Post 9/11 GI Bill, VR&E, Vet Tech and VRRAP after 21 December 2021 : Veterans

Currently the temporary legislation is set to expire 21 Dec 21.

IF your current training program extends beyond that date and was not approved pre-Covid legislation to be conducted in an online format, VA will stop paying the Monthly Housing Allowance unless the training conducted after 21 Dec is conducted as in-person training.

From VA:

Special COVID-19 Rules End Soon: If students continue training online after December 21, 2021:

 GI Bill® benefits, such as a monthly housing allowance, will stop

 Students may end up owing a tuition debt to your school (VA will charge the school a prorated tuition and fee debt which the school may, in turn, pass on to the student).

Impact on Certifying (Instructions to schools and training sites)

 Continue to certify using the COVID rules (resident due to COVID) even for bridge terms

 However, unless the law changes, if the school is not normally approved for online training, then the student needs to return to resident training after Dec 21 if they want to get getting GI Bill® benefits – benefits will stop after Dec 21 for online training

If you certified a student as resident due to Covid, but the student has come back as a resident or is coming back on or before December 22, 2021, then ensure that you recertify the student as resident to ensure that there is an accurate enrollment certification

 VA will begin processing adjustments to awards as early as mid November 2021

Training that starts on/after 22 December 2021 will follow pre-covid legislation. This means at least one class must meet the in-person classroom requirements for the student to be paid the on-campus Monthly Housing Allowance which is based on the BAH paid to an E5 with dependents using the campus zip code.

Students enrolled in Approved online degree programs that were approved to be offered as online training pre-covid legislation will be paid the online MHA rate (1/2 of the national average BAH rate paid to an E5 with dependents – currently $871.00 per month).

Hybrid classes that meet the specific requirements in this link are considered in-person on campus classes. https://gibill.custhelp.va.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/988

Some veterans misuse the term Full – Full refers to the Rate of Pusuit – you are either full time or part time – Full has nothing to do with being paid the in person/on campus MHA rate or the online only MHA rate. You must be enrolled at greater than 1/2 Rate of Pursuit to be paid any MHA and then the Rate of Pursuit is rounded to the nearest 10th. https://gibill.custhelp.va.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1480/kw/part%20time and https://gibill.custhelp.va.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/10/kw/part%20time

If the termporaty legislation is extended by Congress, this post will be updated with the news to include any changes to the law.