The U.S. Department of Education has answered several questions submitted by NASFAA regarding the exclusion of veterans education benefits from estimated financial assistance (EFA) and some issues with the effective date of this exclusion.
NASFAA Question
Is the revised list of VA education benefit programs in the law comprehensive? The wording is "including but not limited to." Is that in anticipation of future benefits that may be created, or are there other existing benefits that are not listed?
ED Response
The wording "including but not limited to" was purposefully included to cover any Federal VA Education Benefits listed in HEA section 480(c), any other Federal Education Benefits not listed in the HEA for some reason, and any new Federal VA Education Benefit programs that may be established in the future.
NASFAA Note: The benefits from HEA section 480(c) were listed in Monday's Today's News article. The definition of estimated financial assistance, including a listing of VA benefits, also appears in regulation (673.5 and 682.200), where it can be expanded from the law. A benefit does not need to be specifically listed in the law to be considered a veterans education benefit. In other words, just because a benefit has not specifically been listed before does not mean it was not considered an education benefit before. However, not all VA benefits are education benefits. The FSA Handbook also contains an extensive discussion of estimated financial assistance, including the treatment of Veterans education and noneducational benefits.
NASFAA Question
Does the effective date of July 1, 2009, make the exclusion of VA benefits from EFA applicable to the 2009-10 award year, thereby encompassing summer 2009 cross-over periods that the institution assigns as a "header" to the upcoming year but not those designated as a "trailer" to the previous award year? Or, is any summer term that includes July 1 subject to the new law regardless of its designation as a header or trailer?
ED Response
The exclusion of Federal VA Education Benefits would apply to any loan period or payment period that was considered to be a "header" to the 2009-10 year. It would not apply when the school considered the cross-over period to be a "trailer" even if that period includes or was after July 1, 2009.
NASFAA Note: ED is still discussing whether a student who attended a "header" cross-over term but ceased attendance prior to July 1 (for example, because he or she took classes only in the first mini-session of a combined summer term) is entitled to the new VA exclusion for the portion of the period attended.
NASFAA Question
Does the institution have a choice about repackaging or recalculating loan eligibility for summer cross-over terms that were already underway when the technical amendments were enacted?
ED Response
No. The school must review all packages or cross-over periods that were "headers" to determine if the student's eligibility for campus-based aid or FFEL/DL loans would change with the exclusion of the benefits. If so, the school must re-package unless there are no campus-based funds available and/or the student has already received the annual loan maximum or has clearly indicated that he or she does not want a FFEL or Direct Loan or wants a loan in an amount that is less than the now full eligibility.
Yellow Ribbon
The Department is also still discussing the treatment of the institutional share of Yellow Ribbon benefits under chapter 33, the new Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits. That is, should the institutional portion be considered part of the excludable VA benefit, or is it institutional aid that must be considered as EFA? We will post that information in Today's News as soon as we have it.
Posted 07/08/09 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.
