Students must activate their GI Bill® benefit through the VA at va.gov in order to determine which benefit they qualify for and the payment rate on their benefit. Students should send a copy of their VA Certificate of Eligibility to the School Certifying Official to assist the student with their benefits. Scanning the first page of the document and sending it to your advisor is sufficient. The document states you must bring it to the school, but you do not have to bring it in person.
Students must fill out and submit the Drury Veteran’s Certification Request Form before hours can be certified with the VA. This is a VA requirement and must be done prior to every semester you attend Drury.
Per VA regulations all classes, Full semester and Block semesters must have the exact beginning and end dates reported. The VA uses this information to determine your housing allowance percentage.
The VA calculates your housing allowance and payments based off of “Rate of Pursuit”, which is how many credit hours you are taking at any time in the semester. To receive the housing allowance, you must be over 50% Rate of Pursuit as determined by the VA. If you are over 50% but under 100%, you will receive the percentage rate the VA determined for you. This is a VA decision and Drury has no part in the VA process regarding your housing allowance or other percentages.
Per VA regulations, all courses must be part of an approved degree plan. If taking a class outside of your degree plan, the Certifying Official must be notified and that class will not be reported to the VA. The student will be responsible for paying for those classes. The only exception to this requirement is that a student is allowed to add non-degree classes in their final semester in order to reach full-time status.
If you change your schedule in any way, you must contact your advisor so that your certification with the VA can be updated. Some changes will affect your GI Bill® benefits and some will not. That is why it is important that your schedule is updated as soon as possible.
Starting August 1, 2021, all students using the CH30, CH33 and CH1606 must contact the VA monthly to verify their school attendance. This can be done by calling the VA at 1-877-823-2378 or on the web at gibill.va.gov/wave.
If you are using Federal or State Tuition Assistance through your military branch and want to use your GI Bill® in conjunction with TA, please contact your advisor to ensure the proper hours are requested for the proper benefit. These benefits cannot be used to pay for the same classes in a semester. That is why it is important that there is communication between Drury and the student to ensure the correct benefit is used for the correct class.
Most GI Bill® questions can be answered through the following link: va.gov/education/about-gi-bill-benefits or by calling the VA at 1-888-442-4551. Questions regarding how much GI Bill® a student has remaining, which benefit a student qualifies for, debts to the VA and Rate of Pursuit questions can only be answered by the VA. Drury staff does not have access to this information.
In accordance with CFR 21.4252, Consortium Classes are not eligible for payment under the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Students using Post 9/11 GI Bill Benefits to fund their education must use alternative funding to pay for these classes.
GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government website at http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill.
