New this school year, monthly enrollment verification is required for Post-9/11 GI Bill® beneficiaries. The new process ensures VA has accurate and up-to-date enrollment information, which can impact student Monthly Housing Allowances (MHA) or tuition and fee payments. By confirming whether students are enrolled in the same courses or training each month, monthly enrollment verification also helps students manage their benefits by preventing false charges and resulting debt.
Increasing access and ease of using education benefits remains a top priority for VA, and the department continues to implement process improvements year after year. Part of these efforts is a focus on reducing overpayments and debt, which could negatively impact millions of beneficiaries. While an additional step for students, enrollment verification plays a key role in safeguarding their GI Bill entitlement by providing accurate and timely information on the status of student enrollments, and importantly, it’s easy to do.
Students can quickly and securely verify enrollment via text message
Text message verification is available to all impacted students with a U.S. mobile phone number.
- After enrolling in courses, students will receive a secure text message from VA inviting them to opt into text message verification. They can reply “Yes” to opt in.
- At the end of each month, students will verify their enrollment by replying “Yes” to a text message from VA.
- Payments will be released at the beginning of the following month.
Currently, the enrollment verification requirement applies only to students at non-college degree (NCD) facilities, with terms starting on or after Aug. 1, 2021, who receive MHA and/or kicker payments. Beginning Dec. 17, the requirement will also apply to students attending institutions of higher learning (IHL) who receive MHA and/or kicker payments. All other impacted students will be provided more information before the requirement applies to them.
NCD facility students who do not receive an opt-in text can contact the Education Call Center at 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551) to opt in. It’s recommended that all students make sure their contact information is up to date.
What happens if students fail to verify enrollment?
Students will have their MHA and/or kicker payments withheld if they fail to verify for two consecutive months or report that they are no longer enrolled in their courses or training.
For more information on enrollment verification and how to sign up for and use text message verification, visit the following resources:
- Enrollment Verification Webpage
- Infographic: How to Verify Enrollment for NCD Facility Students
- Video: How to Opt Into Text Message Verification for NCD Facility Students
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Communication Toolkit for School Certifying Officials at NCD Facilities
Stay tuned as we roll out this requirement to IHL facility students in the coming months.
Topics in this story
More Stories
The “Increase Your Credit Score” workshop will be a live event with credit experts whose aim is to help you bolster your credit score and financial stability.
Tax filing season has become a popular time for scammers to target unsuspecting taxpayers through multiple communication avenues. VA wants Veterans to remain vigilant against cyberattacks aimed at stealing personal and financial information.
The VA Health and Benefits mobile app is modernizing how Veterans access and manage their health care and benefits information.
Thankful this is my last semester..
Sounds like some beuracratic bullsht to me! Bout to rise roll from these messages for good
I am with you on that one..
Come on, there is nothing in here to “protect veterans” all it does is add a completely unnecessary extra step that if the veteran screws up you get to cut off their benefits.
Why do I need to manually verify my enrollment every month? My school already tells you when I’m enrolled, and when I’m not enrolled. You have this information, why do I need to give it to you again? Oh, I see… if I fail to do it 2 months in a row you cut my benefits.
Of course, this is on top of the extra paperwork you made my school have me fill out earlier this year, paperwork I never had to do before using my GI Bill.
I’ve never been one to say things like “they’re just trying to cut our benefits” but this one is so blatantly obvious I can’t find anything else to say about it.
So we’ve added administrative overhead to an already slow system to ensure that when the VA screws up, the veteran still gets boned?
Which numbnuts politician came up with this genius idea…
Protecting the veterans? Adding a virtual baby sitter for adults while they are in college isn’t protecting them.
Current & Former C.T.Army & Air National Guard Personal Deserve More Benefits & Recognition !