FAQ

Please review the list to see which benefit you may be eligible for:

1. Chapter 33 (Post 9/11 GI Bill) – Percentage of tuition, university fee, book stipend, and monthly check; percentage is based on time spent on active duty.

2. Chapter 1606 (Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserves) – Monthly check.  National Guard or Reserves. 

3. Chapter 35 (Dependents Education Assistance Program) – Monthly check.  Dependent of a veteran who is 100% permanently and totally disabled. 

4. Chapter 31 (Veteran Readiness and Employment) – Tuition, books, supplies.  A VA Counselor decides if a veteran has an employment handicap based upon the results of the comprehensive evaluation. Entitlement to services is established if the veteran has a 20% service-connected disability and an employment handicap. If the disability is 10% service-connected, then a serious employment handicap must be found to establish entitlement. A serious employment handicap is based on the extent of services required to help a veteran overcome his or her service and non-service connected disabilities permitting the return to suitable career employment.

5. Alabama State GI Dependent Scholarship – Tuition and books.  Dependent of a veteran who is at least 40% service related disabled and meets certain Residency requirements.

6. Alabama National Guard Educational Assistance Program (ANGEAP) - This is a Scholarship for current Alabama National or Air Guard members who are in good standing with their units.

All Federal Benefits with Monthly Stipends (Chapter 31, 33, 35, and 1606) will pay out on the first of the month for all of the days in school the month prior. 

• Each benefit has a different pay scale for their monthly stipends.
• Amount of stipend payment is also dictated by your enrollment status at JSU (full-time, 3/4 time, etc.), which is explained in our published catalogs.
• Your stipend payment will be either direct deposited or mailed to you depending on what you have set up with the VA.

For Tuition Payments:

• Chapter 31 and 33 - those benefits pay tuition and fee payments directly to the university
• Chapter 35 and 1606 - those benefits Do Not pay tuition and fees to the university, they provide you a monthly stipend to use how you see fit

For Book Payments:

• Chapter 33 - the VA will direct deposit or mail your book stipend to you at the beginning of the term; it is worth roughly $41.67 per credit hour and is capped at $1,000 per Academic Year
• Chapter 31 - the VA pays your book costs directly to the university, please make sure to order your books through the university bookstore
• Chapter 35 and 1606 - no book stipend or payment is provided

For Tuition Payments:

• Alabama GI Dependent Scholarship
  • If you applied for the Scholarship BEFORE August of 2017, then the State VA will pay 100% of your tuition cost directly to the university.
  • If you applied for the Scholarship AFTER August of 2017, then the State VA will pay up to a maximum of $250/per credit hour for your tuition to the university.
• Alabama National Guard Educational Assistance Program (ANGEAP) - The State of Alabama sets a maximum amount that they will pay each term during the summer preceding the new academic year.

For Book Payments:

• Alabama GI Dependent Scholarship - pays up to $1,000/per term for books to the university, please make sure to buy your books through the university bookstore.
• ANGEAP - Does Not pay for books

The applications for all federal benefits can be completed online through the VA web site, it is recommended to complete the application online so that the application can be tracked by the VA. 

***It is important to print out and save a copy of the confirmation page because our office will need a copy of this in order to use the benefit here.***

To apply for the Alabama GI dependent Scholarship, you will visit your county veteran service officer (or if not in Alabama, you will visit the nearest Alabama VA office.) for more details about required documents.

We require documents be submitted to us up front in order to start your VA file at JSU:

Service Members

1. Chapter 31 Veteran Readiness and Employment
2. Chapter 33 Post 9/11 Service Member
3. Chapter 1606 Montgomery Selected Reserves

Dependents

1. Chapter 33 Post 9/11 Dependent (TOE)
2. Chapter 35 Dependents Educational Assistance
3. Alabama GI Dependent Scholarship

No, none of the Military Benefits will send money to JSU to pay for your Dorm or Meal Plan. 

You will have to either contact Student Accounts (256-782-5458) about a payment plan or Financial Aid (256-782-5006) about using Federal Aid to pay for those charges prior to the payment due date for that term.

Even if your benefit provides a housing payment/stipend, you need to make arrangements to pay for your Dorm or Meal Plan as that money is not paid directly to the university.

No, we can only certify classes to the VA that count towards a degree requirement.

Those degree requirements are listed on your Degree Outline for your major or within our approved University catalogs.

If you want to take classes that are of interest to you, but do not count towards a degree requirement, then you will have to pay for them out of pocket.

Yes, your benefits will pay for the class again as you need to earn a better grade to fulfill that degree requirement.

You will fill out the top portion (through Section II) of the Request for Supplemental Certificate form, sign/date, and turn it in to the original school.  If you are a student at JSU, and transferring to another school, you will turn the form into Military Student Services (veterans@jsu.edu).  

If you are coming to JSU, you will fill out the form and turn it into the Veterans office (or other appropriate office depending on the school) at your current school.  The school will fill out the requested information and send the form to the State VA in Montgomery.

The State VA will verify how much benefit you have left and send a new certificate to you and your new school.

Yes, please submit an updated Class Registration Form on our web site any time a change is made to your enrollment.  The quicker you notify our office the quicker we can update the VA.  

This will help stop overpayments from happening; overpayments are going to cause a debt to the VA on your end.

If the Scholarship is to be applied for tuition costs only, then these funds will be deducted from the amount of tuition and fees that we will request from the VA.  You are in essence saving the VA money.

Keep in Mind:

1. If the Scholarship does not specifically state what it can to be used for, then it is considered a General Scholarship and it will not affect the Post 9/11 GI Bill.
2. The Alabama PACT program does not affect the tuition and fee amounts that we report to the VA. 
3. All Title IV Federal Aid (Pell grant, Subsidized/Unsubsidized loans, etc.) does not affect the Post 9/11 GI Bill.  

If the Scholarship is to be applied for tuition costs only, then these funds will be deducted from the amount of tuition that will be covered by the Alabama GI Dependent Scholarship.

Keep in Mind:

1. Pell Grant
   • Freshman On-Campus Only - The Pell Grant will be used towards dorm and meal plan costs first, then tuition and fees, and finally the GI Dependent Scholarship will pay the rest of the tuition costs up to the maximum allowed for that term.
   • All Other Students - The Pell Grant will be used towards fees first, then tuition costs, and finally the GI Dependent Scholarship will pay the rest of the tuition costs up to the maximum allowed for that term.
2. The Post 9/11 GI Bill will not affect your GI Dependent Scholarship. 
3. The Alabama PACT program does not affect your GI Dependent Scholarship.
4. Additional Title IV Federal Aid (Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loans, Stafford Loans, etc.) does not affect your GI Dependent Scholarship.

Have you completed your initial paperwork with our office?  If not, all of the requested paperwork for your benefit will be needed before your enrollment can be certified with the VA. 

If you have completed all of your paperwork, there are a couple of things that may be preventing you from being paid: 

• Have you completed a class registration form? 
  • If not, you will have to complete this form before your enrollment can be certified with the VA. 
  • If yes (and using Chapter 33) please keep in mind that it may take 4-6 weeks for the VA to process the payment to you. 
  • If yes (and using Chapter 1606) you must complete WAVE on the last day of every month you are in class.

For Chapter 33 students, the VA will not pay tuition for a class that was dropped.  That means the VA will send a debt letter for the cost of that course and a portion of the book stipend.  If your hours drop below 12 with the VA, a portion of the housing stipend they have already paid will be requested back from you as well.  Follow the directions on the debt letter that the VA sends.  Failure to do so could result in the VA using future stipends to pay the debt. 

For Chapter 1606 and 35 students, if your hours drop below 12 with the VA, a portion of the monthly stipend they have already paid will be requested back from you.  Follow the directions on the debt letter that the VA sends.  Failure to do so could result in the VA using future stipends to pay the debt. 

For Chapter 31 students, you should talk to your counselor for information on how dropping a class will affect your benefit and payments. 

For ANGEAP students, the state will not pay for classes you drop.  If you drop a course, you will have a balance on your JSU account.  You will be responsible for that balance.

For GI Dependent Scholarship students (Before 2017):

• Tuition - If the class is dropped BEFORE the add/drop date the scholarship will automatically adjust.  If the class is dropped AFTER the add/drop date the State will be billed accordingly for the dropped class.
• Books - If possible return the book(s) to the bookstore. The scholarship will not pay for the book(s). The charges will be added to the student account.  If the book is not returned be aware that if the class is taken again, the state will not pay for this book again.

For GI Dependent Scholarship students (After 2017):

• Tuition - If the class is dropped BEFORE the add/drop date then the scholarship will be adjusted accordingly.  If the class is dropped AFTER the add/drop date the State will be billed accordingly for the dropped class. 
• Books - If possible return the book(s) to the bookstore. The scholarship will not pay for the book(s). The charges will be added to the student account.  If the book is not returned be aware that if the class is taken again, the state will not pay for this book again.
  

This may happen for a number of reasons. 

1. Payments are prorated for the amount of days in each month.  This means that if you attend school in a partial month (August and December for example) you will only be paid for the days that school was in for that term.  So if school starts on August 20^th, you will only receive payment for twelve days. 

2. Your entitlement may be exhausted.  The VA gives a set number of months for the benefit.  They determine a month as 30 days.  Once the time in the benefit is up, it will pay only the remainder of the benefit they have given you.  The end of the benefit usually results in a prorated amount. 

3. You may have received a debt letter from the VA stating that you owe some money back to the VA.  If you did not respond to the debt letter by contacting debt management, or if you did respond and agreed to have the money taken out of your education check, this could result in your payment being less.

If you fail to attend a class and receive an “F” for that class you will be incur a debt with the VA.  Because of our attendance policy we are required to report your last day of attendance to the VA and this will create a VA debt.