GI Bill Information: Ask the Expert BlogExpert Answers to Your GI Bill Benefits Questions
Author: Ron Kness
by Ron Kness
1. What is included in the “fees”…is that tuition? What is defined as a term? As the A year of study Oxford University comes to a total of approximately $ 38,000 (Tuition is ~$19,300, college fees of ~$3,590, and 12 months accommodation and living expenses of approximately ~$15,000).
2. Approximately how much will the Post 9/11 GI Bill cover for these expenses? If I pursue a dual-degree program (e.g. MA/MBA, are the benefits the same as long as the length of study is under 36 months? Please let me know. I would appreciate any input as I’ve searched everywhere for detailed info but haven’t found specific answers. Thank you! – Navy Man
Navy Man, I can give you some insight into your questions. The amounts you have listed for Post 9/11 GI Bill tuition, housing allowance and fees are correct.
The “fees” amount does not include tuition. They are the mandatory type charges your school charges everyone taking the same course as you. They could include lab fees, health-care fees, student fee, activity fee, etc. As far as how a term is defined? It is whatever schedule your school is on as far as class length. Some schools use a quarter method, while others use semesters.
As you noted above, the Post 9/11 GI Bill pays up to $408.09 per credit. Since this GI Bill pays by the credits you take, the VA pays $408.09 per credit, so you could take a dual degree, provided the VA approves your dual-degree plan first.
For example, if you take 24 credits for the year at Cambridge/Oxford, your GI Bill would pay $9,794.16 in tuition. Your housing allowance would amount to $15,996, plus you would get the $1,000 in a book stipend. The VA would also pay the full fee amount of $3,590, because it is under the $10,502 cap.
So if your total school costs $38,000 for a year, the Post 9/11 GI Bill would pay approximately $26,790.16. You could go to Oxford for a year for a little over $11,000 out-of-pocket costs. That is a pretty sweet deal!
by Ron Kness
Heather, I’m going to assume you submitted VA Form 22-1990 telling the VA you were starting a new program. They need this form to match up with the one your school sends in once you are enrolled to get your Montgomery GI Bill payments restarted. If you have not submitted the form, then you will need to do so as soon as possible.
It normally takes about 8 to 10 weeks before you start seeing any money. After you get your first check, then you should see a monthly amount shortly after the beginning of each month.
Because of the lag time in getting the first check, I always advise students to have at least 3 months of funds in reserve to cover their bills during the initial period. If you don’t have that reserve, and it sounds as though you don’t, then you know it can get rough while you are waiting on your GI Bill payment.
by Ron Kness
He is under the impression that with the original GI Bill, he can’t transfer benefits to his daughter. Is this true?
I know under the new GI Bill that he can’t use it anyway because he signed up right before he got out and is not going to serve 4 more years. I don’t know why anyone would tell him to switch that when they knew his ETS was in Jan 2010. What can we do now if anything? Thanks, – Jeanette
Your husband is correct Jeanette in saying he can’t transfer Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) benefits to his daughter; the MGIB never had a dependent child transfer option as part of that GI Bill.
When you say “he can’t use it anyway”, is not correct, as he can use it, but he can’t transfer entitlement to his daughter, as least not right now. There is a bill in the legislature – S3447 – that if it passes, could allow retirees the option of making a transfer. We don’t know what the final language will look like so I can’t say for sure, but by the time your daughter is ready for college, an option may exist, so all might not be lost yet.
Otherwise, your husband has 15 years, from his discharge date, to use his Post 9/11 GI Bill. If at some point in the future he can transfer entitlements to his daughter, she has from her 18th birthday (or when she gets her high school diploma) until age 26 to use her entitlements.
As far as why someone would advise him to switch? Actually it probably was good advice as no transfer option existed under the MGIB. At least with the Post 9/11 GI Bill, there may be a future option, or at the worst, your husband can go to school and use his entitlement.
by Ron Kness
Whether you will be able to use your GI Bill or not will depend on how the Army characterizes your service. If they code you as anything but fully honorable, you will not be able to use your GI Bill. There is a Post 9/11 GI Bill Fix bill in the legislature right now that may relax the character of discharges that will allow using the GI Bill, but that bill has to first pass.
If you do get something other than fully honorable, you can appeal to have it changed to honorable by filling out DD Form 293 and sending it to the Army Board of Corrections with your supporting documentation. There is no guarantee they will change it and it may take up to six months for a ruling, but it might be worth a try.
Just so we are clear, you would not get “full” Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits with only two years of service anyway. To get to the 100% level, you would need at least three years of service; at two years, you will be at the 80% tier.
by Ron Kness
Long story short, is it out of my hands now and I just wait for the money? If so, is there guesstimated wait times for people at this point in the game? I’m starting to freak as gas is expensive, Haha Thanks for any help. – Beth
Yes Beth, under the Post 9/11 GI Bill, that is the new way of doing things. Normally you get your Certificate of Eligibility first and then take it to your school when you enroll, but it looks like your school did some of the legwork for you in finding out your eligibility first.
As far as the money, yes it is a waiting game now. Your first Post 9/11 GI Bill payment of benefits should be around 8 to 10 weeks after your application was submitted, which means around the first part of November you should get paid for a few days of August, and all of September and October.
After that, you should get paid around the first part of each month as payment for the previous month; as you are always behind in getting paid, you should have some funds available to carry you through until you get your first payment and then each monthly payment.
by Ron Kness
My question is what repercussions withdrawing will have on my benefits. Will I have to repay that portion of my tuition out of my own pocket to retake the class at a later date, or will I still be able to use my benefits to cover this class in a follow on quarter without paying out of my own pocket? Next week is the mid-term for this quarter.
I also fall under the Yellow Ribbon program as well and am curious if there is a formula that the school “should” use to have me make up the difference in the 50% in excess of the In-State tuition rate that they pay. Thank you in advance. – Lelia
Lelia, whether you have to pay back the VA for that Post 9/11 GI Bill course or not really depends on your reason for dropping the course. If you would have dropped it within the drop period, it probably would not have mattered as much, but since you are approaching mid-term, you are obviously beyond the drop time-frame.
If the reason is due to something beyond your control, then you probably won’t have to pay, but if it was within your control, you probably will have to pay.
You need to contact the VA because once you dropped the course, the school notified the VA and they may withhold future benefits until you have contacted them and they are assured that the reason making you drop the course has been cleared up and won’t happen again. Whether you or the VA will have to pay for you to retake the course will depend on their ruling on the reason.
As far as the Yellow Ribbon part, the school can pay up to 50% with the VA paying an equal amount. No, there isn’t a formula, as the actual percentage depends on what amount was agreed upon in their agreement with the VA. With what your school and the VA pays, it should leave very little left for you to pay, unless you are in an extremely expensive program.
by Ron Kness
Yes she will get the Post 9/11 GI Bill housing allowance Larry, provided she is not taking just online classes and her rate of pursuit is considered more than half-time, which is usually at least 7 credits per term. As a nursing student, she will probably attend a brick-and-mortar school, however, if her program is online, all she has to do is take one class, relating to her degree plan, per term on campus, and she will get the housing allowance.
The Post 9/11 GI Bill housing allowance is based on the zip code of her school and paid at the E-5-with-dependents rate. While it does vary throughout the nation, the average is $1,000 per month with the highest being in New York City at $2,700 per month. She will also get a book stipend payable at $41.67 per credit with an annual cap of $1,000 per year.
After you make the transfer and it is approved, she will have to submit VA Form 22-1990e. Once the VA approves her form, she will get back a Certificate of Eligibility that she will need to enroll in school.
The VA will pay her tuition and fees directly to the school, up to the in-state amount for her school’s state.
by Ron Kness
I’m not sure Ken what you mean when you say “the VA took away my money”. I’m assuming you mean they took away your GI Bill benefits from your last term when the school had to withdraw you. Or you could mean you have not received any money for the term you are now going to school.
What generally happens, in a case where the school sends the VA notice that you have withdrawn from school, is they will suspend any further payments to you until you have contacted them and they have some assurance that whatever caused you to withdraw has been corrected and it won’t happen again. The VA will not keep sending you money, if whatever caused you to withdraw has not been corrected. It would be a waste of their money and your benefits.
Contact them and explain what happened, and that it has been corrected. Because the event was in your control (drinking and driving), you may end up having to pay for those classes yourself. If it was an event not in your control, such as a car accident that put you in the hospital for those 25 days, then you wouldn’t have to pay. Keep in mind there are consequences for your actions and next time, think of what those consequences might be before you act. This could end up being an expensive lesson and one you probably can’t afford.
by Ron Kness
You can Rachel provided you are eligible for the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Eligibility for minimum benefits requires at least 90-days after September 10, 2001; full benefit requires at least three years after the same date.
I do want to caution you on one thing though; if you switch to the Post 9/11 GI Bill without first exhausting your Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) entitlement, then you will only get the same number of Post 9/11 GI Bill months of entitlement as you had left on your MGIB.
If you first exhaust your MGIB entitlements, and then switch to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, you will get an additional 12 months of benefits. I wanted you to know the ramification of switching, in case the additional 12 months interests you. If they don’t, then you can switch at any time.
by Ron Kness
First of all, I didn’t fill out my FAFSA form until late July, which apparently the financial aid/veterans people at my university use as an indicator that I’m attending classes. Secondly, one of my classes was cancelled on very short notice and it was about a week before I realized this and scheduled another four credit class. During this time my billing statement was released, indicating that I only owe for three classes instead of four.
It is now August 9th and classes start on the 30th. I haven’t received my book stipend yet, so I’m afraid the VA either thinks I’m not attending, or that I’m only a part time student. I’m definitely going to need the BAH. I think the question is, how long should I wait before I need to call about it? As of now, I have no clue whether or not any of this actually a problem, but any advice would be helpful. – N.J.
N.J., maybe your school requires an FAFSA, but from the VA side of the house, you just needed to give your school your Post 9/11 GI Bill Certificate of Eligibility that you got back when you sent in your VA Form 22-1990. You did send in your VA Form 22-1990 stating your education intention for this term, didn’t you? Once you are registered, your school will send in their form to the VA and once the two forms match up, you’ll start getting paid benefits.
As far as your class mix-up, it sounds like you have the beginning of a mess, and the VA will probably withhold your GI Bill benefits until you contact them to get it straightened out, which now may be awhile. They probably have not sent you your book stipend because they are unsure of how many credits you are actually taking.
Contact the VA as soon as possible and start trying to get this fixed. I would start at either your State VA Office or the Regional Office that takes care of your state as they can be more responsive than the main GI Bill phone number. I would also have some other financial arrangements made in case this holds up your BAH.
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Get answers to questions about the old & new GI Bills
- Former Supervisor of Military Personnel
Services, including Education Benefits - Last assignment: Division Command
Sergeant Major/E-9 - 36 years of military service
