I Am Finishing Up a Degree with Chapter 31, Now I’m Told I Forfeited My GI Bill, Is That True?

12 Responses to “I Am Finishing Up a Degree with Chapter 31, Now I’m Told I Forfeited My GI Bill, Is That True?”

1. Former Soldier says:

   March 14, 2010 at 10:48 am

   Here is an easy way to figure it out.
   The VA has a rule of 48. If you are eligible for education benefits under two or more education programs, you can receive no more than 48 months between the two programs. The one exception is MGIB and Post 9/11 GI Bill. If you have MGIB and convert to Post 9/11 GI Bill, you receive only the number of unused months of MGIB you have remaining. And there is one exception to that. If you used all 36 months of MGIB, then and only then will the VA give you 12 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits. This assumes you are eligible for both programs. If you used benefits under chapter 31 and are eligible for Post 9/11 GI Bill you can use up to 48 months between the two programs.
2. When I Earn a Degree With Chapter 31 Benefits, Can I Use the Post 9/11 GI Bill to Earn a Master’s Degree? | Education Benefits, Post 9/11 GI Bill, Yellow Ribbon Program | GI Bill Expert | GIBill.com « GI Bill Expert Blog says:

   April 8, 2010 at 5:12 pm

   [...] 31 Vocational Rehabilitation Program benefits.  I had a veteran who was using Chapter 31 as a question several months ago, who didn’t realize that the Chapter 31 was considered an education [...]
3. Thomas Kingery says:

   August 19, 2010 at 5:52 am

   I have just started getting my education benifits under control. I was looking at the VA Rehab but, my rep explained that I would get more out of using my GI Bill then I would the VA Rehab. From the way it was explained to me for every month you use VA Rehab you use one months worth of GI Bill. So for a person who paid for the GI Bill I will have to use student aid to get started in the for of the Pell Grant then the GI Bill pays me around $1368 a month for every month I’m a full time student up to 36 months.

   If I had went the VA Rehab way I would have all my shcooling supplies, books and tuition paid for and then receive around $786 a month for being a full time student up to 48 months. So I’m taking the route to use my GI Bill for the first 36 months and then the VA will pick up the last 12 month ensuring I’m getting the best deal to get all my schooling and still use my GI Bill and the VA Rehab program. If this is your first time sitting with a VA rep you may want to bring this up and see if you get the same deal. Cause from my vantage point it’s a whole lot better to do it this way then go straight to VA Rehab and find out you don’t have a GI Bill after you are done with school.

   Just remember do the GI Bill first and then use the VA Rehab for the remainder of your schooling. If you save up money from the GI Bill you should have enough to take you farther then just the VA Rehab can do for you. I hope this helped anyone out there who is asking questions.
4. Jeffery Anderson says:

   August 19, 2010 at 8:59 am

   Hi Thomas, thanks for sharing that information with everyone. I think it may be very helpful to anyone in a similar situation. From what I have heard from some veterans, they don’t feel that the VA has explained Chapter 31 benefits and how their use can affect their GI Bill benefits properly in the past and they use the VA Rehab expecting to be able to use their full GI Bill benefits later. Unfortunately, after they have used the Rehab benefits they discover that they no longer have their full GI Bill benefits. Your method sounds like an excellent way of getting the most out of both programs. Thanks again for a very helpful post!
5. T says:

   September 16, 2010 at 2:43 pm

   I have a similar situation. I completed over 7 years on active duty, then I went over to reserves duty. I used my MGIB and thought I could switch over to MGIB for reserves. Again, the VA does not make things clear. The requirements for MGIB for reserves state “must incur a 6 year obligation.” So, with 11 years of reserve service I expected that I was eligible to this benefit since others have only served on active duty. I was denied since I had never signed one 6-year enlistment. Since military contracts are each an extension of the previous one, I do not agree with this line of thinking.
   Most people who serve this country just do not have any money. Is it too much for us to expect to receive enough education benefits of actually being able to afford an education? All of it! As it is, the new GI bill has subsidized housing, so my version paid far less.
6. Ron Kness says:

   September 17, 2010 at 6:01 am

   If you used all 36 months of your active duty MGIB, then you can only get 12 more months of any GI Bill. Under the VA’s Rule of 48, if you qualfiy for two or more GI Bills, the maximum combined entitlement is 48 months. But those 36-months of your MGIB-AD should have been enough to get you a four-year degree; that is what it was intended to do, so I don’t understand your question “Is it too much for us to expect to receive enough education benefits of actually being able to afford an education?”. I would be interested in hearing more about how you used your MGIB-AD benefits.

   When your reenlistment window opens again, ask for a six-year extension. You are probably re-enlisting for either three or four years at a time, but most reserves have a six-year one available. Sometimes those longer enlistments have an extension bonus attached to them also.

   Ron
7. Ron says:

   December 7, 2010 at 3:31 pm

   Yes, it is a bit confusing. Although, I couldn’t find the reg on the issue, what I have found was that it is possible to use both the GI Bill and Vorehab, of course not at the same time. But the recent information that I found was that as long as you use your paid-up Montgomery GI Bill you may still use your Vorehab, supposedly the two benefits don’t cancel one another out. However, if you start using the Post 911 GI Bill, then try using Vorehab, you may forfeit your benefits. (Case in Point, a friend of mine opted to do 2 years of the Post 911 to complete his BA, once completed, he tried to use the Vorehab to complete a master’s degree, his benefits were denied by VA.) VA claimed you can only use either the Post 911 or the Vorehab, not both. Vorehab and the new Post 911 GI Bill both falls under the same category. The paid up Montgomery GI Bill falls under a different category. There are people who used almost the full benefits of the MGIB, and still use Vorehab for an additional 48 months. With Vorehab, it sometime depends on your condition as to determine the amount of total benefits you will be allotted. So if you never used the Post 911, and instead used only the MGIB and VA is telling you, you don’t qualify for Vorehab, I would suggest you keep calling VA until you get someone on the phone who has a better understanding of MGIB, Post 911, and Vorehab programs and how they can be used/if they can be used in conjunction with one another.
8. frank says:

   January 7, 2011 at 7:10 am

   All the things said above are true. However, if you are disabled at 20% or more, and you talk to a voc rehab counselor, you can actually get them to pay for almost any degree as long as: you have no degree already, which would mean you are employable; they approve it; the career field you choose is a good, well paying one; and you don’t start working while you are in school. As long as you can show the counselor commitment, and you pass the testing they do, they can even pay for a doctorate. just simply explain what profession you want and need to get into. For example, if you tell them your plan is to become a lawyer, and you meet their needs, they can approve paying education until you finish. I am not a voc rehab counselor, and I cannot promise you anything, but this is what I have been told by a counselor. I hope this will spark your interests to at least talk to a counselor about your future, because voc rehab is definitely a great way to go.
9. Jeffery Anderson says:

   January 7, 2011 at 8:36 am

   Hi Frank, thanks for the input! I think your information can help a lot of veterans who may have some confusion about their options.
10. alan says:

    April 12, 2011 at 2:19 am

    Hi Ron, In Ref to your Dec 7th post, I have seen many Veterans use two or three years of entitlement under Post 9/11 GI Bill and then apply for Voc Rehab and get approved.

    Normally Voc Rehab will only pay for a Masters if it is required to get a job in that career field such as Masters in Psychology with Licensed Practical Counselor. Since Vod Rehab is an Employment Program, not a Education Program as many believe, once a Veteran has earned their degree and there are jobs available with that degree in that career field, the Voc Rehab is not going to pay for continuing education.

    Case in point is I see alot of Veterans use MGIB or Post 9/11 to obtain a BA in Education which qualifies them to teach High School. They then apply to Voc Rehab to obtain a Masters in Education because they want to teach College. Unless they have disabilities which would prevent them from teaching High School, Voc Rehab is not going to pay for the Masters as they are qualified to teach high school, there are jobs available and no disabilities to prohibit them from teaching high school.
11. Ian says:

    April 18, 2012 at 9:05 pm

    I would also look into State VA benefits like WA state for example they waive all or part of tuition costs. Check out WA state’s Veteran Benefits, in many ways they are merely trying to mirror the VA.

    http://www.dva.wa.gov/
12. Ron Kness says:

    April 19, 2012 at 4:53 am

    Thanks Ian. Yes most states offer some types of educational benefits to their veterans.