Assisting Veterans In Understanding and Applying for Benefits & Aid
Assisting Veterans In Understanding and Applying for Benefits & Aid
Transcript
In order for a veteran to apply for and receive educational benefits from the VA, a student veteran needs to have the college or University officially submit enrollment information to the VA. The employee of the college or University that does this is called the School Certifying Official, SCO, and is the key liaison between the student veteran, the school, and the VA regarding benefits.
SCO works closely with student veterans to help them understand the nuances of VA benefits. Answers questions about tricky situations. And facilitates communication with the VA to address any problems. VA policies regularly change and schools need to be proactive in understanding the impact of these changes on their students.
In particular, the SCO can assist a student veteran in applying for educational benefits if they have not already done so. Approval of benefits can take some time, but once the application is approved, the SCO will have access to the student veterans certificate of eligibility, which shows whether the student veteran is eligible for benefits, the amount of money available for the student veteran to use for their education, and how much time the student veteran has to use these benefits.
Sometimes it is helpful for the student veteran to directly request their certificate of eligibility from the VA and then submit it to the SCO. When the student veteran registers for classes, the SCO then provides the VA with the dates of attendance and credit load so that benefits can actually be paid.
The SCO can also answer questions about educational benefits, assist the student veteran in completing relevant forms, and generally provide counsel to the student veteran about any matter connected with their educational benefits.
The SCO also informs the VA when registration changes so that benefits can be adjusted if need be. This is particularly important with regard to course withdrawals, which can trigger an over-payment by the VA and a repayment debt that is borne by the student veteran.
The student veterans should work closely with the SCO, academic advisors, and faculty, to understand and minimize the potential negative financial implications of academic choices. In addition to VA educational benefits, student veterans like other students can apply for financial aid and scholarships to further offset the cost of attending college.
Student veterans should communicate closely with the financial aid office at their college or University in order to maximize the aid that they can receive. It is important that the student veteran, the SCO, and the financial aid office, work together to avoid miscommunications and missteps with regard to coordination of different benefits.
For federal financial aid, the student veteran will complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, more commonly known as the FAFSA. The FAFSA application and instructions can be found on this website. Veterans will need to provide financial information on the FAFSA from various sources, including their federal income tax returns from the two years before the current one, W-2s, and other records of money earned.
Much of this information can be transferred directly into the FAFSA application as part of the application process using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. Completing the FAFSA will also serve as an application for federal grants such as the Pell Grant.
In addition to VA educational benefits and federal aid, student veterans can apply for institutional aid, state aid, and other outside scholarships, including scholarships that are specifically for veterans. Student veterans should apply for federal, state, and potential institution aid, and not make the mistake of assuming that their veteran's educational benefits will cover all of their educational costs.
Having as many funding options as possible allows the student veteran to choose what works best for them. The SCO and financial aid office will likely have information on these options. There are also many websites that search for scholarships.
VA benefits and financial aid are distributed in different ways. Financial aid statements are complicated and adding VA benefits to the mix can make confusion and misunderstanding more likely.
It is important for the student veteran to understand the cash flow of each type of aid, so that they understand when a benefit will be paid to them directly or applied as a credit to their student account, as well as which charges they need to pay and which are paid for by the VA, by the school, or by other financial aid or scholarships. This will allow the student veteran to accurately plan their budget and avoid missteps.
SCO works closely with student veterans to help them understand the nuances of VA benefits. Answers questions about tricky situations. And facilitates communication with the VA to address any problems. VA policies regularly change and schools need to be proactive in understanding the impact of these changes on their students.
In particular, the SCO can assist a student veteran in applying for educational benefits if they have not already done so. Approval of benefits can take some time, but once the application is approved, the SCO will have access to the student veterans certificate of eligibility, which shows whether the student veteran is eligible for benefits, the amount of money available for the student veteran to use for their education, and how much time the student veteran has to use these benefits.
Sometimes it is helpful for the student veteran to directly request their certificate of eligibility from the VA and then submit it to the SCO. When the student veteran registers for classes, the SCO then provides the VA with the dates of attendance and credit load so that benefits can actually be paid.
The SCO can also answer questions about educational benefits, assist the student veteran in completing relevant forms, and generally provide counsel to the student veteran about any matter connected with their educational benefits.
The SCO also informs the VA when registration changes so that benefits can be adjusted if need be. This is particularly important with regard to course withdrawals, which can trigger an over-payment by the VA and a repayment debt that is borne by the student veteran.
The student veterans should work closely with the SCO, academic advisors, and faculty, to understand and minimize the potential negative financial implications of academic choices. In addition to VA educational benefits, student veterans like other students can apply for financial aid and scholarships to further offset the cost of attending college.
Student veterans should communicate closely with the financial aid office at their college or University in order to maximize the aid that they can receive. It is important that the student veteran, the SCO, and the financial aid office, work together to avoid miscommunications and missteps with regard to coordination of different benefits.
For federal financial aid, the student veteran will complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, more commonly known as the FAFSA. The FAFSA application and instructions can be found on this website. Veterans will need to provide financial information on the FAFSA from various sources, including their federal income tax returns from the two years before the current one, W-2s, and other records of money earned.
Much of this information can be transferred directly into the FAFSA application as part of the application process using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. Completing the FAFSA will also serve as an application for federal grants such as the Pell Grant.
In addition to VA educational benefits and federal aid, student veterans can apply for institutional aid, state aid, and other outside scholarships, including scholarships that are specifically for veterans. Student veterans should apply for federal, state, and potential institution aid, and not make the mistake of assuming that their veteran's educational benefits will cover all of their educational costs.
Having as many funding options as possible allows the student veteran to choose what works best for them. The SCO and financial aid office will likely have information on these options. There are also many websites that search for scholarships.
VA benefits and financial aid are distributed in different ways. Financial aid statements are complicated and adding VA benefits to the mix can make confusion and misunderstanding more likely.
It is important for the student veteran to understand the cash flow of each type of aid, so that they understand when a benefit will be paid to them directly or applied as a credit to their student account, as well as which charges they need to pay and which are paid for by the VA, by the school, or by other financial aid or scholarships. This will allow the student veteran to accurately plan their budget and avoid missteps.