First Meeting Horrible. Any Advice?

[Pete53]

You should ask for a meeting. Are you looking for Voc Rehab to send you to Law School. If so it has been done before. If you get turned down you only have 30 days to appeal.

[Navy04]

Welcome aboard and sorry to hear of your issues bud. I have multiple degrees of higher learning, but in my case I had to quit school when I was working on my Doctorate. I was not able to focus or be around people anymore. Now the VA does have a bad habit of looking at us with Degrees and assuming that if we are smart, then we must not be Disabled and are Miraculously cured. Just keep going in there and get your point across. Good luck and God Bless

[pcake]

Thank you for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

Yes, I'm trying to get VR to cover law school. I've been talking with a friend who was just approved through VR to go to law school this coming Fall and his counselor accepted him to the program on the first meeting. However, I wasn't so lucky.

I was confused they sent me to a different counselor other than the one I was assigned to, I'm not sure why that happened. I've been calling the voc rehab rehab office to try and get another appointment but they keep giving me my counselor's number and telling me to get in contact with her. I've left several voicemails and I've emailed her but she still has not responded.

I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on any progress. Thanks again!

[pcake]

I finally heard back from my counselor. She emailed me saying that she is still denying me to the program and the decision "was not taken lightly." Based on my ability to earn a bachelors degree, they therefore concluded that I have overcome my disabilities and I do not pose any obstacles finding employment, although I've applied to literally hundreds of jobs with no success and I have plenty of rejection letters and emails from potential employers. Is this normal or did I catch someone on a bad day?

I wanted to add also that I spoke with a counselor very briefly and as soon as she found out I had a bachelors degree, she told me in the meeting that she was going to recommend denying my claim. Very unprofessional in my opinion. She never even asked me about my PTSD (rated at 70%) and how that has been an obstacle for me. She basically told me she was going to deny me then showed me the door as soon as I told about about my degree.

I did get ahold of a different counselor who told me just to reapply instead of appealing the decision. So I just reapplied and will be sure to have everything ready next time and hopefully I get a different counselor.

[bolt_vet23]

I completed my undergrad and graduate degree with my MGIB since the counselor told me to use up those benefits before I use vocational rehab. It sounds like I might have an issue based on pcake's experience. I'm curious to see what happens with your latest claim.

[pcake]

Update

I walked into my local VR&E office to try and get a sit down with any counselor. I was not able to see anyone. I asked for a copy of my complete file from VR&E. An intern told me I was not allowed to see my file. The counselor I had spoken with during my initial orientation came to the front and gave me a print on how to file a Freedom of Information Request. I emailed and left a voicemail for my counselor and finally heard back from her today, a week later. She told me she was glad to hear my request for my file has been handled, which it has not!

Does anyone know how to obtain a copy of your file from VR&E? I remember I only needed to sign a release of information to get copies of my medical files. Is it a different process for VR&E?

[Notorious Kelly]

pcake,

I'm sorry to hear you're getting the runaround from what is obviously a typical bureaucracy: they hear 1 'red flag' (your degree) and then rubberstamp a denial without listening to other possible complications.

File that FOIA, follow up with a FOIA Appeal (when they don't get your paperwork in time) and raise as much hell as possible thru legal means.