All Veteran Educational Benefit Services are handled by the Financial Aid Office.
Veterans on the Gainesville, Bowie & Graham Campuses - (940) 668-4242
Veterans attending any Denton County Campus - (940) 498-6294
Active Duty, Selected Reserve, Reserve, Survivor & Dependents Benefits, and Tuition Assistance
Eligibility to the various GI Bill® educational programs is determined by the veteran’s service record. Before applying for VA educational benefit veterans should consult the VA Comparison Tool. The VA Comparison Tool is designed to help veterans determine eligibility, compare benefits and review payment rates for each program.
In order to receive educational benefits under the Post 9/11 or other Montgomery GI Bill® Programs students must complete an application. Applications are submitted through the VA.gov website. Once this application is processed the Veterans Administration Office notifies applicants by mail whether they qualify for benefits or not. A “Certificate of Eligibility” is sent to students who qualify. This certificate tells the veteran and the school how much and how many months of entitlement they will receive. Students must provide a copy of their Certificate of Eligibility to the school in order to begin receiving monthly benefit amounts.
Military Tuition Assistance
Eligible Service Members need to receive approval from an Educational Services Officer (ESO) or counselor within the Military Service prior to enrolling.
Documents Needed by the School in Order to Process VA Educational Benefit Claims.
- Copy of Certificate of Eligibility
- Official Military Transcript
- Official College Transcripts from ALL prior colleges
- NCTC VA Information Sheet
- NCTC Transcript Evaluation Request
- NCTC Student Veteran Agreement
Benefit Payments for All Chapters
VA Monthly Housing Allowance and Post 9/11 Book and Supply Stipend payments are made directly to students. The payment is made to the student for the number of days the student is certified for the month. If a student is certified for a whole month, the full monthly benefit is paid. If the student is only certified for part of the month, the benefit is prorated as follows: Using a 30-day month, divide the monthly rate by 30 to get the daily rate. If a student is certified from the 1st through the 15th, the student is certified 15 days and is entitled to 15/30this of the full monthly benefit.
Concurrent Enrollment
Guest Student
A student may take courses at more than one school as long as the courses apply to his or her degree plan. The school that will grant the degree is the student’s “primary” school. All other schools are “secondary” schools. The primary school provides a letter (“primary school letter” or PIL) addressed to the VA Certifying Official at the secondary school. If the student is enrolled at the primary school and the secondary school at the same time (concurrent enrollment), VA will pay for the combined credit, taking overlapping enrollment dates into account. If the student is only enrolled at the secondary school (supplemental enrollment), VA will pay for the credits taken at the secondary school.
Degree Plan or Degree Audit
Transcripts from all prior colleges, including military transcripts, must be submitted to the school for the purpose of credit evaluation before attendance can be certified for VA purposes. Only courses that satisfy requirements outlined by the degree plan or graduation evaluation form can be certified. If a student takes a course that does not fulfill a program requirement, it cannot be certified for VA purposes. Excessive free electives, for example, cannot be certified.
Remedial Coursework
Remedial and deficiency courses are courses designed to correct deficiencies in basic mathematics, English, and reading at the elementary or secondary level. These courses can be certified as part of an approved program, but only for students for whom a verifiable need has been established. Generally, veteran students are exempt from meeting the Admissions Office Texas Success Initiative (TSI) requirement. To be considered for an exemption the veteran must turn in a copy of their DD Form 214- Member 4 and sign a TSI Waiver at the Admissions Office. Remedial and deficiency courses offered as independent study (online) cannot be approved and cannot be certified to VA.
Repeated Courses
Courses that are successfully completed may not be certified for VA purposes if they are repeated. If a program requires a higher grade than achieved, that course may be repeated. For example, if Nursing requires a “B” or better in Biology, then that course may be repeated if a “B” was not earned.
Withdrawing or Non-Punitive Grades
The law prohibits payment of VA educational benefits for a course from which the student withdraws or completes and receives a grade that is not used in computing the grade point average (a non-punitive grade, i.e. “W”). The School Certifying Official (SCO) is required to notify the Department of Veteran Affairs when changes occur to a student’s school schedule. A decrease in training time (i.e. drop classes, stop attending, leave school, etc.) will create an overpayment to the student account. In addition, a decrease in credit hours can also change both prior and future payments to the basic housing allowance, book stipend, and/or the monthly benefits amount. If VA has issued a payment to either the student or the school for the term in which a student drops, students will owe money back to the Department of Veteran Affairs. In some cases the VA is willing to forgive an overpayment due to acceptable mitigating circumstances.
Mitigating Circumstance: Mitigating circumstances are issues beyond the student’s control that prevent the student from continuing in school or that cause the student to reduce credits.
Mitigating circumstances include the following:
- An illness or injury afflicting the student during the enrollment period.
- An illness or death in the student’s immediate family.
- An unavoidable change in the student’s conditions of employment.
- An unavoidable geographical transfer resulting from the student’s employment.
- Immediate family or financial obligations beyond the control of the claimant that require him or her to suspend pursuit of the program of education to obtain employment.
- Discontinuance of the course by the school.
- Unanticipated active military service, including active duty for training.
- Unanticipated difficulties with childcare arrangements the student has made for the period during which he or she is attending classes
School Responsibilities
Keep VA informed of the enrollment status of veterans and other eligible persons. Report all enrollments and changes within 30 days, report only those classes that apply to the student degree plan, monitor student’s grades to ensure he/she is making academic progress, monitor the student’s conduct and report when a student is suspended or dismissed for unsatisfactory conduct.
Keep the State Approving Agency (SAA) informed of new programs and/or changes to current programs, changes to academic policies and/or procedures, changes of addresses, phone numbers, certifying officials, and report any other information required by the SAA.
Keep up to date on current VA rules and benefits, read and maintain VA bulletins, attend VA and SAA training opportunities.
Military Tuition Assistance (TA)
All four service branches and the U.S. Coast Guard offer financial assistance for voluntary, off-duty education programs in support of service members’ personal and professional goals. To be eligible for TA, an enlisted service member must have enough time remaining in service to complete the course for which he/she has applied.
The Tuition Assistance Program may fund up to 100% of a student’s college tuition and certain fees with the following limits:
- Not to exceed $250 per semester credit hour
- Not to exceed $4500 per fiscal year, October 1 through September 30 Tuition Assistance will cover the following expenses:
- Tuition and Course-specific fees such as laboratory fee or online course fee
- Tuition Assistance will not cover the following expenses:
- Books and course materials
- Flight training fees
- Taking the same course twice
- Continuing Education Units or CEUs
Tuition Assistance will not fund college courses and students may have to reimburse funds already paid if the following situations occur:
- Leaving the service before the course ends
- Quitting the course for reasons other than personal illness, military transfer or mission requirements
- Failing the course
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 Web site at https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill.
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