Post 9/11 GI Bill®/Yellow Ribbon Program

The Chapter 33 Post 9/11 GI Bill® is an education benefit for any member or former member of the Armed Forces who served on active duty after September 10th, 2001.

Chapter 33 Handout

Eligibility

You may be eligible for Chapter 33 Post 9/11 GI Bill® if you meet any of the following criteria:

  • You served at least 90 days on active duty (including Title32 AGR) after September 10, 2001.
  • You were honorably discharged from active duty for a service connected disability after serving 30 continuous days after September 10, 2001.
  • You are the child of a member of the Armed Forces who died in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001 (Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship Program).
  • You are the spouse or dependent of a military member who is eligible to transfer Post 9/11 GI Bill® benefits.
  • You will remain eligible for Chapter 33 GI Bill® benefits for 15 years from the date of your separation from active duty (DD214). You may use any one GI Bill® benefit for up to 36 months of full time use and may be able to combine multiple GI Bill® benefits for up to 48 months of use.

The percentage of benefit a veteran is eligible for depends on time spent on active duty after 9/11/01. Note: Multiple deployments may increase your eligibility.

Below is a chart of active duty service after 9/11/01 and the maximum benefit eligibility percentage.

At least 36 months 100%
At least 30 continuous days on active duty and discharged due to service-connected disability 100%
30 to 36 months 90%
24 to 30 months 80%
18 to 24 months 70%
12 to 18 months 60%
6 to 12 months 50%
90 days to 6 months 40%

 

Benefit Calculator

Students receiving benefits under the Post 9/11 GI Bill® can see an approximation of how much they will receive in benefits using the GI Bill® calculator. Note that you will need to update the yearly cost of tuition to the current year’s charges as the pre-populated number is out of date. The calculator figures 9 months of non-stop enrollment and does not exclude break-pay as the law requires, so actual BAH amounts could differ from the amount shown.

Students receiving financial aid should be aware that the Iowa Tuition Grant, as well all Grand View University scholarships are tuition specific, and should therefore be included in figures in the Financial Aid section of the calculator. Other tuition specific aid could vary on a student to student basis.

Transferability

The transferability option under the Post-9/11 GI Bill® allows Service members to transfer all or some unused benefits to their spouse or dependent children. The Department of Defense (DoD) determines whether or not you can transfer benefits to your family. Once the DoD approves benefits for transfer, the new beneficiaries apply for them at VA.

Applying for Benefits

If you have never used Chapter 33 Post 9/11 GI Bill® benefits before you will need to apply for the benefits.

  1. Visit the VA’s website. 
  2. Select the tab Apply for Benefits.
  3. Launch the Veterans Online Application (VONAPP).
  4. Complete and submit the application (VA Form 22-1990) - In order to receive Chapter 33 Post 9/11 GI Bill® you must relinquish another GI Bill®.

The VA will mail you a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) (VA Form 22-0557) in 4-6 weeks.  When you receive the COE please provide a copy to the Military Certifying Official.

Receiving Payments

When you notify the Military Certifying Official that you are registered for classes, the Military Certifying Official will submit a certification to the VA. The VA can take up to 4-6 weeks to process certifications and send out payments.

There are three types of payments under Chapter 33 Post 9/11 GI Bill®.  

  1. Tuition Payment – paid to school
  2. Housing Allowance – paid to recipient
  3. Book Stipend – paid to recipient

Each payment is paid out depending on the percentage of eligibility from the table above.

Example 1
Actively drilling or former member of the National Guard or Reserves with one deployment over 12 months – Eligible at 60%

  1. Tuition Payment – The VA will pay 60% toward the veteran’s tuition and fees, based on VA’s determined maximum allotment ($22,805.34 x .60= $13,683.20 max for FY 17) veteran’s tuition cost (including fees).
  2. Housing Allowance – The VA will pay the recipient 60% of the Basic Allowance for Housing of an E-5, with dependents, in the zip code of the school. For current rates, select zip code 50316, and a rank of E-5 to see the “with dependents” rate. Multiply this amount by 60% to calculate your Housing Allowance.
  3. Book Stipend – The VA will pay up to $600 per school year. Typically this is paid in two equal installments of $300 but could be more or less depending on the number of credit hours you are registered in.

Example 2

Yellow Ribbon Recipient (former active duty member who served over 3 years on active duty with an honorable discharge) – Eligible at 100%. Since Grand View University is a Yellow Ribbon School, and the service member is 100% eligible, tuition costs above the VA maximum will be paid by the VA and Grand View University

  1. Tuition Payment - Degree-seeking, Grand View students who qualify for the Post 9/11 GI Bill® with 100% eligibility are eligible for the Yellow Ribbon program. In the event that the student exhausts the yearly allotted amount for Post 9/11 GI Bill® recipients ($22,805.34 for August 1, 2017 to July 31, 2018) and he/she still has remaining tuition and mandatory fee charges, the Yellow Ribbon program will cover the remaining amount.  
  2. Housing Allowance - The VA will pay the recipient 100% of the Basic Allowance for Housing of an E-5, with dependents, in the zip code of the school. For current rates, select zip code 50316, and a rank of E-5 to see the “with dependents” rate. Students are still responsible for room and board and other miscellaneous charges. In accordance with the Post 9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2010, tuition specific aid (i.e. Grand View University Scholarships, Iowa Tuition Grant, private scholarships specifically intended to defray the cost of tuition) is first subtracted from the total tuition and fee charges and the remainder is covered by the Post 9/11 GI Bill® and Yellow Ribbon program.
  3. Book Stipend – The VA will pay up to $1,000 per school year. Typically this is paid in two equal installments of $500 but could be more or less depending on the number of credit hours you are registered in.

Yellow Ribbon Program

Grand View University is pleased to be participating in the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program (Yellow Ribbon Program), a provision of the Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008. The program is designed to help students finance, through scholarship assistance, up to 100 percent of their out-of-pocket tuition and fees associated with education programs that may exceed the Post 9/11 GI Bill® tuition benefit, which will only pay up to the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition.

Qualification for the Yellow Ribbon Program

  • The VA must determine the veteran 100% eligible for Post 9-11 GI Bill®, and issue you a Certificate of Eligibility. Eligibility is based on active duty length of service after September 2001.
  • Student must be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program.

The VA rate for the 2016-2017 academic year is $22,805.34. As a Yellow Ribbon student, tuition that exceeds the VA rate will be met with matching contributions from Grand View and the VA.

Note: In order to receive the full housing allowance and book stipend the recipient must be enrolled as a full time student (12 credit hours or more during term). The VA pro-rates the housing allowance and book stipend payments for recipients enrolled at less than full time. In order to receive the housing allowance and book stipend payments at all a recipient must be enrolled over half time.  

The VA prorates payments for partial months of school. As an example; if school begins August 20th the first housing allowance payment should be for August 20th to August 31st or 11 days of school. The housing allowance payment for August would be about 1/3 of the full monthly payment amount.

Taking All Online Courses

If all of the classes registered for are online courses, the VA will pay the Housing Allowance at half the national average of an E-5, with dependents multiplied by your percentage of eligibility. For 2017-18, a person eligible at 100% would receive $840.50 a month. If you are eligible at less than 100%, multiply $840.50 by your percentage to calculate your monthly payment.

For further information about VA education benefits please visit www.gibill.va.gov or contact the VA directly by calling (800) GIBILL1 (442-4551). You may also contact the VA via their secure email service by clicking on "Submit a Question" under FAQs at www.gibill.va.gov.