As you may be aware, I am attending college full time using my Post 9/11 GI-Bill. Recently, I had a couple of questions for the Veterans Administration (VA) – first question concerned two payments I received that I didn’t expect (nor did I know what they were for); one payment just before Christmas and the other at the beginning of January, and my second question had to do with why my current Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) payment didn’t equal the 2010 amount for the schools zip code.

First, the latter BAH question. The issue is that the VA is having to update all the records by hand, as the automated system hasn’t been finished; as a matter of fact, that is the reason the GI-Bill call center is only open for calls Monday-Wednesday. Thursday and Friday is spent updating records. Short answer: The BAH will be increased to the 2010 amount (if your school’s zip code realized an increase). The “when” is depending on how long it takes to hand input the changes, but you will receive back pay to catch-up, so no worries

Payment of BAH during the winter break, the period of time between the fall and spring semesters. I was informed that I lost a month of benefit! Well, I am miss-stating that; I didn’t lose a month of benefit as I was paid BAH, but I did lose a month of future tuition payment. I now get 35 months of tuition vice the original, non-break pay, 36 months of benefit… [See how I am wording all this?! That's why I need more schooling! ] Getting the BAH over the break may be the right thing for you, but know that you will be losing a month of future tuition payments if you do.

Summer break, the time off between the spring and fall semester. You will not get break pay during the summer unless you decide to take summer classes. Each month you receive BAH it will count fully against your overall benefit even if you do not realize the tuition.

Anyway, to ensure I do not experience the same thing in the future, I must ensure that I tell my VA representative at my school to write in the notes of your continuing attendance document, “Do Not Pay Break Pay.” If you don’t need the BAH over the break and you want to keep the maximum amount of tuition payment months, I suggest you do the same.

To contact the call center: 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551)

2010 Military Pay Chart
2011 Military Pay Chart

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.

2010 Military Pay Chart
2011 Military Pay Chart

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!

2010 Military Pay Chart
2011 Military Pay Chart

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.

2010 Military Pay Chart
2011 Military Pay Chart

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…

2010 Military Pay Chart
2011 Military Pay Chart

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!

2010 Military Pay Chart
2011 Military Pay Chart

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.

2010 Military Pay Chart
2011 Military Pay Chart

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.

2010 Military Pay Chart
2011 Military Pay Chart

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…

2010 Military Pay Chart
2011 Military Pay Chart

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

2010 Military Pay Chart
2011 Military Pay Chart