actual tuition charges and fee charges if those charges are less than the state caps.
For example, say the state cap for tuition is $100 per credit and the student is enrolling for 12 credits; the student's certificate of eligibility shows her benefit is payable at 90% of the maximum, and the student's actual tuition charge in her program for all 12 credits is $1,000. The student's actual charge of $1,000 is lower than the cap for her enrollment ($100 per credit hour times 12 credits = $1,200). This student will receive 90% of her actual charges (.90 x $1,000 = $900).
Suppose another student whose benefit is also limited to 90% attends a different school in the same state but is charged $5,000 for his 12 credits of enrollment. His actual tuition charge exceeds the state cap; he will receive 90% of the state cap for his enrollment (.90 x $1,200 = $1,080).
In the case of students who have provided their schools with a certificate of eligibility but for whom benefits are not received by the start of the term, schools are encouraged to use the information from the certificate and the state caps chart to estimate benefits and defer charges pending their receipt. The VA Web page that contains the chart also gives examples of how to determine benefit amounts.
Posted 08/25/09 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.
