Benefits - New Students

Benefits - New students

New and Transfer Students to Pitt-Titusville must submit a Letter or Certificate of Eligibility to the Office of Financial Aid in order for VA Education Benefits can be certified. See below for your chapter and instructions for applying.

CHAPTER 30 (MGIB), CHAPTER 33 (post 9/11), CHAPTER 1606 (MGIB-SR), and CHAPTER 1607 (REAP)

  • You can apply for your education benefits using Va.gov.
  • Go to va.gov.
  • Click on "Apply for Education Benefits".
  • From here you can choose to apply for a new benefit or to update your current education benefits.
  • If you are having difficulty with this process:
    • You can call a VA Education Case Manager (1-888-GIBill1) to ask for help.
    • You can also submit a paper application.
    • To do this, download and complete VA Form 22-1990 "Application for VA Education Benefits" and mail it to a VA Regional Processing Office.
    • You can mail the form to the region of your home address or to the VA Regional Processing Office for the region of your school's physical address if you know what school you want to attend.
    • Paper applications can take 8 to 12 weeks to process, and subsequent paperwork usually takes an additional 6 to 8 weeks.

AFTER YOU HAVE APPLIED FOR BENEFITS:

  • A Letter or Certificate of Eligibility will be mailed to you.
  • The School Certifying Official needs the Letter or Certificate to certify benefits.
  • Submit the Letter or Certificate of Eligibility to the Office of Financial Aid.
  • The Notice of Benefit Eligibility (NOBE) will not suffice.
  • Verify Your Enrollment and Attendance for Monthly Payments.
  • If you are using benefits under Chapter 30, Chapter 1606, or Chapter 1607 you must certify your attendance to the Department of Veterans Affairs at the end of each month in order to receive your monthly payment.
  • Log in to W.A.V.E. at the Department of Veterans Affairs website.
  • Or, call to verify your enrollment, 1-877-823-2378.

VA Education Benefits for Survivors & Dependents

CHAPTER 33 and 35

The Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) program offers education and training opportunities to eligible dependents of veterans who are permanently and totally disabled due to a service-related condition or of Veterans who died while on active duty or as a result of a service-related condition.

Eligibility: You must be the son, daughter, or spouse of:

  • A veteran who died or is permanently and totally disabled as the result of a service-connected disability. The disability must arise out of active service in the armed forces.
  • A veteran who died from any cause while such permanent and total service-connected disability was in existence.
  • A service member missing in action or captured in line of duty by a hostile force.
  • A service member forcibly detained or interned in line of duty by a foreign government or power.
  • A service member who is hospitalized or receiving outpatient treatment for a service connected permanent and total disability and is likely to be discharged for that disability. This change is effective Dec. 23, 2006.

You may receive up to 45 months of education benefits. Effective Oct. 1, 2013, some DEA beneficiaries may be eligible for up to 81 months of GI Bill® benefits if they use the Survivors and Dependents Educational Assistance program in conjunction with an entitlement from other VA education programs.

You can apply for your education benefits using Va.gov.

  • Go to va.gov.
  • Click on "Apply for Education Benefits".
  • From here you can choose to apply for a new benefit or to update your current education benefits.
  • If you are having difficulty with this process:
    • You can call a VA Education Case Manager (1-888-GIBill1) to ask for help.
    • You can also submit a paper application.
    • To do this, download and complete VA Form 22-1990 "Application for VA Education Benefits" and mail it to a VA Regional Processing Office.
    • You can mail the form to the region of your home address or to the VA Regional Processing Office for the region of your school's physical address if you know what school you want to attend.
    • Paper applications can take 8 to 12 weeks to process, and subsequent paperwork usually takes an additional 6 to 8 weeks.

AFTER YOU HAVE APPLIED FOR BENEFITS:

A Letter or Certificate of Eligibility will be mailed to you.

  • The School Certifying Official needs the Letter or Certificate to certify benefits.
  • Submit the Letter or Certificate of Eligibility to the Office of Financial Aid.
  • The Notice of Benefit Eligibility (NOBE) will not suffice.

If you are a son or daughter, under legal age, a parent or guardian must sign the application.
A Letter or Certificate of Eligibility will be mailed to you.

  • The School Certifying Official needs the Letter or Certificate to certify benefits.
  • Submit the Letter or Certificate of Eligibility to the Office of Financial Aid.
  • The Notice of Benefit Eligibility (NOBE) will not suffice.

If you have questions about the application process, contact the VA at 1-888-GIBILL1.


Federal Tuition Assistance (FTA) Education Benefits

Apply for FTA at www.GoArmyEd.com

  1. Eligible Active Guard Reserve (AGR) soldiers must apply for the Education Assistance Program (EAP).
  2. When you have successfully completed the application, an email will be sent to your military email account.
  3. Please forward a copy of that email to uptaid@.pitt.edu.
  4. FTA and EAP cannot exceed tuition and fees. If they do, excess funds must be returned to EAP.
  5. National Guard and Reserve M-day service members can receive Federal TA for some classes, and receive Chapter 1606 or 1607 benefits for other classes (for which Federal TA isn't paid) during the same term.
  6. If you have questions about the FTA application process, call 1-717-861-9238.

FTA -- The Department of Defense (DoD) has directed a uniform TA fiscal policy across the military services. Per-semester hour cap is $250, and the fiscal year ceiling is $4,500. The Army will pay 100 percent of the tuition and authorized fees charged by a school up to the established per-semester hour cap and fiscal year ceiling.

Current Army policy limits TA to 130 semester hours of undergraduate credit or baccalaureate degree, whichever comes first, and 39 semester hours of graduate credit or master's degree, whichever comes first. The 39 semester hour limit applies to all credits taken after completion of a baccalaureate degree.

Authorized fees covered by TA are mandatory fees that are associated with an individual course enrollment. Non-refundable fees and fees that are not linked to individual course enrollments (e.g., application fees, graduation fees) are not covered by TA.

Provide a copy of your Tuition Assistance Authorization (TAA) to the Office of Financial Aid each semester you will be receiving FTA.

Education Assistance Program (EAP)

  1. Complete EAP Form 2 at your unit of assignment for each academic year.
  2. The deadline for fall and spring terms is prior to the start of the term.
  3. The deadline for summer terms is prior to the start of the term.
  4. We recommend you make and keep a copy of your EAP Form 2 for future reference.
  5. Notify the Financial Aid Office each semester you expect to receive EAP (this is important).
  6. Change of school, change of enrollment, or change of address must be submitted on EAP Form 3.
  7. If you have questions about the EAP application process, call 1-717-861-8894 or your readiness NCO.

EAP -- Together with the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, PHEAA administers this tuition assistance program for students who enter into a service commitment with the Pennsylvania National Guard for a period of six years.

To be considered for the Pennsylvania National Guard Education Assistance Program (EAP), you must: Be a resident (bona fide domiciliary) of Pennsylvania and be enrolled in a degree- or certificate-granting program of study at an approved Pennsylvania institution.

Undergraduate students can expect to receive up to 100% of the tuition at the institution where they are enrolled OR 100% of the tuition charged to a PA resident at a state-owned university if full time (the LESSER of the two). If part time, students can expect to receive 100% of the tuition for a part-time course of study OR two-thirds of the full-time tuition charged to a PA resident at a state-owned university (the LESSER of the two).

Note -- PHEAA will inform the Office of Financial Aid of students that are approved for EAP on a roster each semester. Once our office receives this roster, funds are posted to the Student Accounts.

Chapter 31 Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Benefits - Service members who have a disability that began or became worse during active duty and who have not yet received a Service-Connected Disability Rating do not need to wait to apply. See VA Form 28-0588 for further instructions. Eligible Service members and Veterans may also apply for educational vocational counseling by filling out VA Form 28-8832 electronically or by hand and submitting it to your nearest VA Regional Office.

For Service members: Ill or injured Service members who have not yet received an SCD rating do not need to wait to apply. Service members expecting a discharge that is not dishonorable who possess a VA memorandum or Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) rating of 20 percent or more—as well as Service members currently going through a Physical Evaluation Board—may be eligible to receive Vocational Rehabilitation (Voc Rehab) services.

You can apply for your education benefits using Vets.gov.

  • Go to va.gov
  • Click on "Apply for Education Benefits".
  • Choose Vocational Rehabilitation (Form 28-1900) from the drop down menu and follow the prompts to fill out the form.
  • From here you can choose to apply for a new benefit or to update your current education benefits.
  • If you are having difficulty with this process:
    • You can call a VA Education Case Manager (1-888-GIBill1) to ask for help.
    • You can also submit a paper application.
    • To do this, download and complete VA Form 22-1990 "Application for VA Education Benefits" and mail it to a VA Regional Processing Office.
    • You can mail the form to the region of your home address or to the VA Regional Processing Office for the region of your school's physical address if you know what school you want to attend.
    • Paper applications can take 8 to 12 weeks to process, and subsequent paperwork usually takes an additional 6 to 8 weeks.

AFTER YOU HAVE APPLIED FOR BENEFITS:

A Letter or Certificate of Eligibility will be mailed to you.

  • The School Certifying Official needs the Letter or Certificate to certify benefits.
  • Submit the Letter or Certificate of Eligibility to the Office of Financial Aid.
  • The Notice of Benefit Eligibility (NOBE) will not suffice.