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Dear School Certifying Official (SCO),
On February 3, 2024, an Enrollment Manager (EM) system update was performed. The Enrollment Manager system updates webpage will be updated in the near future to document all changes made during this most recent release.
One of the most commented on changes was the addition of two newly required fields in the “Benefits” tab for Survivors’ and Dependents’ Education Assistance (Chapter 35) beneficiaries. These beneficiaries now require:
- A qualifying Veteran’s first name.
- A qualifying Veteran’s last name.
The purpose of these fields is to assist you, the SCO, in identifying Chapter 35 records, especially for beneficiaries who have eligibility from multiple sources. The names provided in these fields are not validated against any Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) data source, are not transmitted to VA, and are not used by VA for any processing purpose.
Because these fields are for clarifying information only, VA encourages you to use the most accurate information you have available to you when completing them. Routinely this information can be received directly from the student. In instances where you have the qualifying Veteran’s file number, but not their name, you can notate both name fields as “Source One” so the certification can be submitted for processing without delay. You do not need to contact the Education Call Center for this information.
In instances where you have the qualifying Veterans’ file numbers, but not their names and the student is switching their entitlement source (i.e. for the Spring 2024 term they used Chapter 35 benefits from their father and for Fall 2025 they want to use Chapter 35 benefits from their mother), for the new term you can notate both name fields as “Source Two” so the certification can be submitted for processing without delay.
Please Note: a number character cannot be entered in either name field. The fields must be completed with alphabetic characters only.
Enrollment Manager currently remains unable to fully report situations where a beneficiary uses entitlement from two sources simultaneously for a term. For certification purposes, you will certify the student as per normal (following the procedures above if you cannot immediately provide the qualifying Veteran’s name). The student will need to contact VA using the AskVA system or by writing to the Regional Processing Office of jurisdiction in order to confirm that they wish to use two entitlement sources during one term.
Future enhancements are being researched to potentially prefill the qualifying Veteran’s name based on the file number. VA thanks you for your flexibility as the Enrollment Manager system evolves and for your commitment to our Veterans, Service members, and their dependents.
Kind regards,
Education Service
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