Military Educational Benefits FAQs

•    All benefit users: Submit a Military Educational Benefits Request (MEBR) form. A new MEBR form is due before each semester that you wish to use your benefits. Students should submit this once they are enrolled in courses or approximately 8 weeks prior to the start of the term. You can access the MEBR here: https://registrar.virginia.edu/forms#military  

•    All benefit users (except Ch. 31/VR&E): Submit a copy of your Certificate of Eligibility (COE) to show eligibility.

•    If you haven’t received a COE from the VA, visit http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/ and request a copy, or you can obtain this information from your VA.gov account. A copy of your Statement of Benefits may also be submitted in lieu of the COE. The document can be attached with the MEBR submission or emailed to [email protected] as a separate document.

•    Ch. 33/Post-9/11 GI Bill® beneficiaries: Submit a VA Form 22-1995 (Request for Change of Program or Place of Training) if you have used military educational benefits at another institution. You can find the form here: https://www.va.gov/find-forms/about-form-22-1995/  

•    Ch. 35/DEA beneficiaries: Provide the VA File # and full name of veteran qualifying you for the benefits if this is the first time using benefits at UVA. Please call 434-243-7744 to relay this information to our office. If no answer, please leave the student’s full name and VA file information in the voicemail and we’ll confirm once it’s been retrieved. 
 

No. You must complete a Military Educational Benefits Request form each semester that you wish to be certified to the Department of Veterans Affairs. You can access the MEBR here: https://registrar.virginia.edu/forms#military

Our office begins accepting the Military Benefits Request (MEBR) forms after the student has enrolled in classes or approximately 8 weeks prior to the start of the term. We do not begin certifying enrollment until a few weeks prior to the start of term. Submitting the MEBR before the start of term helps ensure timely payments. Submitting the MEBR after the term has started may result in delayed payments. 

We can certify a student that is non-matriculated for 2 terms. Non-matriculated students are those who are not admitted to a formal degree or certificate program.

No. Your entitlement is deducted based on your rate of pursuit. Chapter 33 students must attend at greater than part-time to receive a MHA payment. If the student is enrolled in less than 12 credits, the MHA may be prorated based on the rate of pursuit.  Similarly, other students attending less than full time might not be eligible for the full kicker payments (if applicable). 

For Ch. 33/Post-9/11 GI Bill®, we certify the in-state tuition and mandatory fees and expect the VA to pay based on the percent eligible. Students are eligible for the book stipend and the Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) at the Charlottesville rate. Please note that we do not certify ineligible charges like books, meals, housing, health insurance, etc. The student is expected to use the housing allowance, book stipend, and/or outside funding to cover any charges we do not certify and any balance that remains on the account after VA payment. Other benefits such as Ch. 35/DEA, Ch. 30/MGIB-AD and Ch. 1606/MGIB-SR only pay the student a monthly stipend.

Students enrolled in online only courses will receive 50% of the national average for MHA. MHA is paid if the rate of pursuit is more than 50% and the student is neither on active duty nor the Ch. 33 spouse of a person on active duty. 

To view the current, estimated benefits for each chapter, please use the following link: https://www.va.gov/education/gi-bill-comparison-tool/institution/11810146
Ch. 33/Post-9/11 GI Bill: https://www.va.gov/education/benefit-rates/post-9-11-gi-bill-rates/
Ch. 35/DEA: https://www.va.gov/education/benefit-rates/chapter-35-rates/
Ch. 30/MGIB-AD: https://www.va.gov/education/benefit-rates/montgomery-active-duty-rates/ 
Ch. 1606/MGIB-SR: https://www.va.gov/education/benefit-rates/montgomery-selected-reserve-rates/
 

No. Once you submit your Military Educational Benefits Request (MEBR) Form to our office, a positive service indicator (PSI) will be placed on your account for 90 days. This is a positive hold that will push all financial deadlines back 90 days and protect the account from late fees as we understand it takes time for the VA to remit payment. However, you will need to make payments for items that your benefits will not cover. This includes bookstore charges, health insurance, housing, and meal plans.

The PSI will automatically release from student accounts on the following dates: 

•    Fall term: November 30th 
•    Spring term: April 30th 
•    Summer: August 1st 
 

Our office can certify your attendance to the VA the same term that you receive Tuition Assistance (TA). However, because the VA now has last payee status, the TA will affect the total amount we can certify to the VA. Your benefits will be included as a financial resource in your financial aid offer and may reduce state grants, University grants, federal and institutional loans, and private loans. Each financial aid offer type is different, so the military education benefit may affect each student’s offer differently. Please contact us or Student Financial Services for questions about how your military education benefits may impact your financial aid at [email protected] or 434.982.6000.

As of 8/1/2011 the VA regulations for certifying tuition have changed. If you are an out of state student, we are required to certify the in-state rate for your program to the VA. If you received any scholarships that are specified for tuition and fees only, these scholarships must also be deducted from the total amount reported to the VA.

Each certification has 2 parts: credits and tuition. We certify credit hours earlier in the term to initiate Monthly Housing Allowance and stipends. We certify tuition and fees later in the semester, after the add/drop date when students have finalized their schedules. While we await the VA payments, we place a positive service indicator (PSI) on the student's account to push financial deadlines back 90 days and protect the student from holds or late fees.

 Each certification and/or amendment will result in an updated Certificate of Eligibility (COE) from the VA which you can keep for your records. 

No. Not all programs are available for benefit use at UVA. Students should check WEAMS Public to ensure that the program they wish to pursue is approved for benefit use before trying to use benefits. Access WEAMS here: https://inquiry.vba.va.gov/weamspub/buildSearchInstitutionCriteria.do.
 

The Choice Act is available to students using a military educational benefit such as Ch. 30/MGIB-AD, Ch. 31/VR&E, Ch. 35/DEA or Ch. 33/Post-9/11 GI Bill. In your application process to UVA, you will still apply as an out-of-state student. When you want to begin using benefits at UVA, we will ask you to submit a Military Educational Benefits Request (MEBR) where you can indicate you would like to apply for Choice Act. Once you submit required documentation to demonstrate eligibility (Active Duty Orders or DD214 showing honorable discharge and proof of local/dorm address) and are approved for the Choice Act, you will remain in in-state status throughout your academic career. If your benefits exhaust during your academic career at UVA, you will remain as in-state until graduation. You will need to continuously use your benefits during Fall and Spring terms until exhaustion to remain eligible for the in-state rates, and therefore will remain as in-state during J-term (January) and Summer terms. However, we don’t expect students to use their benefits during the J-term/Summer term. If you were to take a leave of absence, you will revert to out-of-state status and must be re-evaluated upon returning to the university. 

Learn more about the Choice Act and what is required here: https://registrar.virginia.edu/military-affiliated-students/choice-act 
 

Yes. Yellow Ribbon is available for undergraduate and select graduate programs to assist with higher out-of-state, private school, or graduate school tuition that the Post-9/11 GI Bill® doesn't cover. Most students qualify for in-state status via the Choice Act, therefore, Yellow Ribbon would not be applicable. You can view more information here: Yellow Ribbon | University Registrar

You need to apply to establish priority enrollment. If you are approved, the Military Priority Enrollment (MPE) will stay in place on your student account until you graduate. You will not need to apply for each term. 

Requests for Military Priority Enrollment (MPE) deadlines are as follows:
•    Summer/Fall: March 1
•    J-Term/Spring:  October 1
•    Upcoming Academic Year: October 1 (Graduate Business Career-Darden)

Access the MPE request here: https://registrar.virginia.edu/military-affiliated-students/military-priority-enrollment
 

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the State Approving Agency (SAA) have introduced new guidelines that affect the certification of these programs. Our team has worked with the International Studies Office (ISO) to identify which programs are approved for benefits. If you plan to use your military educational benefits for study abroad programs in upcoming terms, please contact our team at [email protected] to confirm whether the program is eligible for benefits.

You will need to first contact the school you hope to attend as a visiting student and be sure they can certify your attendance to the VA. The school you are visiting will submit your VA certification for the term. You will next need to contact your School of Enrollment’s registrar or academic advisor. They will need to send an email to [email protected] verifying that the courses that you hope to complete can transfer back to UVA and apply toward your degree. Our office will then draft a “Parent Letter,” which will need to be submitted to the other university's certifying official.

Our office can certify terms retroactively, if you were eligible to receive benefits during the term dates. Please submit a Military Educational Benefits Request (MEBR) form to our office for each term that you wish us to certify. Once we receive payment from the VA, Student Financial Services (SFS) will be able to refund the tuition payments that you made for the term certified. The refund will be directly deposited to your bank. You can set up direct deposit with the UVA SFS here: https://sfs.virginia.edu/tuition-billing/billing-payment/refunds/direct-deposit

If you withdraw from the University, we are obligated to report that change to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Depending on the date of your withdrawal, the VA may contact you to repay a portion of your Monthly Housing Allowance, stipend, or a portion of your tuition and fee payment. After this debt is paid, you will retain the months of eligibility during which you did not attend.