Assisting and Advising Vets on Financial Issues
Assisting and Advising Vets on Financial Issues
Transcript
Here are some particular areas where college and universities can create policies and practices to help anticipate and mitigate some of the most common sources of financial stress for student veterans.
Creating a payment plan that aligns with the disbursement schedule for VA benefits can help avoid a situation where a student veteran is flagged as being in arrears on their account, charged unnecessary late fees, and/or placed on a financial hold with regard to registration or other important college or university processes.
This is particularly important with regard to any portion of monthly housing allowance payments that are expected to be used to cover room and board charges.
Many types of aid, including federal financial aid, are based on a prior time period that may include income the student veteran no longer earns.
Student veterans should be encouraged to consult the school financial aid office to see if a re-evaluation of their financial aid based on a change of income is an option.
Since MHA is provided only when a student is enrolled in classes, helping a student veteran to enroll in summer courses can serve as a way to receive their MHA benefit to help pay for housing and food expenses during the summer months.
It is important that any summer course registrations also help the student veteran make progress towards their degree or other educational goals as using VA educational benefits over the summer will count against the overall limit on such benefits.
Financial aid awards will often include an expectation that a student will earn money over the summer that will be put towards the cost of their education.
A student veteran, though, may need to put those earnings towards their basic living expenses because of the loss of MHA payments during the summer months.
Consequently, colleges and universities should consider modifying their summer earning expectations for student veterans. Personal issues, health matters, or military deployments or other obligations may arise during the semester that result in a student veteran wanting to withdraw from courses or seek a leave of absence.
Such actions can have significant financial consequences for student veterans receiving educational benefits from the VA, including generating a debt on the expectation that benefits will be repaid.
It is vital that advisors understand the financial consequences of such decisions to be able to advise student veterans about the best course of action, both academically and financially.
Student veterans should work closely with the SCO on that campus before dropping or withdrawing from classes so that any financial ramifications are clearly understood.
Colleges and universities should also develop clear policies about how they will respond if a student veteran is deployed during the term.
These policies should address financial as well as academic consequences and provide flexibility with regard to course completion and resuming their education when the deployment is completed.
Studying abroad is an important educational opportunity and part of many college and university academic programs. The VA though will generally not pay certain fees associated with study abroad programs.
Again, advisors should be up to date with the limitations so that they can be transparent about how study abroad could impact a student veteran financially.
Finally, creating a campus wide network that can quickly identify veterans who are struggling or have questions can provide the opportunity to respond to connect student veterans with relevant resources in a timely fashion.
Such a network could include the School Certifying Official, a director of Veterans Services, and key student and Academic Affairs personnel and can be leveraged to identify academic, health, and personal issues in addition to financial problems.
Creating a payment plan that aligns with the disbursement schedule for VA benefits can help avoid a situation where a student veteran is flagged as being in arrears on their account, charged unnecessary late fees, and/or placed on a financial hold with regard to registration or other important college or university processes.
This is particularly important with regard to any portion of monthly housing allowance payments that are expected to be used to cover room and board charges.
Many types of aid, including federal financial aid, are based on a prior time period that may include income the student veteran no longer earns.
Student veterans should be encouraged to consult the school financial aid office to see if a re-evaluation of their financial aid based on a change of income is an option.
Since MHA is provided only when a student is enrolled in classes, helping a student veteran to enroll in summer courses can serve as a way to receive their MHA benefit to help pay for housing and food expenses during the summer months.
It is important that any summer course registrations also help the student veteran make progress towards their degree or other educational goals as using VA educational benefits over the summer will count against the overall limit on such benefits.
Financial aid awards will often include an expectation that a student will earn money over the summer that will be put towards the cost of their education.
A student veteran, though, may need to put those earnings towards their basic living expenses because of the loss of MHA payments during the summer months.
Consequently, colleges and universities should consider modifying their summer earning expectations for student veterans. Personal issues, health matters, or military deployments or other obligations may arise during the semester that result in a student veteran wanting to withdraw from courses or seek a leave of absence.
Such actions can have significant financial consequences for student veterans receiving educational benefits from the VA, including generating a debt on the expectation that benefits will be repaid.
It is vital that advisors understand the financial consequences of such decisions to be able to advise student veterans about the best course of action, both academically and financially.
Student veterans should work closely with the SCO on that campus before dropping or withdrawing from classes so that any financial ramifications are clearly understood.
Colleges and universities should also develop clear policies about how they will respond if a student veteran is deployed during the term.
These policies should address financial as well as academic consequences and provide flexibility with regard to course completion and resuming their education when the deployment is completed.
Studying abroad is an important educational opportunity and part of many college and university academic programs. The VA though will generally not pay certain fees associated with study abroad programs.
Again, advisors should be up to date with the limitations so that they can be transparent about how study abroad could impact a student veteran financially.
Finally, creating a campus wide network that can quickly identify veterans who are struggling or have questions can provide the opportunity to respond to connect student veterans with relevant resources in a timely fashion.
Such a network could include the School Certifying Official, a director of Veterans Services, and key student and Academic Affairs personnel and can be leveraged to identify academic, health, and personal issues in addition to financial problems.