Son Starting College

[Guest jangrin]

We are filling out the VA form Form 22-5490 for our son to request the educational assistance for DEA Educational Benefits. (Chapter 35 educational).

Once the form is mailed -does anyone know how long before we hear back?

Does VA send a letter of eligibility, that he takes to the school?

He is scheduled to start college in August.

Also, we have read in a couple of different places that it may be best to defer getting the educational benefits until later, but it doesn't explain why it would be better, does anyone have any imput?

Tt looks like the monthly benefit is $860.00 for full time school. Is this correct? Sorry for so many questions. I trust in the folks at Hadit more than the VA counselors.

Thank you for any advise/knowledge on this.

Jangrin

[JR Reihs]

jangrin,

The VA will not pay on both for a Chptr 35, you will lose him as a dependant, but he will gain a lot more money. I do not know what state you are in but in KY they give a tuition waiver for kids who's parent is 100%.

You son realy needs to sign up for classes ASAP to get them cetrtified by the VA, as it will take some time after he starts to get a check. The VA education system is slowing down, and it takes longer to get claims rolling, so summer is the best time to speed this along.

Fill out a FASA online for pell or state grants, its a pain in the ar's but it will help at least with the books....also check out the student loans for a backup.

[Guest jangrin]

jangrin,

The VA will not pay on both for a Chptr 35, you will lose him as a dependant, but he will gain a lot more money. I do not know what state you are in but in KY they give a tuition waiver for kids who's parent is 100%.

You son realy needs to sign up for classes ASAP to get them cetrtified by the VA, as it will take some time after he starts to get a check. The VA education system is slowing down, and it takes longer to get claims rolling, so summer is the best time to speed this along.

Fill out a FASA online for pell or state grants, its a pain in the ar's but it will help at least with the books....also check out the student loans for a backup.

Thank you JR,

Good advice for our son. The college won't let him come in early for registration. So he will have to wait for that. We can at least get the benefits letter done so the VA office at the college will be able to just submit his curriculum to VA Chapter 35 folks.

Thanks for the tip on the grants. I am sure he will fill out for the pell grants and maybe check into working part time through the work /intern program. Yep, your right the Chapter 35 benefit is way more than the VA Compensation. Better for our son to get the Chapter 35 benefits for sure. Thanks again

Jangrin

[free_spirit_etc]

It looks like they pay the set amount for anything above half time -- and oonly reimburse tuition if you are going less than half time. But the tuition reimbursement for less than half time is limited to a monthly payment for a half time student.

If they pay for other things - like testing - they charge your account for the number of months that money equals in benefits. I am wondering if they do the same if your tuition is higher than the monthly benefit - reimburse the tuition - and charge your account for than number of months.

Free

Berta & Pete,

Thanks, Our son is 17 he just graduated from high school. He will start college in August about 2 weeks before his 18th birthday.

The VA just sent us a letter stating that the money Chuckles gets on his compensation check will stop when our son turns 18, unless he is a student. In the same week we got the Chapter 35 benefits letter. I understand that the compensation check would be for the usual amount for 18-23 age range.

If our son elects to go to college full time he would recieve $860.00 per month while in school. I don't think Chuckles is allowed to get compensation if our son is getting school payments. I think it is either/ or , from what I'm reading.

The Chapter 35 doesn't talk about tuition riembursment, it talks about credits and full time, part time, one quarter time. Payment seems to be based on credits/units carried. Tuition riembursement may be for correspondence courses?

The pamphlet we recieved says to send in the application. I think it needs to go in right away before school starts, to establish eligibility for benefits. Then he can go to counselor at the college and figure out his classes and goals. I will call the college and find out about getting an appointment.

The problem is their not real specific about when and what to do to get set up. Like sending a copy of the award letter with application form for benefits. Here's some info for anyone interested.

DEA provides education and training opportunities to eligible dependents of veterans who are permanently and totally disabled due to a service-related condition, or who died while on active duty or as a result of a service related condition. The program offers up to 45 months of education benefits. These benefits may be used for degree and certificate programs, apprenticeship, and on-the-job training. If you are a spouse, you may take a correspondence course. Remedial, deficiency, and refresher courses may be approved under certain circumstances.

Special Restorative Training is available to persons eligible for DEA benefits. The Department of Veterans Affairs may prescribe special restorative training where needed to overcome or lessen the effects of a physical or mental disability for the purpose of enabling an eligible person to pursue a program of education, special vocational program or other appropriate goal. Medical care and treatment or psychiatric treatment are not included. Contact your local VA office for more information.

Special Vocational Training is also available to persons eligible for DEA benefits. This type of program may be approved for an eligible person who is not in need of Special Restorative Training, but who requires such a program because of a mental or physical handicap. Contact your local VA office for more information.

SURVIVORS’ & DEPENDENTS’ - (DEA/CHAPTER 35)

INCREASED EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE ALLOWANCE

EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2006

Educational Assistance Allowance for trainees under the Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance Program (Chapter 35 of title 38, U.S.C.). The following basic monthly rates are effective October 1, 2006.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Institutional Training

Training Time

Monthly rate

Full time

$860.00

3/4 time

$645.00

1/2 time

$429.00

less than 1/2 time more than 1/4 time

$429.00**

1/4 time or less

$215.00 **

Correspondence - Entitlement charged at the rate of one month for each $860.00 paid.

** Tuition and Fees ONLY. Payment cannot exceed the listed amount.

Apprenticeship and On-Job Training

Training Period

Monthly rate

First six months of training

$676.00

Second six months of training

$527.00

Third six months of training $380.00

Remaining pursuit of training

$157.00

http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_Bill_Info/rate...rates100106.htm

[JR Reihs]

Free,

This is not a tuition reimbursement program, you are paid based on amount of credit hours, you are given 40+ months to complete it.

This is the only money you get from the VA, what you do with it is your choice. As far as the work study program....it sucks as there are realy no jobs or just a couple, which are already filled.

[free_spirit_etc]

Yes, I see that they pay a set amount for half time to full time. But it says you can go under half time, but they only reimburse you for tuition if you go less than half time -- and they only reimburse your tution up to the amount of a half time student.

So I guess if the tuition for one class is higher than what you would have recieved over the semester for being a half time student -- you would have to pay the difference.

less than 1/2 time more than 1/4 time

$429.00**

1/4 time or less

$215.00 **

Correspondence - Entitlement charged at the rate of one month for each $860.00 paid.

** Tuition and Fees ONLY. Payment cannot exceed the listed amount.

Free,

This is not a tuition reimbursement program, you are paid based on amount of credit hours, you are given 40+ months to complete it.

This is the only money you get from the VA, what you do with it is your choice. As far as the work study program....it sucks as there are realy no jobs or just a couple, which are already filled.

[Berta]

Jangrin-I am sure that your son will make out OK at school-

I do suggest he access the home page for his intended college to see the Chap 35 format-

I didnt want to mislead you with the info I gave as to how my Chap 35 is handled-

I pay tuition -they reimburse-

This is my school and the explanation as to how they work with VA benefits:

http://www.amu.apus.edu/TuitionandFees/Vet...ion-Payment.htm

I dont know how each school handles this but I was a full time student there when I got my Certificate in Military Studies at same time I was earning degree credits-

that was a special unique situation-

But VA only paid for the credits ,not the cetificate-which was also 30 credits earned-

This is how my school and some other schools handle VA students:

"Veterans Administration (VA) Benefits, GI Bill and/or Top-Up

"Students eligible for VA Benefits must apply for admission and be accepted as an AMU student prior to setting up their VA benefits. To determine your eligibility for VA funding, please visit www.gibill.va.gov

Tuition Payment for VA Users

Students using VA Benefits must pay their tuition in full via credit card or set up ADP (Automatic Debit Plan) payment at registration. The VA office will reimburse the student directly by sending a check or direct deposit. With courses starting every month, APUS students using VA benefits have the time needed to coordinate the up-front payment.

Students experiencing difficult circumstances while coordinating VA benefits and tuition payment may contact vaquestions@apus.edu for assistance. All correspondence to APUS must include full name, student ID and course and/or registration information.

VA Benefit Levels

For information on the number of semester hours required for full-, three quarter-, or half-time VA Benefit levels, please refer to the chart below.

Graduate: 8-Week Courses

Semester Course Load

Student Status

6 semester hours

Full-time

3 semester hours

Half-time

Graduate: 16-Week Courses

9 semester hours

Full-time

6 semester hours

Three-quarter time

3 semester hours

Half-time

Undergraduate: 8-Week Courses

6 semester hours

Full-time

3 semester hours

Half-time

Undergraduate: 16-Week Courses

12 semester hours

Full-time

9 semester hours

Three-quarter time

6 semester hours

Half-time

3 semester hours

Less than Half-time

To view and print AMU’s guide to accessing your VA benefits, please click here."

This might be the payment format for all online universities- or for all military schools- I dont know -because in my case-

even if I go full time for my BS-

say I take 9 semester hours-in a four month course-

and each course required a lab- that would be at least $3,000 in tuition for me-(books would be at least 300 more but I get a grant) but I would get

the 806 a month-3224- which would cover it all just about- even if I didnt get the book grant-

So I am basing what I said on my college format and there might be other ways that other colleges handle the VA payments-

The best bet is to see the home page of the school he is attanding and they will show how they handle tuition-

as I mentioned I think I was first Chap 35 at AMU and I was surprised to see today that they updated this VA benefit info- and I assume this applies to any other VA students-and this might just be the AMU format-

other colleges might be different.

This is what I meant about reimbursement-

Voc Rehab is entirely different-

I believe AMU has separate topic for veterans on Voc Rehab-because that is different program- will check with them on that-

A vet on Voc Rehab gets a set stipend check every month from VA and the VA directly pays their book fees and tuition to the school.

And handles much of the paperwork-

A voc rehab vet can get a good VA counselor at the school who squares away a lot of this for them.

VA checks attendance and progress reports also to make sure the student on a VA educational benefit is maintaining a proper grade average.

Edited June 6, 2007 by Berta