GI Bill Food Fight: VA vs. Schools

In trying to explain the reasons for continued delays and help avoid future delays in delivering Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, the Department of Veterans Affairs continually implies that schools are partially to blame for GI Bill benefit delays. The VA does this while doing their best to avoid putting the blame where it really belongs – on those who rushed through a program that was high on promises and low deliverability – Congress. In doing so the VA keeps alienating the one group that can help them the most – school certifying officials.

Whenever the VA talks about the issues with Post-9/11 GI Bill implementation and the backlog of GI Bill claims, they leave the reader to believe that late certification processing by the schools is some how holding up veterans benefits. When you consider the basic facts, this seems unrealistic. For example, how were late certifications holding up the process for the two hundred thousand or so existing unprocessed claims backlogged on the VA side last fall?

It may simply be that the VA still thinks schools are following their original instructions to not certify students until the student provides a Certificate of Eligibility. However, it has been several months since the VA realized that it was impractical and changed their instructions, telling schools to process the enrollments without documentation. It seems that the VA fails to make this distinction and continually implies that schools are waiting for veterans to turn in their certificate of eligibility. The fact is schools are not waiting for the certificates. Schools got the message long ago.

The truth is, there are several other reasons why schools may be slow to process certifications. It is possible that the VA is unaware of the limitations and circumstances that affect the certification process. I hope the following examples will help to put an end to the finger pointing.

Conflicting Information and One-on-One Counseling Time
The number one issue I hear from veterans and school officials is that every time they talk to the VA they get a different story. Of course that is if they actually get to talk to someone at VA. Most veterans find it impossible to get through to the VA GI Bill call center, and on the rare occasion that they do get through, many are experiencing dropped calls.

In addition, VA call centers often give students information which is in direct conflict with VA’s published policies and procedures, which is what the college officials must go by.

For example, a student who left the military in the 1990’s was told that he now has 15 years to use his benefits – false. But, guess who has to spend time explaining this to the student, the school certifying official.

Mike Gibson, VA Program Specialist at Clark College, explains that he spends most of his time “helping veterans understand the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which takes up a lot of time that could be spent reporting certifications to the VA.” This counseling is invaluable and can help veterans get on the right track. However, if the VA call center was able to give concise and consistent assistance, the need for one-on-one counseling would be greatly reduced.

Broken Certification Technology
SCO’s must certify students using a electronic platform called VAONCE. In the past VAONCE was notorious for periodic sluggishness or being down for long periods of time; this has only gotten worse with the Post-9/11 GI Bill. As Gibson explains, “during the first two weeks of the quarter it takes nearly a minute to go from one screen to the next in VAONCE.”

Changes to Student’s Enrollment
Another reason SCO’s may hold onto certifications is that students often drop and/or add classes between their enrollment and the school’s drop/add date, which is usually two weeks into their classes. In a recent article in Inside Higher Ed, Faith DesLauriers, director of veterans affairs for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, explained, “Any change in enrollment under this GI Bill is going to affect payment. Rather than having inaccurate payments and having to monitor and refund or re-bill, we choose to certify [students] when we are absolutely 100 percent [sure of what they’re taking].”

DesLauriers is not the only SCO to experience this. Gibson adds, “I am lucky if I have 5-10 percent of our veteran students who don’t change their enrollment status from the time they first register to the start of the quarter.

In the end the squabble is unproductive and creates a rift between the VA and those who help administer their programs at the school level. Several certifying officials use the word “mistrust” when talking about their relationship with the VA.

Exactly how are veterans being served by this continued antagonism?