http://www.gibill.va.gov/rss/feeds/general.xmlThis area contains general information about GI Bill benefits and programs.en-usWed, 24 Feb 2010 10:00:44 Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:36:38 -0400 http://www.gibill.va.gov/images/va_seal.gif http://www.gibill.va.gov/rss/feeds/general.xml 2020GI Bill General Information Thu, 16 May 2013 11:55:44 EDT VA submitted a report to Congress in April providing an update on the progress made in implementing P.L. 112-249, the Improving Transparency of Education Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2012. http://gibill.va.gov/documents/Report_to_Congress.pdf wasco225d@va.gov General Wed, 1 May 2013 1:55:44 EDT Timeliness statistics now available for each Regional Processing Office. Please visit our Regional Processing Office information page for more information. http://gibill.va.gov/contact/regional_offices/index.html wasco225d@va.gov General Wed, 10 April 2013 11:22:33 EDT The College Navigator is an online tool from the Department of Education that allows you to search for a school, compare schools, use an interactive map to pinpoint school locations, and much more. http://gibill.va.gov/resources/education_resources/college_navigator.html wasco225d@va.gov General Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:40:44 EDT This toolkit provides faculty, staff, and administrators resources to support student Veterans. The Post 9/11 GI Bill is bringing student Veterans to campuses in record numbers. Our aim is to help campuses welcome these men and women by recognizing who they are, and understanding their unique experiences, adjustments, and needs. http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/studentveteran/ wasco225d@va.gov General Fri, 15 Mar 2013 3:00:33 EDT VA is now accepting modifications to terms of existing Yellow Ribbon Program agreements and soliciting for initial participation for Institutions of Higher Learning. http://gibill.va.gov/school-certifying-officials/yellow-ribbon-agreement/index.html wasco225d@va.gov General Tue, 5 Mar 2013 9:52:22 EST Transcripts of the January 31, 2013 webinar that Education Service held with School Certifying Officials are now online. There are two versions; a PDF of the Questions and Answers, and a Flash version which contains the Questions and Answers in an audible format with a PowerPoint. http://gibill.va.gov/school-certifying-officials/sco-training-resources/ppt-presentations.html wasco225d@va.gov General Tue, 22 Jan 2013 9:22:22 EST VA will accept modifications to the terms of existing, open-ended Yellow Ribbon Program agreements (or withdrawal from participation), and will accept agreements for initial participation in the program or renewals of existing agreements from March 15, 2013 until May 15, 2013. http://gibill.va.gov/school-certifying-officials/yellow-ribbon-agreement/index.html wasco225d@va.gov General Wed, 9 Jan 2013 9:55:22 EST The military Basic Allowance for Housing changes January 1, 2013, how does that affect the GI Bill Monthly Housing Allowance? http://gibill.va.gov/community/announcements/general.html#20130109 wasco225d@va.gov General Mon, 5 Nov 2012 2:22:22 EST VA recently began automating electronic certifications for Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients enrolled at degree granting schools. We are currently automating over one-quarter of the electronic submissions but this number can be increased with the assistance of School Certifying Officials by minimizing the use of free-text remarks. http://gibill.va.gov/documents/letters/Automation_of_Post911_GI_Bill_and_VAONCE_Remarks.pdf wasco225d@va.gov General Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EDT President Obama signed Executive Order 13607 on April 26, 2012, directing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Defense, and the Department of Education to undertake a number of measures to stop deceptive and misleading promotional efforts that target the GI Bill educational benefits of Servicemembers, Veterans, and eligible family members and survivors. Trademarking GI Bill was part of that order to protect military families from being misled by schools that target their federal education benefits.
Today GI Bill is an officially registered trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. wasco225d@va.gov General Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:18:12 EDT We hit 45,000 approved applications for the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP)! We're excited so many Veterans have taken the opportunity to achieve their educational goals. Help us continue the momentum. We are still accepting applications for VRAP. If your application is approved, you will be eligible for VRAP benefits beginning October 1, 2012. Do you know anyone who might qualify? If so, let them know about this great program and our website. http://www.benefits.va.gov/VOW/education.htm wasco225d@va.gov General Tue, 15 May 2012 10:30:55 EDT We are accepting VRAP applications now. Please visit eBenefits to apply. Remember, to complete the application, you will need to know your direct deposit information (bank routing number and account number), the name and location of your school, the program you wish to pursue, and the applicable high demand occupation. http://gibill.va.gov/community/announcements/general.html#20120515 wasco225d@va.gov General Mon, 30 April 2012 7:48:10 EDT You can now sign up to be notified of new developments in the VRAP program and receive a reminder email when we will begin accepting applications. http://www.gibill.va.gov/benefits/other_programs/vrap_email_signup.html wasco225d@va.gov General Thu, 19 April 2012 10:00:00 EDT The Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) website is now available, providing a wealth of information on the VOW to Hire Heroes Act. It includes details about the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP), tax credits for employers, vocational rehabilitation services, transition assistance programs, and Department of Labor (DOL) resources.
VA and DOL are dedicated to outreach efforts to ensure information about the Veteran Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP) reaches qualified Veterans and provides information on eligibility and how to apply.
Qualified Veterans will be able to apply for VRAP directly from the site beginning May 15, 2012. http://www.benefits.va.gov/VOW wasco225d@va.gov General Wed, 28 March 2012 1:44:10 EDT Yellow Ribbon Program agreements and related documents are now posted to the School Resources Yellow Ribbon Program information page. http://gibill.va.gov/school-certifying-officials/yellow-ribbon-agreement/index.html wasco225d@va.gov General Mon, 26 March 2012 12:15:10 EDT The School Resource Page now has a link to the American Council on Education "Toolkit for Veteran Friendly Institutions." This online resource is designed to help institutions of higher education build effective programs for veteran students and share information. http://gibill.va.gov/school-certifying-officials/ wasco225d@va.gov General Fri, 2 March 2012 13:50:10 EST DEA recipients can now sign up to have their benefits delivered via direct deposit. Click on the title of this feed for more information. http://gibill.va.gov/community/announcements/general.html#20120302 wasco225d@va.gov General Mon, 30 January 2012 10:01:10 EST Schools may now report mutliple students being placed on academic probation in one electronic incident submission. Click on the title of this feed for more information. https://gibill.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1436/kw/1436 wasco225d@va.gov General Thu, 12 January 2012 12:34:56 EST There was a delay in processing verifications submitted through WAVE and the automated phone system over the New Year holiday. If you verified your attendance on Dec 31 or Jan 1, your payment will be delayed approximately one week. This was a system error and we apologize for the inconvenience. wasco225d@va.gov General Tue, 20 December 2011 15:15:00 EST As you may know, the Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) payments you receive for the Post-9/11 GI Bill are based on the military's Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) rates for an E-5 with dependents. Department of Defense adjusts the military BAH rate every calendar year (or January 1) based on changes to housing costs across the country. Rates can either go up or down.Public Law 111 - 377 (the Veterans Educational Assistance Improvement Act of 2010) amended the effective date for the adjustment of the MHA you receive under the Post-9/11 GI Bill from the beginning of the calendar year (January 1) to the beginning of the academic year (August 1). Therefore , if the BAH increased for your area, you will not see an increase until your September 2012 payment for training pursued in August. If the BAH decreases for your area, your MHA amount will not decrease unless you change schools or have more than a six-month break in training. wasco225d@va.gov General Wed, 14 December 2011 10:45:00 EST You can now get detailed information including your Post-9/11 GI Bill eligibility date, delimiting (ending) date, amount of entitlement used, remaining entitlement, as well as your enrollment history in eBenefits. http://gibill.va.gov/community/announcements/general.html#20111214 wasco225d@va.gov General Tue, 22 November 2011 09:00:00 EST Congress passed, and the President has signed into law, the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011. A new benefit for unemployed veterans. http://gibill.va.gov/benefits/other_programs/vow.html wasco225d@va.gov General Thu, 8 September 2011 11:11:11 EDT The Questions and Answers section of our website will be unavailable from Friday September 9, 2011 at 8:00 PM EDT until Saturday September 10, 2011 at 9:00 AM EDT for a software upgrade. wasco225d@va.gov General Fri, 5 August 2011 9:25:00 EDT New law modifying the rules for tuition and fee payments to certain private schools. http://gibill.va.gov/community/announcements/general.html#20110804 wasco225d@va.gov General Fri, 3 June 2011 13:00:00 EDT A new standardized School Certifying Official Handbook is now available online. Click the link in the title of this RSS feed to see. http://gibill.va.gov/school-certifying-officials/sco-training-resources/job-aids.html wasco225d@va.gov General Fri, 27 May 2011 01:37:00 EDT The Yellow Ribbon Program enrollment season has ended . You can find a list of participating programs on our website by clicking on the title of the RSS feed. The participating Yellow Ribbon programs in this list are the ones we've processed. We will continue to process and update this list. We expect all approved agreements to be posted by June 3, 2011. http://gibill.va.gov/gi_bill_info/ch33/yrp/yrp_list_2011.htm wasco225d@va.gov General Tue, 24 May 2011 01:21:00 EDT Information now online about the Pat Tillman Scholarship Initiative as well as the Department of Education's scholarship database. http://gibill.va.gov/resources/education_resources/Tillman_Scholarship.html wasco225d@va.gov General Fri, 8 Apr 2011 02:58:00 EDT In the event of a federal shutdown, most VA services will still be available. However, it is important that you know how the GI Bill will be impacted. For the full list of what will be available and what will be suspended, click the title of this feed or more information. http://www.va.gov/FieldGuide_Flyer_Final_6261.pdf wasco225d@va.gov General Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:06:00 EDT On March 22, 2011 Vice President Biden issued a call to action to boost college graduation rates across the country. The Vice President released a new College Completion Tool Kit for states and Governors to draw ideas and options from. ../../documents/factsheets/VP_College_Kit.pdf wasco225d@va.gov General Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:56:00 EST We have put together a helpful guide that contains many factors that may assist you when choosing a school. Click the title of this feed to access the document. ../../documents/factsheets/Choosing_a_School.pdf wasco225d@va.gov General Wed, 03 Mar 2011 12:55:00 EST All active duty servicemembers and their designated transferee spouses tuition payments will reflect the eligibility tier based on length of service for enrollments beginning on or after March 5, 2011 wasco225d@va.gov General Thu, 24 Feb 2011 01:30:00 EST We are currently accepting Yellow Ribbon Program Agreements for the 2011 academic year. The form as well as related materials can be found by clicking the title of this feed. http://gibill.va.gov/school-certifying-officials/yellow-ribbon-agreement/ wasco225d@va.gov General Tue, 08 Feb 2011 03:10:00 EST We would like to make you aware that VA’s offices responsible for processing Education benefits payments have been closed several days during January due to inclement weather. We are working hard to get caught up including working mandatory overtime on Saturdays and Sundays. We expect to have the situation under control within the next week to ten days. We are very concerned about the strain this can cause if you have not yet received your February 1 check and we are working hard to get you paid. Until your February 1 payment is received, we have created a letter you may wish to show creditors. Please click on the title of this feed to view the letter. http://gibill.va.gov/documents/Spring_2011_Claim_Processing_Delay.pdf wasco225d@va.gov General Tue, 08 Feb 2011 02:35:00 EST Severe winter weather across much of the nation has caused unexpected delays in processing payments for Spring 2011 enrollments. We are implementing many stopgap procedures to bring the workload down, including temporary staff reassignments, mandatory overtime, and tiger teams. Rest assured we are doing our best to get your benefits to you as soon as possible. wasco225d@va.gov General Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:00:00 EST The Department of Veterans Affairs will start accepting Yellow Ribbon Program Agreements for the 2011 - 2012 academic year on February 23, 2011. The agreement and detailed instructions will be available on our website on that date. Program enrollment season will last until May 23, 2011. http://gibill.va.gov/school-certifying-officials/yellow-ribbon-agreement/index.html wasco225d@va.gov General Thu, 20 Jan 2011 10:15:00 EST Effective January 1, 2011, DoD adjusted most housing rates. VAs housing payments under the Post-9/11 GI Bill are based on the E-5 with dependents level for the zip code where you attend school. The DoD rates changed in January, so if your housing rate went up, you will see it in your February payment. Your payments will update to the 2011 rates automatically. If your housing rate decreased for 2011, you will continue to receive the higher 2010 rate unless you change schools or have more than a 6-month break in school attendance. https://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/bah.cfm wasco225d@va.gov General Wed, 5 Jan 2011 06:55:00 EST Major changes are coming to all GI Bill programs next year, especially the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Click the title above for more information. http://gibill.va.gov/post-911/post-911-gi-bill-summary/post911_changes.html wasco225d@va.gov General