Mediclaim Policy
Your blog is really helpful for me as it describe the thing very simply and easy to understand for a new person in the market.
Getting a Handle on Veterans’ Education Benefits!
I just have
to say that I spent a lot of time this year learning about Veterans’ Education
Benefits (VA benefits).
First, the 2009-2010
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) had changes regarding VA benefits.
In prior years, FAFSA filers were asked to report the monthly amount of VA benefits
expected. Financial aid administrators were required to include that amount as
a resource when calculating other federal student aid. An analogy is borrowing
an auto loan: If you trade in a vehicle and/or pay cash for a portion of the auto
cost, you can only borrow an auto loan for the difference. Likewise, if a
student has VA benefits and other aid applied towards educational costs, the
amount of educational loans that can be borrowed is the difference. For the
most part it was pretty straightforward.
However, on
the 2009-2010 FAFSA, the applicant was not
asked to report the monthly value of their VA benefits. Instead, they were
asked to report the type of VA benefits. So, I didn’t see dollar amounts (which
I understand very well). I saw chapter numbers such as 1606, 1607, 30, 31, 33.
These meant nothing to me. But, to be in compliance with federal student aid regulations
we needed to convert the chapter numbers to dollar amounts. So, I spent time with
our Veterans Administrator (Gene Clark) and bookmarked the US Department of Veterans
Affairs website (http://www.va.gov/). I soon learned
how to calculate a value for most of the reported Chapters on the FAFSA. Of
course, the new Chapter 33 benefits (Post – 9/11 Veterans Educational
Assistance) were impossible to estimate. We got through our financial aid awards
making sure that the VA benefits were included.
Then, on July
1st President Obama signed into law technical corrections to the Higher
Education Act (HEA). Among other things, effective with the 2009-2010 financial
aid award year, Veterans’ Educational Benefits are to be excluded as a resource for calculating federal student aid! I spent
much of July and August recalculating financial aid awards with estimated VA benefits.
I had to take the dollar amount of VA benefits out of the calculation and
pretend that the reported chapter numbers didn’t exist. The automobile loan analogy
no longer works for me! But, a lot of veterans on campus were happy to see the
additional federal aid funds. And I think President Obama sent a strong message
of support to our Veterans
Since the
world of financial aid is turbulent, another twist quickly came with regards to
VA benefits. On July 8th, New York State Higher Education Services
Corporation (HESC) sent out a bulletin clarifying a school’s responsibility for
reporting VA benefits. Most of the aid programs through HESC are tuition awards
such as TAP (tuition award program). If a student receives a VA benefits that is
applied towards tuition (Chapter 33) then the school needs to report that. HESC
will not pay a tuition award if there is already a tuition award applied and no
remaining tuition cost to the student.
As it
stands today, I can’t look at VA
benefits for determining federal student aid eligibility. However, I have to
look at VA benefits when certifying a New York State TAP award. And RIT factors
in VA benefits when determining eligibility for RIT-sponsored grants and
scholarships.
I’m still
holding on! I’ll get a Part 2 blog out on Veterans’ Education Benefits - sharing
what I know about the new Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Benefits. So, stay
tuned.
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