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Dear VA education beneficiary,
Starting in January 2026, Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (Chapter 35) beneficiaries will be required to verify their enrollment each month to receive their benefit payments. Please note that you must verify your enrollment for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to begin processing your monthly benefit. Once verified, payment processing can take five to seven calendar days.
To verify your enrollment beginning January 2026, the following options are available to you:
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Text: When you begin using your benefits, you will receive a message from VA asking if you want to verify your enrollment by text. If you respond “yes,” VA will send you a text every month asking you to verify your enrollment. This is the fastest way to verify your enrollment so you can receive your payments.
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Email: If you choose not to opt in to text verification, you will receive monthly enrollment verification messages by email.
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Online: You can verify your enrollment through our online tool by signing in to your VA.gov account.
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Ask VA: If you choose to verify your enrollment through Ask VA, be sure to include the dates of your enrollment in school or training in your message. This is a manual process. Therefore, extra time is required for formal review, in addition to the five to seven calendar days for payment to be received.
You can learn more about the different enrollment verification methods in this video or the Verify Your School Enrollment webpage. If you had previously opted out of text notification and would like to change your enrollment verification method you can call the Education Call Center (ECC) at 888-442-4551, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday.
To receive updates on enrollment verification requirements, and to have access to text and email verification methods, please take a moment to review and, if needed, update the personal contact information, including your email address, mailing address, and mobile phone number in your VA.gov profile. You can also update your contact information in your VA.gov profile through Ask VA, or by calling the ECC.
If you have questions about your enrollment, please contact your School Certifying Official. You can find their contact information listed on the GI Bill Comparison Tool.
We appreciate your attention and patience as we work to improve your GI Bill® experience.
Respectfully,
VA Education Service
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