Posts Tagged ‘GI Bill Payments’

Hi Dorian, let’s start at the end and work back. First, your college is doing the right thing by sending in your Certificate of Enrollment. As a matter-of-fact, you couldn’t do it even if you wanted to. That is a school reporting function that must be done by them for each semester you are enrolled.

Let’s tackle the housing allowance issue next. You get BAH while you are on active duty, but not while you are in the Reserves. Once in the Reserves or after separated entirely from active duty, then you would get the Post 9/11 GI Bill housing allowance. BAH and the housing allowance are not the same although many people use the two terms interchangeably.

So the $1,400 you got in July/August sounds like it would be around the full amount authorized, but at that time, your housing allowance was not dependent on how many credits you were taking as long as you were taking at least 51% of what you school considered to be full-time.

But that changed last fall with the implementation of the GI Bill 2.0 After the change, your housing allowance is based both on the zip code of your school and the number of credits you are taking. So if you are not a full-time student, that is why your housing allowance dropped. To get the full amount authorized, you will have to increase the number of credits you take up to the full-time level, whatever that number is for your school.

Yes you can Ariel, but I want to make you aware of a couple of things first. One, your Post 9/11 GI Bill housing allowance is determined by the zip code of your school and the number of credits you are taking each semester. For example the housing allowance amount for a full-time student going to school in Atlanta would be $1,149. The same student going to school in Miami is $1,863 per month. So from the housing allowance standpoint, you would earn about $700 per month more by going to school in Miami verses Atlanta.

However, the housing allowance is only half the equation. You also have to look at tuition as you will most likely not have residency in Florida. Now that is not an issue if GA and FL have a reciprocity agreement with each other where students can cross state lines and not pay out-state tuition.  If they don’t have reciprocity, then expect to pay the non-resident tuition amount which in some cases can be double the resident rate.

If that ends up being the case, then ask if your FL school is a Yellow Ribbon school. If so, that program could possibly help pay for the tuition difference between what the Post 9/11 GI Bill pays and what your FL school charges you.  This is doable, but act smart and ask lots of questions before committing.

You are asking two separate questions Thomas. Question one is are there any schools that would let me attend exclusively online? Question two asks whether you can do so while still receiving the whole housing allowance, or as you call it bah, which is not really correct.

To answer question one, yes there are plenty of schools offering online-only programs resulting in degrees all the way up to the doctorate level.

To answer question two, no you cannot get the full Post 9/11 GI Bill housing allowance by attending school exclusively online. If you take enough credits to put your rate of pursuit at full-time, you would get the full online-only rate of 673.50 per month.

By using the Post 9/11 GI Bill, the VA will pay your tuition and fees directly to your schools. You will get the $673.50 per month and $41.67 per credit in a book stipend (up to the $1,000 per year maximum). Since you are working a full-time job, you are not fully dependent on your housing allowance for living expenses. I wouldn’t worry about if I would get the full housing allowance or not. While it would be nice to get the extra money, getting your degree is far more important and in the end will be worth far more than what you lost in housing allowance money.