Are you a Post-9/11 GI Bill® student who relies on Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) and/or kicker payments while enrolled in school? If so, you need to know about the new monthly Enrollment Verification requirement for the 2021-2022 school year.

Monthly verification will be required for Post-9/11 GI Bill students receiving MHA and/or kicker payments and attending Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) for terms that start on or after Dec. 17, 2021. This new requirement is designed to protect GI Bill entitlement and reduce student debts by catching changes in enrollment, which may result in overpayments. Students are required to verify their enrollment to continue receiving payments. It also extends the option to use texts to reach more GI Bill students. This is an extremely popular capability, with 88 percent of eligible students choosing text verification.

What’s New?

VA’s enrollment verification requirement is expanding to include students attending Institutions of Higher Learning. Initially, this verification requirement applied only to students at non-college degree (NCD) facilities. You can see below which types of facilities are currently covered. This requirement isn’t new to Montgomery GI Bill students, Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship students or VET TEC students because they are already required to verify their monthly attendance.

Education monthly enrollment cert

There are now multiple ways available to verify monthly enrollment, making the process even easier. Students can still opt into verification via text by responding to a message VA will send. New to the process is the option to verify via email. Students who have not opted into text will automatically be opted into email verification. They may also contact the Education Call Center (ECC) at 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551) if they don’t receive an opt-in message to update their contact information or to change their verification method.

What happens if students fail to verify?

Students who fail to verify their enrollment for two consecutive months will have their MHA/kicker payments put on a temporary hold. For payments to resume, students must contact the ECC to re-verify. It is strongly encouraged to opt into email or text for automatic monthly reminders to ensure enrollment changes are recorded timely and expected MHA/kicker payments continue uninterrupted.

For more information on enrollment verification, please explore the following resources:

Enrollment Verification Webpage

Infographic: How to Verify Enrollment for IHL Facility Students

Monthly Enrollment Verification FAQs

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5 Comments

  1. Athena February 10, 2022 at 10:10

    It is such a hassle to deal with this, specially if you have anxiety. All this talk of be prepared for this or you are in trouble and so little help over how to make sure your *ss is covered not even a way to log in and check your sht. What is the the 80s?

  2. miguel morales February 3, 2022 at 14:14

    I served the Army Reserve for 20 years and I did a tour to Iraq. I was declared a veteran on 2005. On 2013 I retired from the Army Reserve but because of my job I was not able to use the 911 education benefits. I tried this year and I was told that I did not qualify becuase I when over the time period. I did not know I was time period to use the benefit. I nothing I can not get for my education

  3. Katherine Sykes January 27, 2022 at 10:12

    “They may also contact the Education Call Center (ECC) at 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551) if they don’t receive an opt-in message to update their contact information or to change their verification method.”

    This should include the following information (which isn’t explained anywhere online or in any VA training materials):
    Students need to SELECT OPTION 0 to talk to the right people for this.

  4. Palmer E.W. and Family January 26, 2022 at 20:13

    Next time the V.A. decide to help a Veteran , who is disabled. Please provide the housing information to him or her clearly. It should not take weeks or months, to find a place for that Veteran. Please. How long one serves should not be a factor. Five or four years should not just go down the drain, regardless of type of discharge *sans BCD☆*

  5. Concerned Veteran Arnold Cabral January 21, 2022 at 12:54

    To who read this my belief Veteran Medical Centers need to have a Dentist knows how to put in G4implants or a contract with a Veteran Affairs Administration……no worries who read this I know you can’t do anything about it………Thanks for your Support and stay Healthy and your Staff and be careful of the Virus.

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