Greetings GI Bill® Partners,

On March 6, 2023, we rolled out Enrollment Manager (EM), positively changing the way you process student enrollments for GI Bill benefits. As of April 17, over 12.3K distinct users have successfully logged into EM, and over 426,600 enrollment certifications for all chapters have been submitted from 8,287 institutions like yours.

The Customer Experience Group (CEG) will begin to transition during the month of May. Continued support will then be provided by the School Certifying Official (SCO) Hotline. We are training SCO Hotline representatives to ensure they can continue to provide the assistance you need as you continue to learn how to best navigate Enrollment Manager. As well, our communications and training teams will continue to keep you abreast of updates and guidance while providing you with the tips and resources you need to successfully navigate EM.

Thank you for your input, time and patience as we continue to implement updates and identify areas where we can improve the EM experience for you! We encourage you to continue sharing your feedback; it helps us to improve our processes. Be sure to continue submitting your good news stories, so that we can share with all our GI Bill partners—read below to find out how.

Respectfully,

Education Service

We developed numerous resources to support you as you get up to speed using Enrollment Manager. Under the “Enrollment Manager Information” section on the Resources for Schools webpage, you will find:

• VA Education Platform Portal link to access Enrollment Manager: https://iam.education.va.gov/
• School Certifying Official Enrollment Manager User Guide
• Quick Start Guides
• SCO Training Portal for EM 100, EM 101 and EM 102 trainings

Take a moment to check out these resources as you become more familiar with Enrollment Manager. If you haven’t logged into the system yet, we highly encourage you to log in today whether you have active or inactive enrollments.

The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) hosted a GI Bill Roadshow stop at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana on April 18. The Roadshow started with an Enrollment Manager workshop at 10 a.m. that was followed by a GI Bill Town Hall at 11:30 a.m. Veterans, Service members and their families, as well as School Certifying Officials (SCOs) were able to connect with EDU leadership, learn about GI Bill updates and gain valuable insights about the Enrollment Manager system. The event was livestreamed on the GI Bill Facebook page. 

We would like to extend a huge thank you to our GI Bill partners at Purdue, Morgan Torres, Director of the Veteran Success Center and Kelvin Gumbs, Executive Director for Educational Partnerships/Office of Industry Partnerships, for hosting us!

Image description (top right): Members of EDU (r-l: Jennifer Gillan (Management and Program Analyst, Paula West (Management and Program Analyst, Joseph Garcia (Executive Director) and Terry Warren (Program Integration Officer, acting) are greeted by Morgan Torres (Director of the Veteran Success Center at Purdue University)

Image description (bottom right): Joseph Garcia (EDU Executive Director) speaks to attendees during the GI Bill Town Hall.

Image credit: Jasmine Rush, Executive Assistant

In March 2023, we introduced online verification as an additional option for Post-9/11 GI Bill students to verify their monthly enrollment.

VA still recommends students utilize text verification as the preferred option to verify their enrollment. However, this new method will allow students to verify directly online at VA.gov as long as they have a fully verified account through ID.me or Login.gov.

If students cannot verify through text or email, or their text or email link expires, this new option will allow students to verify directly online instead of having to call the Education Call Center.

For more information on the online verification method head to the Enrollment Verification webpage. If your students have questions about creating a verified ID.me account, they can check out our step-by-step video on the process

Enrollment certifications submitted by paper or PDF will not be accepted after June 5, 2023. Enrollment Manager is the required method for submitting enrollments, and all enrollments must be submitted through the new system starting on June 6. If you haven’t logged in yet, we highly encourage you to do so today. You will need a verified ID.me or Login.gov account to access Enrollment Manager. Get started on the login process by following this step-by-step video on how to create a verified ID.me or Login.gov account. For more information on logging in, please head to the Resources for Schools webpage to review the Quick Start Guide created for your institution. Log in today: https://iam.education.va.gov/.

NOTE: This requirement excludes certain School Certifying Officials at On-the-job training programs and Apprenticeships, Medical Residency programs and high schools with less than five students. They do not need to use Enrollment Manager and can continue to submit paper claims after June 6. We will provide more information regarding who is exempt, along with how they should submit as guidance becomes available.

Since opening last month, Enrollment Manager has streamlined processes for certifying and submitting student enrollments. As you continue to get more familiar with the new features, please keep these tips in mind:

• You can search for your students by entering their first name, last name or Student ID. You can search all students by using their first name, middle name, last name, email, phone number or date of birth.
• The “view details” button on the Enrollment tab for submitted enrollments/amendments takes you to a View Details page where you can view/print.
• You can generate detailed reports for enrollments, amendments and certifications based on a weekly date range from the Reports tab.
• Notes are visible in Enrollment Manager for you and all other School Certifying Officials to view. Notes are not transmitted to Regional Processing Offices (RPO), Veterans Claims Examiners (VCE) or VA Central Office.

The User Guide shows step-by-step visual instructions on how to successfully complete actions in Enrollment Manager such as terminating enrollments.

Any student who is eligible for the GI Bill is also eligible for Personalized Career Planning and Guidance, a free benefit that provides:

• Career counseling to help students decide which civilian or military jobs they want
• Educational counseling to help them find a training program or field of study
• Academic and adjustment counseling to help students address issues or barriers that get in the way of their success
• Resume support and goal planning

Students can use this benefit more than once. Please share this information with students and any relevant academic advising offices as you see fit. If they need more information, or want to apply, you can share our webpage on the benefit or our fact sheet.

To learn more about navigating the system, you can start a conversation with Billie, the GI Bill chatbot available to provide you with answers on how to perform specific actions in the system. Please complete the survey at the end of your conversation to share your feedback about the support you received. We review your feedback to make updates and improve your experience with Billie.

As a reminder, the Customer Experience Group (CEG) will begin to transition during the month of May. Continued support will then be provided by the School Certifying Official (SCO) Hotline. You can reach the hotline by calling 1-888-442-4551. Those calling outside of the United States can call 001-918-781-5678. The SCO hotline is open 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday - Friday.

Previously, we shared School Certifying Officials (SCOs) no longer have to wait 24 hours to complete certain actions in Enrollment Manager. Below we’ve outlined updated guidance to help improve the processing of enrollments

For original enrollments and amendments: If you submitted an original enrollment and plan to amend it on the same day, please wait 10 minutes before amending it. This will help Veteran Claims Examiners (VCEs) see there has been an amendment to the enrollment and process it accordingly. 

For different facility codes: When submitting enrollments for students at different facilities, please wait a full 24 hours before doing so. For example, you can submit enrollments for your primary facility then wait 24 hours to submit enrollments for the secondary facility. 

More information about completing actions in Enrollment Manager can be found in the User Guide on the Resources for Schools webpage.

You can help students studying for STEM degrees by letting them know about the Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship. This scholarship is for Veterans using the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Fry Scholars and provides them with up to nine months or $30,000 of additional benefits to complete their STEM training. They must:

1. Be enrolled in a qualifying STEM program,
2. Have completed a certain amount of time on their degree,
3. Have 6 months or less of their benefits left (if they apply too soon, they’ll be denied).

Students often don’t know about benefit supplements like this, so your help sharing the word can make a real difference! If they need more information, or want to apply, you can share our webpage on the benefit.