Posts Tagged ‘college credit’

Eric, the VA will not pay for classes that are not part of your degree plan period, so your VA Certifying Official is correct in what s/he is telling you. The purpose of the GI Bill is to train you for a career and because those non-essential classes are not required to get your degree, the VA will not pay for them, but that is probably a good thing as it helps you manage your 36 months of eligibility better. Most likely those elective would not help you in your career or they would have been included in your degree plan.

Otherwise, you would expend them on non-essential classes and end up having to pay for the last few classes you need to get your degree anyway. So it is a case that if you really want to take those non-essential classes, then you will have to pay for them, but are they really worth that, just to get the credits?

With only 36 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill eligibility, you have enough to get a four-year degree, if you manage them correctly. The VA is just helping you do that not paying for classes you don’t need.

If the class schedule at your present school doesn’t fit into your work schedule, then yes indeed, you may have to look at changing schools, or look at taking more classes online. It might take longer to get your degree, but if your job is flexible enough that you can work more hours during semesters when you have a lighter credit load, then you would be able to earn more money during those semesters. Just be sure to take enough credits to still receive your housing allowance.