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Dear School Certifying Officials,
Thank you for participating in our November Office Hours. We hope the presentation was informative and answered your questions about the recently passed COVID-19 legislation and updates to the Rogers STEM Scholarship program.
As takeaways, here are a few helpful resources related to the webinar topics and your questions:
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The webinar materials and the STEMText video that were shared during this Office Hours session.
- Updated COVID-19 FAQs for SCOs and GI Bill Students explaining recently passed R.8337 - Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act, which extends special COVID-19 rules to December 21, 2021.
- Additional Section 107 Recertification information you may find helpful: Section 107 Recertification Frequently Asked Questions, Section 107 Recertification Facility Extension Campus Report.
- Student resources available for distribution also include the “Building your Future with the GI Bill” pathway guides, Part One: A Guide to Choose Your Education Pathway, Part Two: A Guide to Understanding Your Benefits, Part Three: A Guide to Furthering Your Career.
- Additionally, our “Postcard Series” highlights high level information and eligibility for sections of the Colmery Act, such as the Exam Reimbursement Postcard, Rogers STEM Scholarship, Yellow Ribbon Program and Consolidation of Post-9/11 Benefit Levels for you to share with your students.
- For specific information about GI Bill benefits, please visit the GI Bill Website. For specific SCO questions about your school contact your Education Liaison Representative (ELR).
- Additional training and communications materials can be found on the School Resource Page, where you can find the recently updated School Certifying Official’s (SCO) Handbook, trainings, resources, guides, and information on GI Bill programs. Additionally, please take a look at the School Training Resources.
In addition, many of you expressed how helpful it is to have pre-written materials to easily share with your GI Bill students. While we have emailed GI Bill students to share the updated COVID-19 FAQs, we encourage you to reach out as well. Please see below draft language we have shared previously that you can copy and paste:
As you may be aware, special COVID-19 rules impacting your Post-9/11 GI Bill® benefits have been extended to December 21, 2021. Among other things, these rules mean that if you pursue resident (physically in person) courses converted to online solely due to COVID-19 at a rate of pursuit more than 50%, you will continue to receive the Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) rate for resident training. To help you better understand these rules and find answers to many of your questions, please see the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) recently updated Student COVID-19 FAQs. If you have specific questions around enrollment or classes, please reach out to me or call VA’s GI Bill hotline at 888-442-4551.
Also, as a friendly reminder, please make sure to complete the Section 107 Recertification process by the December 31, 2020 deadline.
We truly appreciate you taking the time to engage with our team and look forward to hosting additional Office Hours and providing more materials to support you. Please be on the lookout for your next invite.
Thank you for your ongoing support, feedback, and participation.
Respectfully,
Education Service
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