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Chapter 35 Back pay

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tsteck2010

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Alright, so I started college last fall and my dad just qualified for 100% disability over the summer, which they back-dated to February. According to the VA lady here at my school I should receive back pay for the housing allowance for the months that I was in school. I was just wondering if these payments would be direct deposited in the middle of a month or if they would only come on the first of the month, like the actual payments? I am asking because it is the first today and neither my brother nor myself received any payment. I am really curious if I am going to have to wait an entire month to receive that payment or if it could show up on some random day this month. Thanks!

 

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*I am a Chapter 35er but am only aware of the housing allowance to any DEA dependent who has received a Fry Scholarship as explained here:

http://www.armystudyguide.com/education/blog/can-you-explain-how-chapter-35-benefits-work.html

Was your dad's award for 100% P & T?

Have you received your Certificate of Eligibility yet under Chapter 35?

They will reimburse anyone whose entitlement date for a 100% P & T award from their veteran  parent has an EED that proceeds their enrollment.

My DEA ran out at AMU so I continued to pay the tuition myself. Then under a new award they extended my entitlement and I sent the VA counselor at my school the award letter and she got the financial aid officer to give me an audit statement of the tuition I paid,

after the DEA ran out, and then that all went to VA Educational Department, and they refunded the entire amount.

 

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I went through this with my son.   I wish I had better news.  One of the things Eric Shinseki accomplished was to create a "new" backlog.  

The backlog in medical care, benefits, and appeals  was not enough, he created a backlog in Ch. 35 payments, also,  so that more people can be frustrated with a VA system.  I still say we need to have the people who process VA employee payments switch places with those who process payments for Veterans, so VA employees can wait 4-5 years and multiple appeals on their pay, while Vets would then get paid on time, every time within 2 weeks.  

My son NEVER got his back pay.  Never.  They said we did not send in the election letter, however, he went to his school and showed them proof it was sent to VA electronically.  It didnt matter.  He still never got his back pay.  

I will add I got paid for going to college under the "GI bill", back in the late 70's and it went through without a hitch.  Its way, way worse now than it was back then.  

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You need to stay on this. Send them a certified letter, phone call records or anything else your VA school counsler can document. You get 48 months, and they must pay you for each and every month.  My kids and my wife used these benefits, and the payment always came on the 1st.

Your VA counselor is the most important person on campus when you have these bennies, they must put the info into the system, and every semester, make sure they do it as soon as you sign up......Keep on them, you will get paid.

 

Broncovet, I really don't know why the VA did not pay your son, but I would have never let that stand.

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I agree with JR 's reply.

And I believe every Chapter 35 decision can be appealed.There are some at the BVA web site.

I already told what VA did to my daughter. They forgot to add her 7 years of Military service to her entitlement date and gave her a Cert. of Eligibility for one month ( up to her age at 26) and I don't recall any appeal rights that came with their letter. Maybe one did.

The application specifically explains this Military benefit, adding they needed a DD 214 attached, which she sent to them.

I prepared a NOD for her and she said I also claimed CUE in it and she signed it and sent it to VA Educational Dept.They fixed it in about 3 weeks, adding the 7 years to her entitlement.

However, when I received a better entitlement date due to my DMII death claim, as JR Reihs said, the college VA counselor,who I had dealt with already by then for  years,to advise her of my course records and tuition payments, so VA would reimburse me then, was "the most important  person" I dealt with to make DEA run smoothly. There were a few glitches for their payments however, and at that time I was the only civilian in a Military school and the GI Billers ,( nationwide), as well as my classmates ,were having a lot of problems with VA Edu and that fiasco got into the news and finally got fixed.

But VA will not deal with anyone under Chapter 35 except the Chapter 35 claimant,when it comes to the payment process.

As long as this was a VA approved School,and there was no question as to attendance or grades for your son,the letter they sent as refusal to pay should prompt him to appeal it.

If he had a student account on line, they would have his tuition payments and course info there.

I dealt with my VA college counselor via email and he would probably get that email addy in his case by going to the school's web site.

"They said we did not send in the election letter, however, he went to his school and showed them proof it was sent to VA electronically".

That is unfortunate . He should pursue this.

I don't know if a Chap 35er gets an actual  VA C file but he might have one with that election letter in it.

How did he get a Certificate of Eligibility without it?

The school needed the COE to identify him as Chap 35.

 

Something seems wrong here

 

 

 

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My son wound up getting Chapter 35 for college, just not BACK PAY for chapter 35, back to the effective date of my 100% rating.  

He decided, considering he still used almost all of the 36 months (if I recall, he got 36 months of eligibility, maybe someone can correct me if that is wrong), that getting a couple more months of back pay was not worth the fighting VA for it, especially when, I think, he can still use it for post grad.  

According to VA website, they can get up to 81 months, with some stipulations, however.  

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