Chapter 35 Spouse Benefits Backpay Question

[crawsfire]

Since I only applied for Ch. 35 benefits for my spouse when I realized there was a chance she could be approved (Cypert v. peake), by the time I applied she had gone to school for three years already. Now she has been approved with an effective date that precedes all her schooling but I am reading different things as far as backpay.

She applied once in 2004 and then her eligibility ended in 2006 according to the VA. She never actually got paid benefits the first time i applied because she dropped out after a week due to medical problems.Then I find out about the Cypert Peake decision so I filed again in 2009 and they changed her eligibility dates that were originally 1996 through 2006 to 2001 through 2011.

Should she get paid for all her previous schooling (up to 45 month worth) that fall within her new effective dates despite when I filed?

I have read somewhere that they will only backpay a year?

Thanks.

[Berta]

"they changed her eligibility dates that were originally 1996 through 2006 to 2001 through 2011."

I assume this is a formal Certificate of Eligibility they sent to her and her age was not in question?

There is a cut of age 26 in most cases, extended by military service.

Yes they will pay her retro if she has proof of tuition payments to a VA accredited college and has been approved with the Certification and the VA has not questioned her age.

I bring up the age factor because VA approved my daughter and sent her a Certificate of eligibility but the award letter only granted her one month of DEA due to her pending 26th birthday.They forgot to include her 7 years of military service in spite of having her DD 214 etc.They promptly corrected their error.

The VA hinges on age 26 as a cut off for dependent adult children under DEA.If that is not the issue ,and her credits were from a VA approved college during the eligibility dates of your award (most colleges are VA approved) they will need proof of tuition payments from that college and will most likely prepare a refund.

My cut off date was in 2004 but I continued until I graduated in 2007. My last award extended my Chapter 35 DEA.

My school sent the VA and audit statemt fom my student account and the VA sent me the 3 years retro.

[crawsfire]

"they changed her eligibility dates that were originally 1996 through 2006 to 2001 through 2011."

I assume this is a formal Certificate of Eligibility they sent to her and her age was not in question?

There is a cut of age 26 in most cases, extended by military service.

Yes they will pay her retro if she has proof of tuition payments to a VA accredited college and has been approved with the Certification and the VA has not questioned her age.

I bring up the age factor because VA approved my daughter and sent her a Certificate of eligibility but the award letter only granted her one month of DEA due to her pending 26th birthday.They forgot to include her 7 years of military service in spite of having her DD 214 etc.They promptly corrected their error.

The VA hinges on age 26 as a cut off for dependent adult children under DEA.If that is not the issue ,and her credits were from a VA approved college during the eligibility dates of your award (most colleges are VA approved) they will need proof of tuition payments from that college and will most likely prepare a refund.

My cut off date was in 2004 but I continued until I graduated in 2007. My last award extended my Chapter 35 DEA.

My school sent the VA and audit statemt fom my student account and the VA sent me the 3 years retro.

Thanks for replying. Age is not an issue as there is no cutoff age for spouses. How did you get an extension? Her eligibility ends next week and she haven't used all of the 45 months. Thanks.

[Berta]

Ok this is your wife's eligibility-thought it was for adult child-sorry-I read this too fast-

She might want to try to contact her past college's VA counselor for the best advise on how to get the college to send VA form 21-1999 to VA Educational Department.This is the form VA needs to figure out past aid tuition.

The college web site would surely have email contact info for this person.

I dealt by email with my school's VA counselor and then their Financial Aid office prepared the 21-1999.

VA sent me email from VA-ONCE@vba.va.gov to confirm their receipt of the 21-1999.

They sent me the money with a statement of how they came to the amount.

[hawkfire27]

just to add to what berta already said,

She is eligible for back pay from 2001 to 2011. She needs the school's financial aid office or VA certification official (depending on the college) to certify her attendance and the classes she took each semester, what degree program etc.

How much she received in financial aid or what the tuition was will not effect any payments. Just the number of credit hours she took per semester. Be aware that any remedial classes (like pre college math etc) will not generate any payments. You also only get payed for classes that apply to the degree, and are on the certified degree plan. A basketweaving course for example will not generate payment for a business management degree unless there are free elective courses on the degree plan submitted to the VA, so you might need to take that into account as well. This is how they prevent people from being professional students. I just got notification of my award and two of my classes last semester (what I call my sanity classes) did not count, so while I was going to school full time at 15 credits I only got paid at the half-time rate.

As long as she attended and was in a degree seeking program she will qualify for back pay, there is no one year limit for back pay! If she was non-degree seeking then you may have a problem getting back pay though.

[crawsfire]

Thanks very much for all the input.

When backpay is awarded is the payment sent out immediately after the award notification or does it get sent to arrive on the 1st of the month like a regualr CH. 35 payment? Thanks.

[hawkfire27]

The Chapter 35 payments are sent as a US treasury check via USPS.

The retro is sent the same way. Ther eis no guarantee when the retro will arrive or even when the monthly check will arrive.

My step-son has had his check arrive one the 1st once month and the 17th the next. Then some months he doesn't get a check and the next month he gets two a week apart. The Chapter 35 check is definately not something you can budget on....unfortunately.

We have tried several times to get the payments straightened out but the VA just keep saying, it depends on the treasury and the USPS.

Thanks very much for all the input.

When backpay is awarded is the payment sent out immediately after the award notification or does it get sent to arrive on the 1st of the month like a regualr CH. 35 payment? Thanks.