GI Bill Information: Ask the Expert Blog

Sir, I am just arrived in Sydney Australia to attend the International Film School Sydney. I submitted a VA Form 22-1990 (VONAPP) on 10 Sep 2009 and was told -via the VA Post 9/11 GI Bill website- that the Post 9/11 GI Bill was approved for international programs.  The long and short of it is, I do not have a VA Rep at the school AND I have still been unable to reach anyone at the VA I am very frustrated and not knowledgeable about how to navigate my way through all the sites (VONAPP, WAVE, VA, GI BILL, etc). School starts on Monday and, luckily, the school is willing to help me through this. — Shane

Hi Shane.  I’ve run into the question of foreign university attendance before and addressed what has to happen in an earlier blog. The blog explains the 15 questions your school has to answer, how the VA calculates how amount tuition they will pay and how much you will get as a monthly housing allowance.

Yes, you can use the Post 9/11 GI Bill for international programs, but first, your school has to submit an application and be approved by the VA. Once they receive approval, the process is the same as with a U.S. based university. The reason you don’t have a VA rep at school is because they have not been previously approved. Approved schools all have VA Reps (or someone on staff doing the job as an additional duty) hired by the school.

You have already submitted your VA Form 22-1990 via VONAPPS, so you have that out of the way. Post 9/11 GI Bill users don’t use WAVE, so you won’t have to worry about that website.

Once approved, take your certificate of eligibility to your school.  Your school’s VA Rep fills out the web-based VA Form 22-1999 Certificate of Enrollment via the VA ONCE Website.  Your 22-1999 matches up with your school’s 22-1990 and you are good to go. Your school will also have to do a Memorandum of Understanding as explained on the VA ONCE Website.

Keep in mind the VA is way behind in processing applications. Don’t expect anything soon as far as approval for your school or payments to you.  At last count, the VA was running about 10-20 weeks behind; you definitely aren’t going to have anything by Monday! 

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