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If I’m Using the Post 9/11 GI Bill, When Will I Get My First Check?

September 2nd, 2010
by Ron Kness
Hi there. My school submitted the form verifying that I’m enrolled at the same time as I was  applying for my Certificate of Eligibility,  which I was told is the “new way” of doing things. I have just heard that they were able to verify my eligibility and I’m awaiting the paper certificate.

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.

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Posted in New GI Bill | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “If I’m Using the Post 9/11 GI Bill, When Will I Get My First Check?”

  1. Joe says:
    September 3, 2010 at 8:30 am

    How many units do you need to qualify for the BHA? I am retired and a work companion told me full time which at the school I am attending it is 6 units, But I have read in many blogs that anywhere from 7 to 12 is needed. Can you answer this question for me?

  2. Ron Kness says:
    September 3, 2010 at 9:48 am

    Yes I can. Your rate of pursuit has to be greater than half-time. Since most schools consider 12 credits as full-time, 7 credits would be more than half-time. If your schools considers 6 credits to be full-time, then you will get the housing allowance. The number of credits required to get you to the greater-than-half-time status (so you can get the housing allowances) is based on what your school considers full-time and that can vary from school to school.

  3. Joe says:
    September 3, 2010 at 5:56 pm

    Thanks Ron, Now for my final question. I just received a letter from the Va stating I am awarded benifits under post 9/11. My question is it has the information of my enrollment and when it started, under the BAH section it states that it will start the 9/16/2010 and end 12/4/2010, but it states that I had a class start 8/16/2010 and it ends 12/17/2010. Will I get BAH for the class that started in august. Thank you for being there and getting the answers to us.

  4. James says:
    December 3, 2010 at 5:46 am

    I enrolled in school in early October and took my letter of Eligibility but wasn’t able to registered for classes till November 23. when would i receive my first payment and would i receive the book stipend before classes on Jan 10.

  5. Ron Kness says:
    December 4, 2010 at 9:59 am

    It is taking 8 to 10 weeks to get the first payment. After that, you should get your money around the same time each month.

    Ron

  6. dan says:
    June 16, 2011 at 6:23 pm

    I just enrolled at university of phoenix, i start june 30, 2011. i qualifiy for the BHA (911 post gi bill), with taking 1 class for 4 hours on thursdays for 6 weeks and at the end of the 6 weeks i then start another class the following week. Not bad.

  7. Ron Kness says:
    June 22, 2011 at 5:34 am

    Thanks for the info Dan.

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