Transcript Department of Veteran Affairs The Post

Department of Veteran Affairs
The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational
Assistance Act of 2008 (Chapter 33)
Post-9/11 GI Bill
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Eligibility
Elections
Entitlement
Benefits
Transfer of Entitlement
New Legislation
Post-9/11 Bill Status
Streamlining Measures
• Challenges
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Eligibility
Individuals with active duty service after
09/10/01 who:
• Serve a period of 90 aggregate days
• Serve a period of 30 days and receive a
disability discharge
NOTE: Individuals are eligible while on
active duty after serving a period of 90 days
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Eligibility
• Qualifying active duty includes:
– Full-time duty in the Armed Forces, other
than active duty for training
– A call or order to active duty under Title 10
• Active duty periods may begin at any time,
however, only the portion after 09/10/01 can
be used to establish eligibility
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Eligibility Criteria
Service Requirements
(after 9/10/01 an individual must serve an
aggregate of)
Payment Tiers
Percentage
At least 36 months
100
At least 30 continuous days on active duty
(Must be discharged due to service-connected
disability)
100
At least 30 months, but less than 36 months
90
At least 24 months, but less than 30 months
80
*At least 18 months, but less than 24 months
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*At least 12 months, but less than 18 months
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*At least 06 months, but less than 12 months
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*At least 90 days, but less than 6 months
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*Excludes time in Basic Military Training and/or Skill Training
Period of Eligibility
• 15 years from last release from active duty of
at least:
− 90 consecutive days
− 30 consecutive days if released for disability
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Elections
Individuals eligible for one of the following benefits
may be required to make an irrevocable election to
receive benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill
• Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty
• Montgomery GI Bill-Selected Reserve
• Reserve Educational Assistance Program
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Entitlement
Generally, entitlement provisions under the Post-9/11
GI Bill are similar to those under other education
benefit programs:
• Individuals may receive 36 months of benefits
• If an individual’s entitlement exhausts during a
term, benefits may be extended until the end of
the term
• Individuals eligible for more than one program
administered by VA are limited to 48 months of
combined benefits
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Benefits
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Tuition and Fees
Monthly Housing Allowance
Books and Supplies Stipend
Yellow Ribbon
Rural Benefit
Licensing and Certification Tests
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Tuition and Fees
• Individuals on active duty are eligible for tuition
and fees charged
• Individuals not on active duty are eligible for the
lesser of:
− Actual tuition and fees charged; or
− Tuition and fees charged for full-time,
undergraduate training at the most expensive
public institution of higher learning in the state
where the student is enrolled
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Monthly Housing Allowance
• Equivalent to the Basic Allowance for Housing
for an E-5 with dependents
• Amount determined by zip code of the school
where the student is enrolled
• Payments issued directly to the student on a
monthly basis
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Monthly Housing Allowance
Individuals are NOT eligible for the monthly
housing allowance if they are:
• On active duty
• Training at ½ time or less
• Pursuing training solely by distance
learning
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Books and Supplies Stipend
Up to $1,000 per academic year
• Payments issued directly to the student in a
lump sum for each quarter, semester or term
• Active duty members are not eligible
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Yellow Ribbon
• Institutions within the U.S. may voluntarily
enter into an agreement with VA to fund
tuition and fee costs that exceed the highest
public in-state undergraduate tuition and fees
• Provides additional funding for:
– Training at private institutions
– Graduate training
– Out-of-state tuition
• Only individuals entitled to the 100% benefit
rate may receive this funding
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Yellow Ribbon
• VA will match each additional dollar that an
institution contributes, up to 50% of the difference
between the student’s tuition benefit and the total
cost of tuition and fees
• The combined amounts may not exceed the full cost
of the school’s established charges
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Transfer of Entitlement
To be approved for Transfer of Entitlement a member
must:
– Have been in the Armed Forces on 08/01/09,
– Have completed 6 years in the Armed Forces, and
– Agree to serve 4 more years
– PHS and NOAA members are not eligible to transfer
benefits, as only the Secretaries above may offer
transfer of benefits
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Transfer of Entitlement
An individual approved to transfer benefits may:
• Transfer up to 36 months of benefits (unless
DoD/DHS restricts number of months an
individual may transfer).
• Transfer to spouse, child, or children in any
amount up to amount transferor has available or
amount approved by DoD/DHS.
• Revoke or modify a transfer request of any unused
benefits unless the transferor’s 15-year eligibility
period has ended.
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Transfer of Entitlement
An individual approved to transfer benefits may:
– Not transfer benefits to a new dependent once the
transferor is no longer a member of Armed Forces.
– Modify the number of months transferred amongst
dependents.
Liability
Transferor and individual using transferred
entitlement are jointly liable for any overpayment of
chapter 33 benefits
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Transfer of Entitlement
Spouses:
• May use after transferor completes 6 years in
Armed Forces
• Paid at transferor’s rate - Cannot be paid monthly
housing allowance or books and supplies stipend if
the transferor is on active duty when the spouse is
receiving benefits
• Can continue to use benefits if divorced, unless the
transferor revokes remaining entitlement
• Can use benefits up to transferor’s 15-year
eligibility period, unless transferor specifies an
earlier ending date
• Not limited to highest in-State tuition and fee rates
while transferor in on active duty
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Transfer of Entitlement
Children:
• Entitlement must be transferred to an unmarried child who
has not reached the age of 18 or, if in school, before child is
23 years of age
• May use benefits after transferor completes 10 years in
Armed Forces
• Must have:
― Reached age 18; or
― Completed requirements of secondary school diploma
(or equivalency certificate)
• Receives veteran rate, including housing allowance & book
stipend, even if transferor is on active duty
• May use until 26 years old even if transferor’s 15-year
eligibility period ended
• May continue to use benefits after marriage
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New Legislation
• Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry
Scholarship
– amends the Post-9/11 GI Bill (chapter 33) to include
the children of service members who die in the line of
duty after Sept. 10, 2001.
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Post-9/11 GI Bill Status Since Aug 1, 2009
• Over 518,300 students have applied for a
Certificate of Eligibility (C of E)
– Over 510,400 of those have received decisions
– They will be paid when enrolled in school
• 254,520 total beneficiaries paid to date
– $3.0 Billion in benefits payments
• $1.3 Billion to schools
• $1.7 Billion to students
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Post-9/11 GI Bill Status for Spring 2010
• As of March 25, 2010
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229,893 enrollment certifications received from schools
218,160 have been processed
Average 21 days to process
Processing approximately increased from 1,800
enrollments per day in August 2009 to 7,000 per day in
February 2010.
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What VA has Experienced
• Longer processing times
– Inefficiency in IT systems beyond initial estimates
• Transaction functionality more limited than expected and
results in a highly manual process
• IT tools are complex and therefore training is time consuming
• Substantial Ch 33 workload increase
– Use of existing programs remains significant
– Ch 33 allows beneficiaries to exhaust other programs and
maintain eligibility to Ch 33 for 12 months (36/48 months)
– Transfer of entitlement
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Post-911 GI Bill Challenges
• Use of maximum tuition and fee rate per state
to pay benefits
– Requires time consuming research to ensure
maximum possible rates – no authoritative source for
tuition and fee data
– Dependent upon state budget cycle that typically does
not start until July
– Prevented some claims from being processed early as
final rates were not available for all states prior to
program implementation
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Post-911 GI Bill Challenges (Contd)
• Complicated Yellow Ribbon Program
development and implementation because
schools could contribute varying amounts
• Complicated claims processing because each
student could potentially have a different
payment amount that must be verified by
claims processor
• Add/Drop changes result in certification
changes
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Post-911 GI Bill Challenges
(Contd)
• Confusion over housing payment schedule
– Post-9/11 GI Bill pays each month in arrears,
consistent with other education benefits
– Students expect housing payments at the beginning of
each month instead of after each month of attendance,
or full payment after only partial month of attendance
• Contributed to financial hardships among students
• Increased demand on VA customer service
• Receipt of books and supplies stipend at the beginning of
each term contributes to complexity
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Post-911 GI Bill Challenges
(Contd)
• Complexities in program
– Payment differences between Ch 33 and other VA
programs required significant modifications to IT
systems and business processes
• Multiple benefit payments to multiple entities
• Lack of a set payment rate
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New IT Systems Being Developed
• The new Chap 33 system will deliver an end to
end solution to support the delivery of Post9/11 GI Bill benefits. It will be:
– Released in 4-6 month intervals, delivering
incremental capability
– Developed in a distributed application architecture
framework
– Supportive of a service oriented architecture
– Developed using an agile architecture
– Rules-based to ensure reusability and flexibility
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New IT System Results
• Release schedule:
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Version
Version
Version
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1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
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2Q FY2010
3Q FY2010
4Q FY2010
December 2010
• The result will be:
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Faster processing time
More accurate decisions
Less reliance on human intervention to pay benefits
Student self-service
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