|
The Official Newsletter for School Certifying Officials |
|
Leadership Corner
Greetings GI Bill® Partners,
The first day of classes in a new term provides us with a fresh start and a chance to reflect on the vital work we do together. For me, this new beginning inspires optimism as VA continues to modernize its system with its Digital GI Bill efforts. In this last year we have released a new certification system, which you have all embraced, and have received nearly two million certifications through Enrollment Manager. And we, in VA, have plans to push these modernization efforts even farther this coming year.
Our modernization efforts would be worthless without the dedicated effort of our Education Service staff and the contributions from you, our education partners. I would like to personally thank you for all you do every day in your essential role in helping Veterans, Service members and their dependents receive their hard-earned benefits. I look forward to continuing to work with you and accomplishing great things.
Respectfully,
Joseph Garcia, Executive Director
Education Service
|
|
|
SCO Spolight!
Featured is Edward Sivells (School Certifying Offical) with Tidewater Community College.
In our last edition of SCO in the know, we were proud to notify everyone that since its launch, over one million enrollment certifications were received through the new Enrollment Manager system.
We had the opportunity to interview the School Certifying Official (SCO) who submitted that one millionth enrollment certification, Edward Sivells, who is one of the SCOs at Tidewater Community College.
We hope you’re following us on Facebook so that you can see that interview in full, as well as all our other success stories for both GI Bill beneficiaries and SCOs!
|
|
New academic year – New tuition and fees caps
The 2023-24 academic year (August 1, 2023 – July 31, 2024) tuition and fees caps are now available on the GI Bill website. You are highly encouraged to review these updated totals and share this information with your GI Bill beneficiaries.
Peak Enrollment is Coming
Every Fall and Spring term, VA experiences an increase in the education workload due to the peak enrollment period. There is no need for your facility to either hold or resubmit previous enrollments.
You can expect us to maintain our current fiscal year 2023 timeliness standards for an average processing time of 24 days for an original claims and 12 days for supplemental claims.
|
Calendar of events
 September 2023
September Office Hours: September 19, 2023 – September 21, 2023
Recordings of previous Office Hours can be found at the following links:
|
|
School Certifying Officials receive Enrollment Manager updates at summer conferences
Featured left to right is: Victoria Evans (Chief of the National Training Team - Schools), Joseph Preisser (Management and Program Analyst) and Brittany Tennant (Training Specialist) with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In July, Education Service (EDU) attended and hosted Enrollment Manager (EM) workshops at the 2023 Western Association of Veterans Education Specialists (WAVES) Annual Conference and the 2023 Association of Veteran Education Certifying Officials (AVECO) Conference to share updates with SCOs.
At the AVECO conference, we answered questions live from virtual and in-person SCOs who attended an interactive EM Q&A session. We also valued receiving SCOs’ feedback and hearing their excitement about updates, including the increased font size. SCOs also shared their positive feedback at the WAVES conference, where the National Training Team (NTT) presented to over 100 attendees.
We enjoyed connecting with SCOs at both conferences, as we strive to improve your experience through Enrollment Manager. If your schedules permit, we highly encourage you to attend future events to share your feedback and connect more with VA leadership.
Interested in seeing what other events are happening soon? Head to the Conferences and Events webpage.
|
|
New VBA remarks coming to Enrollment Manager
 Did you notice more options of VBA remarks to choose from? New VBA remarks are now available in Enrollment Manager to improve the process of certifying and submitting student enrollments. The new VBA remarks are:
- Second Certification for Enrollment Verification
- Change to Tuition & Fees
- Correcting / Updating / Amending Previous Enrollment
- Graduated / Received Diploma or Certificate / Completed Objective
As a reminder, entering VBA remarks are not necessary to submit an enrollment and should only be used to indicate changes not available elsewhere in the student's enrollment/amendment.
To document changes in an enrollment, use a VBA remark and/or the Notes feature if a remark isn’t available for the changes made. Please do not use a custom remark if the information is already in the certification. For example, any change to tuition and/or fees should not be a custom remark. In this instance no remark would be necessary, but if you feel one would be helpful, use the "Change to Tuition and Fees" VBA remark.
For more information about VBA remarks, check out the Enrollment Manager User Guide.
|
|
Your students may be eligible for the GI Bill tutoring benefit
Your students rely on you to help them understand all the uses for their GI Bill benefits. One benefit they sometimes miss is the tutoring benefit. If a student is:
- Enrolled in an educational program for half-time or more,
- Using the Montgomery GI Bill (Chapter 30), Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) or the Dependents’ Educational Assistance (Chapter 35) benefit,
- Having trouble in a required subject and needs a tutor, and,
- Their course instructor (or teacher) agrees that the student needs a tutor and writes a letter on their behalf.
Then the student can be reimbursed by the GI Bill for up to $100 a month and a total of $1,200.
Please share this information with your students and any relevant academic advising offices as you see fit. If they need more information, or want to apply, please share our webpage on the benefit.
|
|
|
Your STEM students may be eligible for added benefits
You can help students studying for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (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 allows them additional benefits by up to nine months or $30,000. They must:
- Be enrolled in a qualifying STEM program,
- Have completed a certain amount of time on their degree,
- Have six 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.
|
|
|
VA scholarships for students in medical and healthcare fields
If you have students studying in a field related to medicine or healthcare, VA offers scholarships to students looking to work in a VA healthcare facility, serving our Nation’s Veterans. These scholarships cover many degrees and certifications and can help your students extend their benefits to reach the end of their education. Find more information about the different programs on our website.
|
|
|
Annual Training Requirements
**Reminder: The annual training window for this year closes August 31, 2023**
Watch the new SCO Annual Training Requirements video.
Relevant links:
- Annual SCO training requirements
-
SCO Training Portal - You can view the number of training modules and training hours you’ve completed here in the “Your Completion Status” table.
FY 2023 New Certifying Official Training Requirements
- Institutions of Higher Learning = 10 Modules
- Non-College Degree Facilities = 10 Modules
- On-The-Job and Apprenticeship Training = 1 Module
- Vocational Flight Facilities = 1 Module
- High School Facilities = 1 Module
- Residency Facilities = 1 Module
FY 2023 Continuing Certifying Official Training Requirements
- Institutions of Higher Learning = 4 Modules
- Institutions of Higher Learning with Flight Programs = 4 Modules
- Non-College Degree Programs Only = 4 Modules
- Institutions of Higher Learning with Non-College Degree Programs = 4 Modules
- On-The-Job and Apprenticeship Training = 1 Module
- Vocational Flight Programs = 1 Module
- High School Programs = 1 Module
- Residency Programs = 1 Module
Self-Certification Steps
- Login to the SCO Annual Training Portal.
- Select “Office Hours”, “Conference Sessions”, or “Supplemental Training”.
- Locate the applicable session and select “Begin”.
- Verify you selected the correct training session, then select “continue”.
- Select “Yes, you completed 100%”, then select “Submit”.
- Enter the Date of Training, then select “Submit”.
- Download your results and retain the Certificate.
|
|
SCO Resources
If you have questions or concerns about ID.me or Login.gov you must contact them directly. These systems are not managed by VA.
|
|
Subscribe to receive all our updates!
As a reminder, you must be enrolled in GovDelivery in order to receive routine communications (such as webinar invites or office hour notes) from Education Service.
|
|
 |
|
US Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Benefits Administration
1-888-442-4551, TDD: 711
|
Do you have a question or concern about GI Bill benefits? Contact us safely and securely with Ask VA! |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
