The Book Stipend will pay up to $1,000 per year (100% eligibility) and will be paid out in increments based on the amount of credit hours pursued and the percentage of eligibility. The book stipend is paid in a lump sum to the student directly once the enrollment certification has been processed by the VA. Please see Post-9/11 Pay Rates for more information on specific book stipend pay rates.

In order for all classes to be processed for the GI Bill, they must be applicable to the Degree Completion Plan (DCP). If any of your classes are not applicable to the DCP, Liberty University will be unable to process that course for GI Bill benefits. By not having a class processed under the GI Bill, you will be responsible for paying any tuition and fees associated with the course yourself. Furthermore, if you are eligible for a housing allowance, you may have the payment reduced or not paid at all. Lastly, you will not receive any books and supplies stipend associated for the course.

The effective date is the date you wish to start using your benefit. This date is listed on the original Application for VA Education Benefits form (22-1990 or 22-1990E). The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will only pay for courses after this date. For example, if the student’s effective date is listed as 2/1/2019 and the student starts classes on 1/14/2019 the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will not pay for the dates 1/14 to 1/31. Therefore the student will be responsible for the associated charges for those days.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill will only cover fees that are directly associated with tuition and attendance at the University. For example, the Activity Fee and Class Fees can be covered. However, fees that are not required are not covered by the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Some of these fees include: Parking Registration Fee, Library Fees, and Monthly Printing Charges.

Online Content Fees: If a course includes electronic resources, you will see a corresponding online content fee charged to your student account. This fee is waived for students enrolled in an undergraduate online program, but if you do not qualify for a waiver, the Post-9/11 GI Bill may be used to cover this fee.

Exam/Certification/Licensing Fees: The VA offers the National Testing Program for approved reimbursement of certain examinations. Reimbursement for Licensing and Certification test costs may be available as well.

Active Duty Service members and their spouses are not eligible to receive the housing stipend. Children dependents of Active Duty service members are eligible.

Eligible students attending more than 1/2 time may qualify for a Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) equal to the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) amount payable to E-5 with dependents in the 24515 zip code. Students attending at least one course in a residential setting, with a combined rate of pursuit of more than 1/2 time, may qualify for the full housing stipend, to be paid according to the percentage of eligibility. Individuals enrolled in all online courses will be eligible for a monthly housing allowance equal to 50% of the national average of all Basic Allowances for Housing, to be paid out according to the percentage of eligibility. See Pay Rates for the current housing pay rates.

Payments are issued at the beginning of each month for training that occurred during the previous month. For example, assuming timely certification of enrollment by the school and timely processing by U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, payments for training taken in January will be issued by U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in February. Payments are made retroactively and only for the days actually attended, so if the term starts in the middle of January, the payment received in the beginning of February will be pro-rated accordingly. The first full payment would be issued in March for the month of February.

In order for payments to be released, the student must verify their enrollment monthly with VA. VA allows students to opt-in to a simple text message verification program. To do so, students can contact the VA Education Call Center (ECC) at 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551) to ensure VA has their mobile phone number. If the student fails to verify their enrollments for 2 consecutive months, MHA payments will be withheld from VA until the student calls the Education Call Center to verify.

Upon registration in courses and the submission of all needed documentation, the School Certifying Official (SCO) will initially report $0 in Tuition and Fees to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) until after the add/drop period of a given sub-term. This practice has been requested by the VA to ensure no further changes will be made to the student’s enrollment and the tuition and fees reported are accurate before the VA begins releasing payment for tuition and fees. This significantly reduces the risk of a change in enrollment causing the student to owe a debt to the VA or Liberty University.

The initial certification for $0 in Tuition and Fees will not impact the books and supplies stipend or the monthly housing allowance (if applicable). The number of credit hours enrolled will still be reported to allow the VA to issue payments for the books and supplies stipend and monthly housing allowance without delay.

Once the student’s tuition and fees are finalized after the add/drop deadline, the SCO will submit the certification for actual tuition and fees to the VA, requesting payment. Once the VA releases payment (typically 1-2 weeks), this payment will be processed to your account.

Please be aware that all of the following must be true in order for us to accurately certify your cost and credit hours to the Department of Veterans Affairs:

• You must be registered for all courses. Upon registration for courses, the student’s account will be reviewed in as timely a manner as possible, per the timeline information below.
• The course must be applicable to the Degree Completion Plan (DCP). If any of your enrolled courses are not applicable to the DCP, the certifying official will be unable to certify that course for associated tuition and fees, the books and supplies stipend, or the monthly housing allowance. Any other applicable courses will still be certified as usual.

Processing Timelines: The processing time for the GI Bill is typically 3-5 business days after enrollment in courses. However, this may not be consistent for a future semester when the current semester is still active, as the current semester’s processing will take priority. As soon as all students have been processed for the current semester, the Office of Military Affairs will be able to prioritize the future semester. This typically occurs two weeks after the start of the current semester’s D sub-term. After that point, students should expect their courses for the future semester to be reviewed within 3-5 business days.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill will pay up to the established yearly cap in tuition for individuals that are 100% eligible. Please review the Pay Rates information for the current tuition cap.

If you are a current member of the Armed Forces, the Department of Defense (DoD) may offer you the opportunity to transfer benefits to your spouse or dependent children. The DoD is responsible for determining eligibility for transfer of entitlement. The law provides that an individual must have served at least 6 years in the Armed Forces and agrees to serve a minimum of 4 more years. For transfer of entitlement for dependent children, the service member must have served at least 10 years and still be currently serving.

In order to transfer benefits to a dependent the following steps must be taken:

The service member must go to the DoD transferability website to determine if their dependent(s) are eligible to receive the transferred benefits. This website is only available to military members.

Upon approval, the dependent may apply to use transferred benefits with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs by going to the VA.gov website and filling out the 22-1990e (Step 1 above). The VA Form 22-1990e should only be completed by the dependent after the DoD has approved the request for Transfer of Education Benefits on the DoD website.

Per the 2014 Department of Defense Memorandum of Understanding, Federal Tuition Assistance and Veterans Affairs benefits cannot be used to pay for the same course(s). There are currently 3 exceptions to this policy. Students using Post-9/11 GI Bill® are able to use their Veterans Education Benefits to cover the remaining balance for courses not completely covered by Federal Tuition Assistance. As of May 5, 2021, students using the Montgomery GI Bill-Selected Reserve Education Benefit (MGIB-SR or Chapter 1606) may also use their benefit concurrently with Federal Tuition Assistance when they are enrolled in a program of education that is half-time or greater. Concurrent use is not authorized under Chapter 1606 when students are enrolled less than half-time. The final exception to this policy is for the Montgomery GI Bill: Active Duty (MGIB or Chapter 30) under the use of Top-Up. The Top-Up benefit may only be used with Chapter 30 to receive from the VA those tuition costs that exceed, or are not authorized in, the amount of TA provided to the service member by his/her military branch.

Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients may be certified for $0 if Tuition Assistance is covering the full cost of their course(s). This $0 certification will generate a Housing stipend for the duration of the course (for those enrolled greater than half-time), as well as a Book Stipend payment. Students should keep in mind that Active Duty students and their spouses are not eligible to receive a Monthly Housing Allowance from their GI Bill benefits. For more information about Chapter 33, please see the Post-9/11 GI Bill webpage.

Students eligible for Veterans Education Benefits will have their enrollment certified with the VA. If Federal Tuition Assistance is later applied toward a course that has been certified, the certification for Veterans Benefits will be either amended (Chapters 33 and 1606) to account for the Tuition Assistance or terminated (all other GI Bill chapters) in accordance with the 2014 Department of Defense Memorandum of Understanding.