Posts Tagged ‘GI Bill Rates’

Hi Brendon, You can go to school in any state you desire as long as the school and program are approved for GI Bill use.  As things stand now you would receive a maximum per credit hour of $508.25 to attend school in Ohio using the Post 9/11 GI Bill and $456.30 in Kentucky.  I say as it stands now because new legislation just passed that may cause the rates to change in August 2011.

If you go to school in Kentucky while you are considered a resident of Ohio, you are probably going to have to pay out of state tuition rates and there’s a good change you may have to cover some of your tuition costs out of of pocket.  The amount the Post 9/11 GI Bill provides in each state rarely covers the entire amount schools charge for out of state tuition.

The good news is that both schools are Yellow Ribbon Program participating schools.  If you get accepted into their program, the school and the VA will cover a portion of your excess tuition that isn’t covered by the GI Bill.  Unfortunately the school in Kentucky only accepts 6 undergraduates into the program each year so the odds may not be the greatest, but you still have a chance.  The University of Cincinnati accepts 25 undergraduates into their Yellow Ribbon Program each year.

Hi Gregory, You can be a full time student while in the Reserves; many Reservists have full time jobs outside of their Reserve duty.  Most undergraduate programs consider 12 credit hours per semester to be a full time student and you should be able to handle that load easily while in the Reserves.  Keep in mind though that if your Reserve unit is activated, you may have to leave school for a while.

If you go to an approved school in North Carolina, the Post 9/11 GI Bill will cover your tuition up to a maximum of $606.63 per credit hour.  If your school has tuition above that amount, you may have to cover the difference unless the school is in the Yellow Ribbon Program and you’re accepted into the program by the school.  In that case the school and the VA may cover a part of your tuition not covered by the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

You can go to school in any state you wish, but keep in mind that each state has a maximum tuition rate the Post 9/11 GI Bill will cover and you’ll be attending school as an out of state student so your tuition costs may be a lot higher than the GI Bill than those amounts.  The maximum per credit hour in Hawaii is $316 and the maximum in Oregon is $407; I would think that out of state tuition for both the schools you’re considering is much higher than those amounts so you could be paying some out of pocket tuition costs.

Hi Sid, that chart showing maximum fees can be very confusing, but it has nothing to do with tuition costs.  Fees are the charges that schools add to tuition such as lab or Internet fees.  When a school lists their costs you’ll usually see them listed as tuition and fees; the fees fall into the fees category on the chart.  I don’t know why some states have such a large figure for fees listed.

The number on the chart that you need to be concerned with is the maximum per credit hour paid as that is all the Post 9/11 GI Bill is going to cover when you’re attending school in that state.  It can be very difficult for someone using Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to attend school in a state they aren’t a resident of and not end up having to cover a good portion of their tuition costs out of pocket.  Many schools have very high out of state tuition costs and it might be just a coincidence, but schools in states like Florida and Hawaii seem to have some of the highest.

If you’re planning on attending school in a state that you aren’t a resident of, the best way may be to choose a Yellow Ribbon Program school as you might be able to get a portion or all of your tuition costs that aren’t covered by the Post 9/11 GI Bill taken care of by the Program.  Unfortunately neither of the schools you listed seem to be participants in the program.  You might want to think about switching to a Yellow Ribbon Program school or find out how quickly you can become a resident of Florida.  If memory serves me, Florida allows you to become a resident fairly fast.

Hi Sarah, State supported colleges and universities in Hawaii have some great tuition rates for residents, but their non-resident tuition rates are really high.  I imagine they get a lot of non-resident applications as who wouldn’t want to go to college in Hawaii and the high rates discourage some of those non-residents.

The maximum the Post 9/11 GI Bill will pay for students attending school in Hawaii is $316 per credit hour as your letter probably pointed out.  I’m not sure where you got your $1,308 per course figure as the University of Hawaii Manoa site I looked at showed a non-resident tuition of $1,174.30 per credit hour.  Perhaps the $1,308 per course figure is due to the courses being taught online, but in any event the most the Post 9/11 GI Bill is going to provide you is $316 per credit hour.

I looked to see if the University of Hawaii Manoa was a Yellow Ribbon Program school as that might have helped quite a bit with your tuition costs, but unfortunately they’re not.  You might want to apply for federal student aid and combine it with your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits to take your classes.

Hi Joshua, The University of Arkansas has a list of eligibility requirements you must meet in order to be considered a resident for tuition purposes; the list is in the admissions section of their website.  It sounds like the minimum you must reside in the state to qualify for resident tuition is 6 months, and even then you have to meet other qualifications.  You ought to review the list now and start working toward qualifying as there is a big difference between in state and out of state tuition and a lot of it isn’t going to be covered by your Post 9/11 GI Bill.

The school does mention that they have a Non-Resident Tuition Scholarship and the requirements are listed so you might want to consider that also.  The maximum per credit hour you’re going to receive from your Post 9/11 GI Bill for attending school in Arkansas is $210.15 and out of state tuition is 481.43 per credit hour.  That means that for every credit hour you take until you become a resident you’re going to be responsible for the $307.75 difference and for a 16 credit hour semester the difference would be $4,924.

The University of Arkansas is a Yellow Ribbon Program school and will contribute up to $1,200 toward your excess tuition costs per year if you’re accepted into their program and the VA will match their contribution, but that’s still just a possible $2,400 for a year that you might have close to $10,000 in excess tuition costs.  You can apply for federal tuition aid to help with the excess costs while using Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits and I would start working on those residency requirements.

Hi Jon, That must have been quite a shock; I know it would have been for me.  The chart for the maximum state benefits for the Post 9/11 GI Bill can be a little confusing.  The VA will pay a student using the Post 9/11 GI Bill a maximum of $340 per credit hour in Massachusetts.  The $20,793.50 you’re seeing is the maximum in fees they will pay; the $450 they paid for your son came out of this figure.  I don’t know what school would have $20,793.50 in fees, but evidently there is a reason why Massachusetts felt that figure was appropriate.

The amount the VA paid the school for that semester is correct.  The maximum credit hour rates paid by the Post 9/11 GI Bill are based on the tuition rates for an in state student at a state supported school.  Students attending private or out of state schools may find that the GI Bill provided tuition assistance doesn’t come close to covering their tuition costs which is what happened with your son.

You might check to see if your son’s school is a participant in the Yellow Ribbon Program.  If it is and your son is accepted into the program by the school, that could help a lot with his tuition costs.  If the school isn’t in the program, he might want to take a look at federal student aid.

Hi Noelle, there isn’t a maximum number of credit hours per year you can take as far as the VA is concerned, but there should be a maximum with the school you attend.  You will be enrolled in a degree program, in this case a Physicians Assistant program, and the school along with the State Approving Agency and the VA Certifying Officials at the school determine how many credit hours per semester each degree program should average.

The State Approving Agency is a state agency that works with the VA in each state and approves and monitors the approved programs for the GI Bills.  Each student using the Post 9/11 GI Bill should sit down with a VA Certifying Official at the school and work out a plan for earning a degree and the Official should offer recommendations for course loads per semester.  The school and the Official should not allow the student to take more credit hours per semester than they can successfully handle.

If the degree program you are looking at consists of three semesters per year and an average course load of 20 credit hours per semester and it has been approved by the VA, then your Post 9/11 GI Bill should pay up to $1,010 per credit hour while you are pursuing a degree in that program at a  school in New York and have GI Bill benefits.

If the school is a Yellow Ribbon Program school, they are probably going to monitor your class load even closer to ensure you don’t overload yourself with credit hours per semester.