Veterans Thread Forum

[doobleykah]

Does anyone know if Health Insurance is calculated as part of necessary fees and thus covered by the GI Bill or factored in with other Cost of attendance and thus the responsibility of the student? Married with a little one on the way. So my wife will not be working the first year* like we anticipated.

CoA unfortunately.

Am i correct in assuming that you have already chased this to a terminus at UVA?

With the VA. Maybe the finaid department can kungfu the numbers to trick the government somehow, if they can let me know.

I am on the phone with the VA now and basically if the school sends them a bill that says its a mandatory fee, then they pay for it. So ultimately it comes down to FINAID having the brains/balls to handle this properly. This is an absolutely unacceptable grey area and I am now convinced that thousands of students are paying for this when they should not be.

OK from the School Certifying Official's Handbook (Published by the VA)
Tuition
Tuition is the actual established charges for tuition the student is required to pay. Tuition
is defined in the school’s catalog or supplement and listed as tuition on the school’s
billing statement or invoice.
Fees
Fees are mandatory charges (other than tuition, room, and board) applied by the school
for pursuit of an approved program of education. Fees include, but are not limited to,
health premiums, freshman fees, graduation fees, and lab fees. Fees do not include study
abroad course(s) unless the course(s) is a mandatory requirement for completion of the
approved program of education. Fees are defined in the school’s catalog or supplement and
listed on the school’s billing statement or invoice.

TLDR; If you are using school provided health insurance. You should not be paying out of pocket. Your financial aid department NEEDS to be sending the VA a bill.

[OtterLaw]

OK from the School Certifying Official's Handbook (Published by the VA)
Tuition
Tuition is the actual established charges for tuition the student is required to pay. Tuition
is defined in the school’s catalog or supplement and listed as tuition on the school’s
billing statement or invoice.
Fees
Fees are mandatory charges (other than tuition, room, and board) applied by the school
for pursuit of an approved program of education. Fees include, but are not limited to,
health premiums, freshman fees, graduation fees, and lab fees. Fees do not include study
abroad course(s) unless the course(s) is a mandatory requirement for completion of the
approved program of education. Fees are defined in the school’s catalog or supplement and
listed on the school’s billing statement or invoice.

TLDR; If you are using school provided health insurance. You should not be paying out of pocket. Your financial aid department NEEDS to be sending the VA a bill.

Have you contacted UVA about this? I'm curious to see if the financial aid office knows this. Granted since my GI Bill is only at 80% I'd still have to pay some out of pocket for it, but if it's covered by the VA then I'm willing to do it.

[BNA]

Does anyone know if Health Insurance is calculated as part of necessary fees and thus covered by the GI Bill or factored in with other Cost of attendance and thus the responsibility of the student? Married with a little one on the way. So my wife will not be working the first year* like we anticipated.

CoA unfortunately.

Am i correct in assuming that you have already chased this to a terminus at UVA?

With the VA. Maybe the finaid department can kungfu the numbers to trick the government somehow, if they can let me know.

I am on the phone with the VA now and basically if the school sends them a bill that says its a mandatory fee, then they pay for it. So ultimately it comes down to FINAID having the brains/balls to handle this properly. This is an absolutely unacceptable grey area and I am now convinced that thousands of students are paying for this when they should not be.

Wow they straight up told me anything besides tuition/book stipend/housing stipend wasn't covered.

If anyone gets insurance covered, come back here and shout it from the tls rooftops. That would be huge

[Longsx3]

I spoke with a VA rep today, fees that are not mandatory are not covered by the VA. If a school will allow some students to waive health coverage, regardless of the reason for the waiver, then the VA will not pay the fee for health coverage for GI Bill recipients. So if a Gi Bill recipient attended a school that required every student to pay a health ins fee then it would be covered.

[Dcc617]

I spoke with a VA rep today, fees that are not mandatory are not covered by the VA. If a school will allow some students to waive health coverage, regardless of the reason for the waiver, then the VA will not pay the fee for health coverage for GI Bill recipients. So if a Gi Bill recipient attended a school that required every student to pay a health ins fee then it would be covered.

That doesn't sound right. I feel like this may be the kind of question where you ask 10 different VA reps and get 10 different answers. Because they're lazy and horrible, and there are absolutely zero repercussions for them making stuff up to get you off the phone.

[+] Spoiler

The VA pissed me off today

[Wipfelder]

That doesn't sound right. I feel like this may be the kind of question where you ask 10 different VA reps and get 10 different answers. Because they're lazy and horrible, and there are absolutely zero repercussions for them

Spittin Truth

[Longsx3]

I spoke with a VA rep today, fees that are not mandatory are not covered by the VA. If a school will allow some students to waive health coverage, regardless of the reason for the waiver, then the VA will not pay the fee for health coverage for GI Bill recipients. So if a Gi Bill recipient attended a school that required every student to pay a health ins fee then it would be covered.

That doesn't sound right. I feel like this may be the kind of question where you ask 10 different VA reps and get 10 different answers. Because they're lazy and horrible, and there are absolutely zero repercussions for them making stuff up to get you off the phone.

[+] Spoiler

The VA pissed me off today

I would not disagree with you that the answer from the VA vary from person to person. I really think much depends on the Universities and how much they are willing to bend.

[doobleykah]

I spoke with a VA rep today, fees that are not mandatory are not covered by the VA. If a school will allow some students to waive health coverage, regardless of the reason for the waiver, then the VA will not pay the fee for health coverage for GI Bill recipients. So if a Gi Bill recipient attended a school that required every student to pay a health ins fee then it would be covered.

That doesn't sound right. I feel like this may be the kind of question where you ask 10 different VA reps and get 10 different answers. Because they're lazy and horrible, and there are absolutely zero repercussions for them making stuff up to get you off the phone.

[+] Spoiler

The VA pissed me off today

I would not disagree with you that the answer from the VA vary from person to person. I really think much depends on the Universities and how much they are willing to bend.

It's not that they need to bend. They just need to understand the guidance provided by the VA and adjust their billing accordingly. I anticipate push back as well but I am completely prepared to fuck this thing to death

[Wipfelder]

I am completely prepared to fuck this thing to death

Persistence is bureaucratic Cryptonite, godspeed.

[unc0mm0n1]

Fairly recent HLS grad. Everything is covered and financial aid is correct, there was nowhere near 50 vets when I was there. They really treat vets well there. Each year we have a private dinner with the Dean. There are always military/national security focused special guest speakers. Also there are lots of networking opportunities with vets from HBS and HKS. If policy is your end goal you may want to do a JD/MPP. HKS has a great program with a lot of former government officials.

Thanks for the gouge. I was looking at the MPP, and I may end up applying for the school after my first year, which has the added benefit of not requiring my to take the GRE. What did you think of your elective law classes at HLS? One of my big concerns with doing the dual curriculum is not being able to take as many substantive/interesting classes.

Actually, and this may be a personal preference, I loved my none "pure" HLS classes much more than my HLS elective courses. I took classes at HKS, HBS, HGSE, HGSD and the College and I don't think I missed out on my law school experience. Some of those course are dual-listed so they actually count as law schools courses (I.e. Education Law at HGSE) but I liked the fact that the courses had a large contingent of non-law school students. It really helps to broaden your experience. Doing the dual degree means you will have to sacrifice something but you have enough electives that you can still take a couple of non-core law school classes.

[OtterLaw]

Does anyone here know if Georgetown merit aid scholarships are specifically for tuition? I got a pretty generous offer from them today and I'm trying to figure out how the GI Bill would be applied if I'm at 80% with a scholarship.

[Dcc617]

Does anyone here know if Georgetown merit aid scholarships are specifically for tuition? I got a pretty generous offer from them today and I'm trying to figure out how the GI Bill would be applied if I'm at 80% with a scholarship.

Just ask them.

[Nagster5]

Does anyone here know if Georgetown merit aid scholarships are specifically for tuition? I got a pretty generous offer from them today and I'm trying to figure out how the GI Bill would be applied if I'm at 80% with a scholarship.

I know of one person who converted excess scholarships to a stipend, but I've also heard of people getting shot down. Definitely ask, maybe ask more than one person if you don't get an answer you like.

[OtterLaw]

Does anyone here know if Georgetown merit aid scholarships are specifically for tuition? I got a pretty generous offer from them today and I'm trying to figure out how the GI Bill would be applied if I'm at 80% with a scholarship.

Just ask them.

You with your Harvard logic.

[OtterLaw]

Does anyone here know if Georgetown merit aid scholarships are specifically for tuition? I got a pretty generous offer from them today and I'm trying to figure out how the GI Bill would be applied if I'm at 80% with a scholarship.

I know of one person who converted excess scholarships to a stipend, but I've also heard of people getting shot down. Definitely ask, maybe ask more than one person if you don't get an answer you like.

With Georgetown being a private school and my GI Bill only being at 80%, I'm still going to owe money even with the nice amount they offered. I just wasn't sure if the scholarship gets factored in before the GI Bill is applied or if it's on top of the GI Bill payment straight up. I'm still pretty sold on UVA; I'm just wanting to weigh the options as equally as I can.

[doobleykah]

I spoke with a VA rep today, fees that are not mandatory are not covered by the VA. If a school will allow some students to waive health coverage, regardless of the reason for the waiver, then the VA will not pay the fee for health coverage for GI Bill recipients. So if a Gi Bill recipient attended a school that required every student to pay a health ins fee then it would be covered.

That doesn't sound right. I feel like this may be the kind of question where you ask 10 different VA reps and get 10 different answers. Because they're lazy and horrible, and there are absolutely zero repercussions for them making stuff up to get you off the phone.

[+] Spoiler

The VA pissed me off today

I would not disagree with you that the answer from the VA vary from person to person. I really think much depends on the Universities and how much they are willing to bend.

It's not that they need to bend. They just need to understand the guidance provided by the VA and adjust their billing accordingly. I anticipate push back as well but I am completely prepared to fuck this thing to death

So just got off the phone with the state (Virginia) certifying official and I wont go into the details but long story short. He told me to contact UVA and tell them to go ahead and certify my health insurance premiums.

Have not seen anything official yet and the Registrar is on the phone with the VA now but the outlook is good.

Its amazing what the threat of congressional action will accomplish.

[doobleykah]

I spoke with a VA rep today, fees that are not mandatory are not covered by the VA. If a school will allow some students to waive health coverage, regardless of the reason for the waiver, then the VA will not pay the fee for health coverage for GI Bill recipients. So if a Gi Bill recipient attended a school that required every student to pay a health ins fee then it would be covered.

That doesn't sound right. I feel like this may be the kind of question where you ask 10 different VA reps and get 10 different answers. Because they're lazy and horrible, and there are absolutely zero repercussions for them making stuff up to get you off the phone.

[+] Spoiler

The VA pissed me off today

I would not disagree with you that the answer from the VA vary from person to person. I really think much depends on the Universities and how much they are willing to bend.

It's not that they need to bend. They just need to understand the guidance provided by the VA and adjust their billing accordingly. I anticipate push back as well but I am completely prepared to fuck this thing to death

So just got off the phone with the state (Virginia) certifying official and I wont go into the details but long story short. He told me to contact UVA and tell them to go ahead and certify my health insurance premiums.

Have not seen anything official yet and the Registrar is on the phone with the VA now but the outlook is good.

Its amazing what the threat of congressional action will accomplish.

So UVA called and said that they will now be certifying (billing) health insurance premiums to the VA for GI bill users. The registrar stated that there would be some administrative and financial hurdles that would need to be over come but that is no longer my problem.

Over 495 GI Bill recipients enrolled in the UVA system and a whole lot of them are about to be $2800 richer this fall.

If you are attending a school that requires and provides health care coverage and you are expecting to pay this fee out of pocket. You need to get on the phone.

[Dcc617]

So UVA called and said that they will now be certifying (billing) health insurance premiums to the VA for GI bill users. The registrar stated that there would be some administrative and financial hurdles that would need to be over come but that is no longer my problem.

Over 495 GI Bill recipients enrolled in the UVA system and a whole lot of them are about to be $2800 richer this fall.

If you are attending a school that requires and provides health care coverage and you are expecting to pay this fee out of pocket. You need to get on the phone.

You are truly doing the Lord's work.

[BNA]

Well done, dooble! I'll check back once I try in the fall.

[Pacman]

Just got a merit scholarship offer and need to draft a reclassification request since I have full GI Bill and should get Voc Rehab as well (just got a 90% rating). If anyone has successfully done this could you PM me the schools and scholarship amounts so I have something to work with? Also, any advice on verbiage would be much appreciated. Finally, I don't remember where I saw it, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you don't have to worry about scholarship reclassification if you use Voc Rehab. Is there any truth to this? If so, where can I find it in black and white? Thanks in advance for any help y'all can offer and for everyone who keeps making great contributions to this thread, it's the best on TLS!

[nontrad2014]

Does anyone know if Health Insurance is calculated as part of necessary fees and thus covered by the GI Bill or factored in with other Cost of attendance and thus the responsibility of the student? Married with a little one on the way. So my wife will not be working the first year* like we anticipated.

If you use Vocational Rehab all costs (parking fees included) are covered.

[nontrad2014]

Just got a merit scholarship offer and need to draft a reclassification request since I have full GI Bill and should get Voc Rehab as well (just got a 90% rating). If anyone has successfully done this could you PM me the schools and scholarship amounts so I have something to work with? Also, any advice on verbiage would be much appreciated. Finally, I don't remember where I saw it, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you don't have to worry about scholarship reclassification if you use Voc Rehab. Is there any truth to this? If so, where can I find it in black and white? Thanks in advance for any help y'all can offer and for everyone who keeps making great contributions to this thread, it's the best on TLS!

Pacman,
Sent you a private message, but for the sake of others. There is no statute or CFR that directs the VA to bill after scholarships are applied for Voc rehab. The applicable Code requires the VA pay AFTER scholarships are applied. Negative inference is our legal footing, but really it has been the fact that we push our VA certifying official into submission.

Luke

[nontrad2014]

In case anyone is considering a Judicial clerkship with the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC), they have over 70 positions to fill with recent law school grads. They require one year of experience in Veterans law, and starting salary is at GS-11 to GS-13. Positions are in D.C. Further, if anyone is interested in politics look into the House of Representatives Wounded Warrior program. With a JD you can push them for 60k or so a year. Two random thoughts.

[OtterLaw]

So I just got an email from Georgetown that they JUST got approval from the school to give 100% funding to veterans whose Post 9/11 GI Bill is at 100% and are Yellow Ribbon eligible. I'm only at 80% so it doesn't help me out but FYI to anyone who is looking at Georgetown. This is huge!

[MT Cicero]

So I just got an email from Georgetown that they JUST got approval from the school to give 100% funding to veterans whose Post 9/11 GI Bill is at 100% and are Yellow Ribbon eligible. I'm only at 80% so it doesn't help me out but FYI to anyone who is looking at Georgetown. This is huge!

Been wondering if this will happen. GU went from 2500 to 5000 to 10000 over the last several years on YRP (with corresponding match from the VA). Only Yale and GU weren't basically free to someone who was 100% GI Bill eligible this past year. Your turn Yale...

This is awesome, especially considering the massive vet population at Georgetown. And yes, all you rising 2Ls & 3Ls will now have completely free tuition. You're not locked into the old shizz. Drinks on you guys at the first bar review (for one or two close friends).