VA Beneficiaries / Student Agreement

Any student utilizing VA Education Benefits must follow specific guidelines established by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA). When submitting a Certification Request to the Veterans Resource Center, you are agreeing to follow these VA guidelines.

Change in Status

VA regulations require you to report any change in your enrollment status or tuition that may affect your VA educational benefits. Once you are enrolled and certified by the Veterans Resource Center, you are responsible for notifying the office of any change in status. This includes adding or dropping classes, and changes in program. Changes should be reported promptly. Changes in enrollment may result in the retroactive loss of benefits.

VA Approved Program

In order to receive VA benefits, you must declare your educational goal and program of study while attending Bellevue College. The VA will only pay education benefits for courses that are part of an approved program. The VA does not cover Community Education programs.

Degree Audit / Education Plan

Every course that you want to receive benefits for must be shown as appropriate through a degree plan from the Bellevue College website, or an education plan, reviewed and signed by an academic advisor.

Transcripts / Transfer Credits

The VA requires that you submit for evaluation all military and college transcripts, regardless of how the classes were paid for. Transcripts must be submitted to Bellevue College within three quarters of initial enrollment. Courses taken before completion of transcript evaluation are subject to VA repayment if equivalent courses are subsequently transferred in to BC.

Academic Progress

If you fail to maintain good academic standing (2.0+ GPA) with Bellevue College, you may be placed on a level of probation or warning for future quarters. This may interfere with your ability to be certified with the VA and receive benefits, should the school limit your number of credits, or dismiss you for one or more quarters. See Policy #3200P on the BC website for more information.

Course Limitations

You will NOT be able to receive VA benefits for:

  • Courses not required for your program of study
  • Courses which have been transferred to Bellevue College from another institution
  • Audit/non-credit courses
  • Repeated courses (unless required for course progression)
  • PE courses for veterans, unless they are required towards program completion
  • Online remedial (below 100-level) courses

Course Completion

Failure to complete a course may result in a reduction of benefits, which may in turn cause a debt to the Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Withdrawals (W) are reported to the VA as of the withdrawal date reported.

Course Timelines

Late-start classes or classes that do not meet the entire length of the quarter can only be certified for the period in which the class starts and ends. This will reduce your monthly payment from the VA during the periods in which the course(s) is not in session.

Monthly Payments

Monthly payments are based upon your enrollment level each quarter and are prorated based on the start/end date of the term during the month. For Post 9/11 students, you must have at least one course that meets on campus to avoid having your monthly payments reduced.

 

Last Updated October 4, 2023