Veterans Benefits FAQ

Just bring your VA-issued Certificate of Eligibility (COE) to the Veteran Services Office, room 100 of Stout Hall or send to us via your student email.  Complete a Request for Certification in your myMU Portal and all approved courses will be certified.

Once you have been officially accepted, all your transfer credits have been evaluated, and you have registered for classes.

Students can log on to your myMU Portal and click the Veteran Services tab. In the top right of the page is the link to request certification for the upcoming semester.  If you have questions, stop by our office in Stout Hall or give us a call at 910.630.7174.

All of the academic programs at MU have been approved for Veterans Education Benefits. However, only those courses that are required for your declared major can be approved for your benefits, and electives if needed. When you complete your Request for Certification form approved courses will be annotated with a green check-mark and those courses that cannot be certified by a red X.

Yes. Without a request, we do not know if you wish to use your GI Bill®.

Regardless of the type of GI Bill® you are using our office can NOT clear your account for you. You must contact Student Financial Services yourself. We will provide you a Benefit Statement (Chapter 33 & 31) for you explaining what we expect VA to pay. Student Financial Services also receives a copy of the Benefit Statement.  If your account can be cleared, they will do so and it will be reflected in your portal.  After three to five days if it is not showing you have been cleared, contact that office. You must be cleared by Student Financial Services in the Horner Administration Building each semester and after any course changes.

If you are a veteran, go to the official web site of the Department of Veteran Affairs, Education Division at benefits.va.gov/gibill/apply.asp and complete an electronic application, VA Form 22-1990, Application for VA Education Benefits. You will be mailed a COE in approximately eight weeks.

Yes, if you provide documentation that you are eligible for the benefit, and that you have applied. However, only the Department of Veteran Affairs can determine eligibility for VA benefits. We are only estimating what they will pay. You will be responsible for any amount of your debt VA has determined they will not pay. If you are unsure, wait until you receive the COE through the mail.

No. In certain cases MU will allow this grace period, but all of your prior training must be officially evaluated prior to certification of your course schedule to the VA.  To be eligible, we need all of your official college transcripts including letters of non-attendance, official final high school transcript or GED, and military transcript.

No, those documents state that they are eligible, not you. You must have a COE with your name on it or the approved Transferability Authorization and have submitted a VA Form 22-1990E.

Yes, come to our office in Stout Hall room 100 or the Student Veteran Center in Berns Student Center. We have student veteran volunteers that will assist you with VA forms.

The Yellow Ribbon Program is a provision of the law that created the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The program allows VA to match a school contribution for an additional amount above the chapter 33 cap not to exceed MU’s yellow ribbon cap or 50% of the difference of net tuition charges and the chapter 33 cap.

The required tuition and fees charges after the application of, or reduction in, tuition and fees and any scholarship, or other Federal, State, institutional or employer-based aid or assistance designated for the sole purpose of defraying direct costs of the University. For example, if you receive a scholarship from Methodist University, it will be subtracted from the tuition and fees cost for the semester. That amount is what MU is required to bill the VA.

There are a limited number of MU Yellow Ribbon scholarships for graduate students that will be met with VA’s Yellow Ribbon program. Contact our office to see if you qualify.

You don’t. The Yellow Ribbon is part of the Post 9-11 GI Bill® and is automatically applied if your net tuition costs exceed the maximum cap for VA tuition reimbursement and if you are qualified for the Post 9-11 GI Bill® at the 100% rate. The Yellow Ribbon does not apply for active-duty personnel, their spouses, or veterans receiving less than 100% of the benefit.

Because of the change in the Post 9/11 GI Bill® effective Aug. 1, 2011, an active-duty service-member must have served at least 36 months to be qualified at the 100% rate and even then the VA will not match the Yellow Ribbon contribution of MU for active duty service members and their spouses.

It depends on the type of benefit. We are required to report to VA the net tuition cost after applying grants, scholarships, discounts, etc. that must apply to direct costs. The balance is what VA will pay under chapter 33.

You may possibly qualify for Federal or State financial aid such as PELL grants, need based money, outside scholarships, grants, or student loans. The first step would be to complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Go to fafsa.ed.gov/ to complete the form then talk to our financial aid counselors in Student Financial Services in Horner Administration Building.

The Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship amends the Post-9/11 GI Bill® (Chapter 33) to include the children of service members who die in the line of duty after Sept. 10, 2001. Marine Gunnery Sergeant John D. Fry, 28, of Lorena, Texas, was killed March 8, 2006 by an improvised explosive device in Anbar province, Iraq. The Marine explosives ordnance technician was seriously wounded previously and could have returned home but stayed in Iraq because he was helping fellow Marines and Iraqis, especially children. If you believe you are eligible for this scholarship you can apply using a VA Form 22-5490.

The North Carolina State VA offers scholarships for children of disabled or deceased veterans if the child was born in North Carolina or the veteran was a resident of the state prior to enlisting. Contact your county Veteran Service Officer at nc4vets.com/nc-programs for details or to apply.

You must provide an official copy of your Joint Services Transcript JST (Army, Navy, Coast Guard & USMC) and for Air Force Veterans; Air University (Officers) or CCAF (enlisted) transcript during the admissions process along with your prior college transcripts and High School transcripts so they can be evaluated. The joint services website to request official transcripts is jst.doded.mil/official.html.  Once requested the school should receive an electronic transcript in about 24 hours.

You can. Our office will not tell you which classes you can or cannot take, only what can be certified under VA requirements, which are Federal Law. If you do not need electives VA will pay only for those courses required for your program. Thirty-six months of benefits means you need an average of 15 credit hours each semester in your program to graduate and that is what we want you to do.

There are two veterans’ organizations. Student Veterans of America – MU Chapter, open to all veterans and their family members; and Chi Delta Chi, the Veterans’ Honor Society, open to all MU students who have achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Applications for both groups are available in the Student Veteran Center in Berns Student Center.

Yes. We recommend you first consult with your Academic Advisor. Your advisor must change your major with the Registrar’s Office. We cannot certify you in the new program until it is posted in their system. Veterans receiving chapter 31 benefits must also have the change approved by their VRC.

You may be approved for a minor or dual major but we recommend you have at least 50% of your major requirements completed before you add additional programs outside your declared major. You should also confer with your Academic Advisor before adding a minor or additional major. Dual majors and minors must be reasonably related to a single career field or you can choose one to be certified for benefits. You will also need to complete a VA Form 22-1995/54-1995, Change of Program form. Keep in mind that adding additional education programs will increase the time needed to complete your degree and you may run out of benefits and not have enough credits in any one program for a degree. It will help if you concentrate on one program at a time. Students using chapter 35 benefits cannot be certified for dual majors.

No. VA will not pay for the additional fee, they will pay for the tuition cost. Additional fees would be your responsibility. Courses taken on a pass-fail basis or for audit are also not covered by VA Education Benefits.

The Post 9-11 GI Bill® will pay the fees that are required for all students such as the Student Activity Fee, graduation fee and some program specific fees that are required to complete the degree program. Fees for applied music lessons, parking fees, etc. must be purchased using your book and equipment allowance that is sent to you, not charged to the school. If you are using chapter 31, Veterans Readiness and Employment, your VR&E counselor may approve additional required expenses.

Your book allowance is sent to your bank or mailing address by the VA once your course schedule has been certified. If you did not submit your schedule and Request for Certification form in on time (about 4-6 weeks before the start of the term) you will need to pay for your books yourself. If you have a credit from other financial aid (PELL Grant or other scholarships) you can request the Office of Student Accounts issue a book slip to charge your books at the book store.

That would be your decision, however, if you drop a course after the add/drop period you will be responsible for the tuition charges as VA will not pay for unfinished courses.

No, an F means you attended class but did not score high enough to pass; VA will pay for the course and pay for you to re-take it and replace the failing grade; however you must maintain the Satisfactory Academic Progress as described in the MU catalog. Failure to maintain SAP will result in termination of VA benefits. Repeating classes will adversely affect your SAP but will positively affect your GPA. IMPORTANT: You cannot be certified for benefits if you do not meet the SAP or if your GPA is below 2.0 for two consecutive semesters.

In that case you would receive an unearned F, which is a punitive grade. It will affect your GPA, the last date of attendance will be reported to the VA, and the VA will not pay for that course.

The VA will consider extenuating circumstances if they are made known. You should withdraw from the class in accordance with MU procedures and provide documentation of your reasons to the Office of Veteran Services with your drop slip to include the LDA (last date of attendance). If they accept your extenuating circumstances, they might pay for the class up to the LDA but not for the entire term.

Yes, however you still need to clear through Student Financial Services and sign their statement of understanding outlining your responsibilities financial-wise. For chapter 33 recipients qualified at the 100% level this is a formality but a necessity. Sorry for the inconvenience. By the way, the VA will only cover your required fees, you may have a debit balance with Student Financial Services if you opt for other fees like a book slip (allowing you to charge your textbooks to the MU bookstore) or you would like a permit to be allowed to park your car on campus.

Yes and no. The housing stipend for the Post 9/11 GI Bill® is a flat rate payment based on the zip code of the school paid direct to the student and it is paid at the end of each month after enrolling. This amount may or may not cover the cost of room and board at the school. The charges are payable at the time of registration. It is your responsibility to arrange with Student Financial Services for payment.

It is possible. Individuals authorized more than one GI Bill® benefit can use up to 48 months of benefits but only one benefit at a time. If you have used up your entire chapter 30 and have never used a different chapter (31, 32, 34, 1606 or 1607) you could be eligible for an additional 12 months if you have not reached your delimiting date. To get both the Montgomery and the 12 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill® you would need to have completed more than 39 months of active duty.

No, spouses or children using the Post 9/11 GI Bill®’s Transfer of Eligibility are eligible for up to 72 months of total benefits if they are also eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill® in their own right.

First, the date that the VA tells you is when they released the payment, not when we receive it. Second, your payment does not come in all by itself; we may receive over a hundred payments at one time. Once the Accounting department receives the information from the bank and separates the VA Education payments so they can inform our office the payment is here, we check to ensure the correct amount was received, if not we may have to make adjustments and re-bill or return funds. If a course schedule was changed it may also effect the tuition charged and adjustments have to be made. Then we send the information to Student Financial Services who may also need to make adjustments to properly process the payment to student accounts. On average you need to allow 7-10 working days for this process of checks and balances to complete.

While your particular case may be a simple one, the person whose payment we received before yours may need a lot of attention. We ask that you be patient and allow us to take the time and care necessary to be accurate.

No. Any veterans’ benefits paid under any law administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) should not be reported as income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). You will not receive a W-2 from the VA.

If you are not using the Post 9/11 GI Bill® or Voc-rehab you do have to make payment arrangements yourself through Student Financial Services. If you are using chapter 33 your course load hours are certified early so you can receive your book allowance and housing stipend. The tuition is billed after the add-drop period so you will receive an updated letter from VA once the tuition is billed.

If you are currently using Chapter 33 or Chapter 30 benefits you will need to fill out a VA Form 22-1995. If you are using Chapter 35 benefits fill out a VA Form 22-5495 and take it to the school you are planning to attend.

Courses cannot be certified that you have previously passed or received transfer credit for. Courses that do not receive a punitive grade like those taken on a pass-fail or A-P-F basis cannot be certified. The MU Academic Department determines how classes are graded. The Veteran Services Office is required to comply with Federal and State regulations concerning the administration of the GI Bill®.

See the answer above. Unless an MU faculty member is the primary or assistant instructor and you receive a punitive grade, i.e., a grade that will affect your cumulative grade point average, our VA approval does not allow us to certify courses taken at other schools, inside or outside of the US.

First, come see me and let me know you are not satisfied. I will take the time to sit down with you and make sure the problem is not a simple misunderstanding. But if you are still unsatisfied, the local chapter of the Student Veterans of America may be able to help you. Their stated mission is to assist veterans in the transition from a military to academic lifestyle through peer-to-peer counseling. Their email is [email protected]  and they maintain a presence in the Student Veteran Center in Berns Student Center. Department of Veteran Affairs also has set up an on-line complaint system at benefits.va.gov/GIBILL/Feedback.asp

Contact me in the Veteran Services Office, room 100 of Stout Hall, by phone at 910.630.7174, e-mail [email protected] or you can go to the source at benefits.va.gov/gibill/.