On January 14, VA Secretary Shinseki sent a letter to each of the state veteran’s affairs directors explaining the current state of the Post-9/11 GI Bill program. The letter tells of the VA’s tireless efforts to meet the demands placed on them by the exceptional number of applications for benefits and requests for information.
In the letter Shinseki reports that the VA has paid over $1.3 Billion in benefits to over 157,000 students so far. In addition, the VA hired 760 new employees; bringing the total claim processing workforce to about 1200. According to the report, the dedicated workforce is churning out approximately 30,000 GI Bill benefit claims a week in an effort to make the self-imposed February 1 deadline for paying all claims made before January 19.
Shinseki points out that the complexity of the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the limitations of the VA system functionality have made administrating the new program an “ongoing challenge.”
Unfortunately, Secretary Shinseki closed by asking state VA officials “to reach out to the schools within [their] state to help ensure enrollment information is submitted to VA in a timely manner.” This is tantamount to the federal VA asking state VA officials to tell school certifying officials how to do their jobs. This hardly makes sense since state VA officials don’t normally deal with or understand Post-9/11 GI Bill issues.
Making things worse, a VA press release dated January, 20, states that “VA has sent letters to university presidents and school certifying officials, state Veterans affairs directors, and notified Veteran service organizations, congressional members and other education stakeholders highlighting VA’s emphasis on the importance of timely submission of school enrollment information.” The implication is that school certifying officials are some how responsible for payment delays.
VA’s comments opened old wounds as it brings to mind last fall’s Chronicle of Higher Education article, in which VA Director of Education Services, Keith Wilson suggested that school certifying officials were to blame for GI Bill payment delays, adding “We [VA] have no control over when a school official will submit that enrollment certificate to us.”
No one works harder to support the VA and help veteran students than the school veteran’s programs administrators and certifying officials. These individuals work hard everyday to explain the details of the Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits and help veterans apply for their education benefits. Yet it seems to many that when the VA needs to point fingers, they turn to the schools.
According to an unnamed school certifying official, the blame game has created a climate of mistrust between schools and the VA which appears to permeate the VA at all levels.
- Terry Howell
There are some schools that delay submitting certifications to the processing centers. The is a University in, of, or near Phoenix that does not submit certifications until the term is completed and grades posted so no corrections/updates need to be re-submitted.
OWK – According to the Sr. Director of Student Fin Aid the school you referred to, they no longer hold the certifications. This was a process issue in August that has long since been resolved.
Note: due to the nature of this blog I have removed your not so subtle reference to the school name.
Interesting, the school was doing this in 2008 and early 2009 as well.
I know that the school I attend has problems due to the fact that it is policy to withhold all certifications until after the "drop/add period", 10 days after the semester begins. The schools certifying official explained that this is to prevent corrections from being necessary when a student changes their schedule (class withdrawals excluded) however he said that anyone who can call him and guarantee that they will stick with the classes they have chosen will be certified the day they notify him. This seems like a reasonable plan although it has not been made public to the student body.
Dude, Where's My GI Bill?
I know that the school I attend has problems due to the fact that it is policy to withhold all certifications until after the "drop/add period", 10 days after the semester begins. The schools certifying official explained that this is to prevent corrections from being necessary when a student changes their schedule (class withdrawals excluded) however he said that anyone who can call him and guarantee that they will stick with the classes they have chosen will be certified the day they notify him. This seems like a reasonable plan although it has not been made public to the student body.
Dude, Where's My GI Bill?
if you can call me to day
As a retired NCO I talked my grand son into serving so he could attend college under the VA bill later. After discharge he enrolled under the VA program but his VA support stopped in about February of 2011 causing him to drop out of school. As of this date July 28 2011 he is still not back in school due to STILL NOT receiving his VA support in spite of VA claims that everyone has been "caught up". What gives and why?