Grades You Receive
VA can’t pay benefits for courses that don’t count toward your graduation requirements. If your school reports that you received a grade that doesn’t count toward your graduation, you may have to repay all benefits VA paid for the course. Here are some examples:

• An “I” grade for an incomplete which is not made up during the time period required by your school or within 1 year from receipt, whichever is earlier.
• A “W” or other grade for withdrawing
• An “AU” or other grade for auditing

Generally you do not have to repay benefits for a failing grade.

If You Withdraw
If you withdraw from one or more courses after the end of your school’s drop period and receive grades that don’t count toward your graduation requirements, you may have to repay all benefits VA paid for the course from the beginning of the term.

You may not have to repay the benefits if you show the change was due to reasons beyond your control. The reasons must be unavoidable and unexpected events that directly interfered with your enrollment.

Examples of reasons that may be excepted:
• Extended illness
• Severe illness or death in your immediate family
• Unscheduled changes in your employment
• Lack of child care

Be prepared to send evidence to support your reason.

Examples of reasons that may NOT be excepted:
• Withdraw to avoid a failing grade
• Dislike of the instructor
• Too many courses attempted

Not that I plan on ever failing a class, but I was under the impression that if you did fail one you better break out your check book, or maybe that is just Tuition Assistance… Whatever, I shall do my best and I hope you do also! Now back to studying for my accounting test.

2009 Military Pay Chart
2010 Military Pay Chart

911GIBill What Ifs

Funny thing, as most young men in their late teens, I actually thought I knew what challenges I would face in life, and how I would handle them. Well, as sports broadcasters say after the underdog team creams the heavily favored team, that’s why we play the game. In as much as factoring in the knowledge and wisdom offered by our elders would make sense, decision-making at a young age is most often completed utilizing our own limited and youthful experiences.

Going to college wasn’t one of the life options that immediately appealed to me; besides, if I didn’t like sitting in a classroom during high school, why would I think sitting in a classroom in college would have been more to my liking? I wanted adventure; I wanted to experience life without being tethered to the expectations of what others considered normal.

The United States Navy offered everything I was seeking at the time. I could travel, experience different cultures, and learn a viable trade; furthermore, because the Navy had many educational opportunities such as tuition assistance, I could have easily mixed my desire for travel and adventure with bettering myself through higher education. Shamefully, I did not take advantage of the college opportunities presented as so many of my mentors had advised.

So here I am, nearly 30 years later, a veteran in every sense of the word. I am more judicious and much wiser than in my “know it all” adolescence, starting a new chapter in my life. Further education is the catalyst I need to succeed; amazingly, the new Post 9/11 GI Bill has provided me a second chance to utilize a benefit I wasted away while serving in the Navy. Now, it is time to capitalize on the second chance with a maturity earned in the face of challenging adversities and enormous successes. It’s time to get my degree!

2009 Military Pay Chart
2010 Military Pay Chart

College, Better Late Than Never

FM CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1//
TO NAVADMIN
INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1//
MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/AUG// SUBJ/ POST 9/11 GI BILL//
REF/A/DOC/HR2642/30JUN08//
REF/B/DOC/DOD DTM 09-003/22JUN09//
AMP/REF A, NAVADMIN 203/9 PROVIDES INFORMATION ON TRANSFERABILITY OF BENEFITS UNDER THE NEW POST 9-11 GI BILL.//
RMKS/
1. THIS MESSAGE SUPPLEMENTS REF A FOR NEAR TERM TRANSFER OF BENEFITS UNDER THE NEW POST 9-11 GI BILL.
2. IN ORDER TO ACCOMMODATE THE LARGE NUMBER OF APPLICANTS FOR THE 2009 FALL SEMESTER, THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE HAS RECOMMENDED THAT DEPENDENTS WHO HAVE NOT RECEIVED THEIR VA CERTIFICATE OF ELIGIBILITY PROVIDE A COPY OF THE APPROVED TRANSFERABILITY OF EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS (TEB) WEB PAGE ALONG WITH THE COMPLETED VA FORM 22-1990E TO THE VA COUNSELOR OR VA CERTIFYING OFFICIAL AT THE INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING (IHL) THEY PLAN TO ATTEND TO ADVISE THEM OF THEIR APPLICATION STATUS FOR THE POST 9-11 GI BILL. SOME INSTITUTIONS HAVE INDICATED THEY WILL ACCEPT THESE DOCUMENTS IN LIEU OF THE CERTIFICATE OF ELIGIBILITY, AND WILL AGREE TO DEFER TUITION PAYMENT UNTIL THE CERTIFICATE OF ELIGIBLY IS RECEIVED.
3. FOR IHL THAT DO NOT ACCEPT THE TEB WEB PAGE AND 1990E IN LIEU OF A VA CERTIFICATE OF ELIGIBILITY, MEMBERS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO PAY THE IHL THE REQUIRED TUITION AND FEES, AND NEGOTIATE A REFUND ONCE THE IHL IS IN RECEIPT OF STUDENT’S TUITION AND FEES PAYMENT FROM VA. THE VA WILL SEND THE APPROPRIATE TUITION AND FEE PAYMENTS DIRECTLY TO THE IHL ON BEHALF OF THE ELIGIBLE STUDENT.
4. POINT OF CONTACT IS MS ANN HUNTER, OPNAV N153, AT (703) 614-9629/DSN 224 OR EMAIL AT ANN.HUNTER(AT)NAVY.MIL.

2009 Military Pay Chart
2010 Military Pay Chart

VA 911GIBill Transfer Request Backlog

City College of Chicago City Wide
4529 E. Honeygrove Rd
Virginia Beach, VA 23455

After many fruitless attempts to locate a phone number or an internet address for the Virginia location I decided to contact an office in Chicago. A few transfers and conversations with some really nice people later I was connected with the right person!

If you need a transcript from the City College of Chicago City Wide and you attended classes on a base (Overseas or CONUS) you will need to use the attached transcript request form (download here) and mail to this address;

Harold Washington College
Attn: Registrar Office (Military Transcripts)
30 East Lake Street
Chicago, IL 60601
Ph:(800)553-5603

I wonder how you go about changing the information the SMART transcript is providing, I’ll have to look into that…

2009 Military Pay Chart
2010 Military Pay Chart

City College of Chicago City Wide

I was told if a Servicemember is otherwise qualified for the Post-9/11 GI Bill and has exhausted or will exhaust their MGIB benefit before the 10 years after discharge or retirement requirement the Servicemember can apply for an additional 12 months of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit for a total of 48 months of GI Bill. The additional 12 month of Post 9/11 GI Bill benefit must be utilized within the 15 year after discharge or retirement requirement.

Before you apply for the additional 12 months of benefit you MUST have exhausted ALL 36 months the MGIB benefit. Also, you must not have used any other VA education benefit like “Licensing & Certification”, “Entrepreneurship Training” and other programs. Call the Veterans Administration Education Office for complete details.

For those who joined with the Navy College Fund and or “bought up” their MGIB benefit the additional 12 months of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit may be the way to go. Please contact the VA Education office at 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551) for details and how they may apply to your circumstance!

2009 Military Pay Chart
2010 Military Pay Chart

More 911GIBill Good News

Service members eligible to transfer Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits are those who, at the time of approval of the request to transfer entitlement is first of all eligible for the benefit and

• (1) Has at least 6 years of service in the Armed Forces (active duty and/or Selected Reserve) on the date of election, or
• (2) Has at least 10 years of service in the Armed Forces (active duty and/or Selected Reserve) on the date of election, is precluded by either standard policy (Service or DOD) or statute from committing to 4 additional years, agrees to serve for the maximum amount of time allowed by such policy or statute, or
• (3) Is or becomes retirement eligible during the period from August 1, 2009, through August 1, 2013, and agrees to serve the additional period, if any, specified below in paragraphs 3.a. through 3.e. A Service Member is considered to be retirement eligible if he or she has completed 20 years of active Federal service or 20 qualifying years as computed under section 12732 of Title 10 U.S. Code.
  • (a) For those individuals eligible for retirement on August 1, 2009, no additional service is required.
  • (b) For those individuals who have an approved retirement date after August 1, 2009, and before July 1, 2010, no additional service is required.
  • (c) For those individuals eligible for retirement after August 1, 2009, and before August 1, 2010, 1 year of additional service is required.
  • (d) For those individuals eligible for retirement on or after August 1, 2010, and before August 1, 2011, 2 years of additional service is required.
  • (e) For those individuals eligible for retirement on or after August 1, 2011, and before August 1, 2012, 3 years of additional service is required.

Members of the family eligible to receive the transferred Post-9/11 GI Bill are

• (a) The individual’s spouse.
• (b) One or more of the individual’s children.
• (c) A combination of the individual’s spouse/children.

A family member must be enrolled in the Defense Eligibility Enrollment reporting System (DEERS) and be eligible for benefits at the time of transfer to receive the transferred educational benefits. See the actual memo for rules governing a child’s subsequent marriage or a spouse’s divorce.

The benefit must be transferred in whole months. The SECDEF may limit the months of entitlement to no less than 18 months. The number of months of benefits transferred by an individual under this section may not exceed the lessor of the months of unused benefits available under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, or 36 months, or the number of months specified by SECDEF.

To request the transfer of your Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit use https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/TEB/ It will be accessible using a common access card, Defense Department self-service user identification or a Defense Finance and Accounting Service personal identification number.

2009 Military Pay Chart
2010 Military Pay Chart

911GIBill Transfer Questions Answered

You should read the entire memo yourself but I took the liberty to take out some initial areas of interest for ease. I will be making additional posts about the transferring of the GI Bill benefit and other issues in later posts;

For Service Academy grads;

Advise all officers without earlier established eligibility, following commissioning through Service Academies, with the exception of the Coast Guard Academy, or Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Scholarship Programs, that their eligibility period of active duty for Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits does not begin until they have completed their statutory obligated active service. Any active duty service after that obligated period of service may qualify as active duty service for Post-9/11 GI Bill eligibility.

Those who used student loan repayment program;

Advise all Service members participating in the student loan repayment program under chapter 109 of Reference (b) (Title 10 U.S. Code) that their service counted under chapter 109 does not count as qualifying active duty service for the Post-9/11 GI Bill Program. Any service after that obligated period of service may qualify as active duty service for Post-9/11 GI Bill eligibility.

Need a tutor?

Individuals may receive certian tutorial assistance (up to $100 per month for 12 months, not to exceed a total of $1,200) and reimbursement of one licensing and certification test (not to exceed a total of $2000).

Those who were eligible for Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB), Montgomery GI Bill-Selective Reserve (MGIB-SR), or Reserve Educational Assistance Program (REAP);

…, individuals who were eligible for Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB), Montgomery GI Bill-Selective Reserve (MGIB-SR), or Reserve Educational Assistance Program (REAP), and elect to use benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill will be eligible to receive benefits for programs approved under those provisions that are not authorized for those individuals under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, such as on-the-job training, apprenticeship training, correspondence courses, flight training, preparatory courses, and national exams at the benefit rate for MGIB, MGIB-SR, or REAP, as appropriate.

Getting your MGIB $1,200 Back;

An individual who is described in paragraph 1.e, whose pay was reduced under the provisions of sections 3011(b) or 3012(c) of Reference (b) (Title 10 U.S. Code), will receive a refund of that pay reduction subject to the following:

• (a) A full refund for an individual who used no months of benefit under the MGIB.
• (b) A refund reduced by a proportion calculated by the number of months of MGIB benefits remaining at the time of election divided by 36.
• (c) The refund will be added to the monthly stipend allowance paid in the last month of eligibility under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Individuals who do not exhaust entitlement under the Post-9/11 GI Bill will not receive a refund of the pay reduction.

2009 Military Pay Chart
2010 Military Pay Chart

Get Your MGIB $1200 Back

Today I had my Navy SMART transcript evaluated to see where I stood. The credits below are to be applied toward an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Mid-Management Technology.

SOUTHWEST TENNESSEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Business, Career Studies and Technologies
Evaluation of Transfer and Specialty Work Experience Credit

Dept	Course Number	Title	Sem Hrs	Institution / Organization
MGMT	2900	Non-Traditional Schooling	6	US Navy
MGMT	2905	Work Experience	12	US Navy
MGMT	2030	Principles of Management	3	US Navy
MGMT	2000	Project Management	3	US Navy
MGMT	2500	Human Resource Mgmt	3	US Navy
MKTG	2000	Principles of Marketing	3	US Navy
MKTG	2005	Professional Selling	3	US Navy
OFAD	2050	Business Communication	3	US Navy

36 credits total – 12 for work experience is the maximum allowed. 24 more credits to go for the AAS! (should look good on the wall)

A number of the above credits will not directly be applied to a bachelors degree at Memphis. The AAS degree would be earned in relatively short order while competing the Associate of Science (AS) in Business Administration – all the credits from the AS degree are considered parallel courses to the university. Gahh, the things I do to save the extra driving time…

You may be asking yourself why I would not just take classes online. Online schools are accredited and are becoming more respected. The answer is a simple one, currently the 911gibill does not pay the E-5 with dependents BAH rate unless you physically attend a brick and mortar school – in Memphis that is about $1240 a month… no brainer.

I have four weeks to the U of Memphis admissions deadline but if I chose the community college route my next steps are to pay a $10 fee enrollment fee, provide a shot record proving MMR, order original high school/college transcripts (I have a few courses completed already – could have broke it all down but this post is about my Navy credits!) and a placement test. The placement test should be fun (required at both schools) – I’ll have to brush up before I take it, haven’t used algebra since high school for cryin out loud – about 30 years ago, hope it is like riding a bike…

2009 Military Pay Chart
2010 Military Pay Chart

My SMART Transcript Evaluation

Today I received my answer via snail mail. It states, “This certifies that you are entitled to benefits for an approved program of education or training under the Post-9/11 GI Bill beginning August 1, 2009.”

Well, I’ll be danged. I never thought this day would come. As I discussed before, I joined under the VEAP program which I opted out of. I did not think an opportunity for college benefits after retirement from the Navy would ever present itself.

My Certificate of Eligibility continues, “You must take this letter to your school. Your school must certify your enrollment before you can get paid.”

No problem!

“You have 36 months and 0 days of full time benefits. Your remaining entitlement may be adjusted based on your entitlement used after your election date. You have until January 1, 2022 to use your benefits under this program which is fifteen years from the date of your last separation from active duty.”

If it takes me until 2022 to finish… well, procrastination can kill a sky diver – I am pulling my ripcord on this long before I hit the ground

The Yellow Ribbon Program

Because you are eligible at the 100% benefit rate, you may also be eligible to participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program. The Yellow Ribbon Program allows schools to enter into an agreement with the VA to provide additional financial assistance to individuals who are charged tuition and fees that exceed the in-State maximum amount payable under the Post-9/11 GI Bill program. This benefit is only payable if the Post-9/11 GI Bill tuition and fee payment does not cover the full cost of your school’s tuition and fees.

Note: Individuals on active duty are not eligible for this program.

The letter goes on but those were the highlights.

I planned on blogging about my adventure the 911GIBill affords me via another domain 911gibill.com but then came to my senses, two blogs can be a pain in the butt – I will stick with one blog portal, Navy Cyberspace.

Next step? I will be going to the University on Memphis next week to acquaint myself with the surroundings and see what sport I want to tryout for, I hear Memphis may need a quarterback

2009 Military Pay Chart
2010 Military Pay Chart

911GIBill Certificate of Eligibility

I know there are a ton of other questions unanswered. I am optimistic about hearing some clarification in the near term. I will be visiting the University of Memphis soon to get any and all pre-work completed for attending the Fall semester.

Still unsure what I’ll take as a major but I’m sure you’ll agree after wading though my fragmented verbiage and grammar, English is at the top of my needs

More Troops, Families Likely to Qualify for New GI Bill Benefits

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2009 – Troops nearing retirement eligibility may be able to tap into the transferability benefits provided in the new Post-9/11 GI Bill, even if they’re unable to serve four more years of duty due to service policies, a senior defense official said.
The Post-9/11 Veterans Education Bill that takes effect in August and will offer more benefits and the ability to transfer benefits to a spouse or child has proven to be a hit with the troops, Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, told the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service.

Of servicemembers surveyed in August, 97 percent said they plan to take advantage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, particularly its transferability provision, Carr said.

“Enormous interest has been expressed in the transferability provision and how it would work, because so many in the force have families,” Carr said. He noted that half of the military force is married. By the time troops have served six years of duty, about two-thirds have families.

To qualify for transferability under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, servicemembers must have served six years on active duty or in the Selected Reserve and must commit to another four years. But Carr said the rules could be tweaked soon to allow mid- or late-career troops to qualify, even if they can’t sign on for another four years of duty due to service restrictions.

Rules expected to be published in the months ahead will clarify exactly who is or isn’t eligible to transfer their Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits. Carr said he expects those rules to be “very flexible” to allow servicemembers with 15 or even 20 years of service to quality. What’s definite now is that only those in the active or reserve components on Aug. 1 will be eligible for transferability under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

“The law doesn’t allow it to be retroactive” to cover those who already have left the military, Carr said.

The new bill represents the most comprehensive education package since the original World War II-era GI Bill, he said. Unlike the current GI Bill, it covers 100 percent – rather than 80 percent – of the cost of tuition, fees and books. Servicemembers no longer will have to pay $1,200 out of pocket, at the rate of $100 a month for their first year of service, to qualify.

In addition, most troops will receive a “living stipend” while drawing GI Bill benefits. That benefit will equate to the basic allowance for housing that an E-5 with dependents serving on active duty receives, Carr said. And for the first time, servicemembers will be able to transfer any benefits they don’t use themselves to their immediate family members.

Of those surveyed in August, 73 percent said they would transfer benefits to their spouse, while 94 percent said they would transfer them to their children.

This is a particularly attractive option for servicemembers who have earned degrees before entering the military or while on duty through the military’s tuition assistance programs, Carr said. These programs will continue when the Post-9/11 GI Bill takes effect.

Troops automatically are eligible to transfer to the Post-9/11 GI Bill program when it takes effect, but must elect to do so, officials said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, which administers the program, has more details about the basic program on its Web site. The Defense Department will oversee the transferability program and set up a Web-based application servicemembers can use to request transfer of their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, Carr said.

Carr expressed hope that servicemembers will take advantage of the new benefits.

“The new GI Bill provides some wonderful opportunities for the military,” he said. “These are benefits that we had hoped for for a number of years, and finally have received.”

2009 Military Pay Chart
2010 Military Pay Chart

911 GI-Bill Transferability