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Veteran Affairs Benefits for Drake Students
Welcome to Drake's VA benefits website. This site is here to help you understand your VA benefits and how they work at Drake.
Drake accepts VA benefits for Montgomery GI Bill® Active Duty (Chapter 30), Veteran Readiness and Employment (Chapter 31), Post 9/11 GI Bill® (Chapter 33), Dependent Educational Assistance (Chapter 35), and Montgomery GI Bill® Selected Reserve (Chapter 1606). If you are a dependent and a parent has transferred you Post 9/11 GI Bill® (Chapter 33) benefits, we also accept you. For National Guard members, we also accept Federal Tuition Assistance (ArmyIgnited).
If you have a form that needs to be filled out that verifies your enrollment status, please email registrar@b7bys.com. All enrollment verifications are done by the Registrar's front desk.
Please note that this office is designed to help students with VA benefits, we do not assist in finding benefits/scholarships.
Steps you need to take before contacting our office.
Step 1
First thing you need to do is make sure you have applied to Drake and have been accepted. Please see the Veteran Affairs page with Admission as this has a lot of helpful information. We are unable to assist students if they have not been admitted or at least started the process.
Step 2
Next you will need to make sure you have VA benefits. Please go to the VA website to see if you qualify and request your benefits. We are not the VA and do not have the ability to see student's benefits without the student providing that information. Once you have been approved, the VA should send you a Certificate of Eligibility (COE).
If you are a parent who has veterans benefits and want to transfer them to your dependents please go to milConnect.
If you are Chapter 31, student, please make sure your counselor sends your invoice via Tungsten to Drake. You do not have a COE.
Step 3
Students who have Chapters 30, 33, 35, and 1606 will have a COE. The VA does require us to keep a copy of students' COE for their records. Please email your COE to veterans.benefits@b7bys.com.
If you are Chapter 31, your counselor will need to send Drake proof of your benefits via Tungsten. You will not have to do anything on your end.
Step 4
This next step is not a requirement to do before meeting with us, but to help speed up the process we have included it. After you have submitted your COE depending on the time of year, you will also need to fill out a Request for Certification. This only needs to be done if you have already signed up for the upcoming semester.
VA Chapter Benefits
Chapter 30-Montgomery GI Bill® Active Duty
This chapter is not intended to cover the cost of tuition, but to be a monthly stipend that is sent directly to the student. Make sure you set up your bank account with the VA to receive direct deposits. The payments will be sent once a month and will be prorated if students do not attend classes the full length of the month. The amount is also dependent on your enrollment status (full time/part time status) and if your classes are online or in-person. Students with in-person classes will receive more money than those that are online. Please make sure you setup your direct deposit.
If you would like to see this year's rates click below.
Chapter 35-Dependent Educational Assistance
This chapter is not intended to cover the cost of tuition, but to be a monthly stipend that is sent directly to the student. Make sure you set up your bank account with the VA to receive direct deposits. The payments will be sent once a month and will be prorated if students do not attend classes the full length of the month. The amount is also dependent on your enrollment status (full time/part time status) and if your classes are online or in-person. Students with in-person classes will receive more money than those that are online. Please make sure you setup your direct deposit.
If you would like to see this year's rates click below.
Fry Scholarship
The Fry scholarship is for children and spouses of certain Veterans. If your parent or spouse died in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001, while serving in the Armed Forces, or was a member of the Selected Reserve who died from a service-connected disability, you may qualify for this benefit. If you like to see if you qualify, please go to the VA website.
Chapter 1606-Montgomery GI Bill® Selected Reserve
These chapters are not intended to cover the cost of tuition, but to be a monthly stipend that is sent directly to the student. Make sure you set up your bank account with the VA to receive direct deposits. The payments will be sent once a month and will be prorated if students do not attend classes the full length of the month. The amount is also dependent on your enrollment status (full time/part time status) and if your classes are online or in-person. Students with in-person classes will receive more money than those that are online. Please make sure you setup your direct deposit.
If you would like to see this year's rates click below.
Chapter 31-Veteran Readiness and Employment
This chapter will receive money directly from the VA to Drake to cover their tuition. Your tuition will be fully covered plus it also covers your books and parking pass. You will also receive a monthly housing stipend that can be used to pay for room and board. Students can cover other educational expenses if they work with their counselor.
When you order your books from the bookstore, they do have options for you to pay with your Chapter 31 benefits.
Please make sure you setup direct deposit.
Chapter 33-Post 9/11 GI Bill®
This chapter will receive money directly from the VA to Drake to help cover their tuition. If you have 100% Chapter 33 then your tuition will be fully covered plus your monthly housing stipends. If you have less than 100%, then you will receive the percentage of tuition and fees that you qualify for. If you only have 60%, then only 60% of your tuition and fees will be covered. You will then be responsible for the remainder of your balance.
Your monthly housing can be used to pay for your books, room, and board. That money is sent directly to students. It is up to the student to decide on how to use this money.
The monthly payments will be prorated if students do not attend classes the full length of the month. The amount is also dependent on your enrollment status (full time/part time status) and if your classes are online or in-person. Students with in-person classes will receive more money than those that are online.
Please make sure you setup direct deposit.
If you would like to see this year's rates for Chapter 33, please click below.
Yellow Ribbon Program
If you have Chapter 33 benefits and have 100% benefits, you will qualify for the Yellow Ribbon program. This means that if you reach the VA cap for tuition money, then Drake and the VA will split the costs of the remaining amount. This means if your Fall, J-Term, Spring, and Summer are over the cap your expenses will be covered. The cap with the VA starts over August 1st, so when you take classes in the fall it starts over. You do not need to apply if you have 100% Chapter 33, you are eligible. For more information please see the VA website.
Information for Using VA Benefits at Drake
What Drake needs from students...
Besides providing a COE, Drake requires you to fill out Request for Certification. This form is emailed to student's Drake email and requires you to fill out the form verifying that you do or do not want to be certified. We also verify what chapter you want to be certified with, if you are a current or former military personnel, and if the student knows how many months they have left of their benefits. Once we have your COE and your confirmation of certification then we will certify you when the time comes.
If you receive Chapter 33 benefits you will be required by the VA to confirm your enrollment via text each month. If you fail to do so, it will delay your monthly stipend.
Timeline for VA Benefits
We start to certify students for the fall semester two weeks before school starts. To ensure you are certified on time, make sure to have your COE sent and have filled out our Request for Certification. We need to have both to certify a student. We only require the COE once but require the Request for Certification for every semester.
If you are a Chapter 33 student, we must certify you twice. We will start by only certifying you for full/part time status in early August and then after the drop period has ended, we will certify you again for the cost of your tuition. Money then comes in a few weeks after classes start, so if your class does not start until later in the semester, your money will not come in until then. You will receive a full bill, so please do not panic when you get that notification. Your bill will only be reduced after the tuition money comes in or you use your monthly payments to pay your bill down.
Once we have certified a student, the student should be notified via email. Some students have already set themselves up and use their personal email. If an email has not been setup, Drake will use the student's Drake email. So please check either your Drake email or which ever personal email you may have provided.
J-Term is paid through your spring bill with spring tuition. Since you do not need to have your tuition covered during this period, many students choose not to be certified for J-Term. If you would like to still receive your monthly stipend, you may use 1 month of benefits for J-Term. If you choose to use your VA benefits for J-Term, we will certify you in early December. Make sure you have filled out a Request for Certification. For Chapter 33 we will certify you for full/part time status early December and again after the drop period ends for the cost of tuition. Please note that if you take 3 credits during J-Term and only 9 credits during the regular spring semester, you will not considered full time for the spring semester via the VA. You will be considered full time by Drake, but this will affect your direct payment money.
For spring semester, we will start certifying about two weeks before school starts. Please make sure you have filled out a Request for Certification before this time. For Chapter 33 we will certify you for full/part time status early January and again after the drop period ends for the cost of tuition. Money then comes in a few weeks after classes start, so if your class does not start until later in the semester, your money will not come in until then.
For the summer semester we will start certifying in early May if your class starts in May or June. If your class starts in July, we will wait until June to certify you. Make sure you have filled out a Request for Certification. For Chapter 33 we will certify you for full/part time status early May or Late June and again after the drop period ends for the cost of tuition.
Graduate Students Non-Standard Terms
If you are a graduate student who is taking classes that are not the full length of the term, then we use the VA chart to determine your full-time status. Most graduate programs are 9 credits to be considered full time at Drake. We then add up the number of weeks your course is and go across to 9. Example, if your course is 6 weeks full time for those 6 weeks is 3 credits. So if that course is 3 credits for 6 weeks, it is considered full time.
| FT Modifier | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks | ||||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| 9 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| 10 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| 11 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
| 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| 13 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| 14 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 9 |
| 15 to 19 (Standard | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 |
| 20 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 13 |
Withdraw Policy
If you withdraw/drop a class, you may need to pay the VA back for the cost of any housing/books costs. If you receive Chapter 31 or 33, Drake will have to pay back all or a portion of the VA money that came in for tuition and fees.
If you drop below full time status, you will be responsible for paying back any over payments of your monthly payment. Example would be if you were registered for 12 credits and took a W for a 3 credit class, you are now at 9 credits with the VA. The VA sees this as drop from full time status to 3/4 time status. If you were receiving $2,000 a month for housing for full time in-person this will now drop to 3/4 time in-person and now your payment is $1,500. You will owe the difference back to the VA.
The VA might recognize that you are in situations beyond your control (mitigating circumstances) that caused you to withdrawal or drop a class with a W. They then may decide not to charge you in full.
Here are some mitigating circumstances...
Mitigating circumstances include:
- An illness or death in your immediate family
- An injury or illness you had while you were enrolled
- A change in your conditions of employment that you couldn’t avoid
- A job transfer to a new location while you were enrolled that you couldn’t avoid
- Immediate family or financial demands that you had no control over
- Active military service that you didn’t know about ahead of time
- A sudden end to (or cancellation of) the course you were taking
- A sudden end to child care coverage that you didn’t know about ahead of time
You will need to share these circumstances with our office by emailing veterans.benefits@b7bys.com.
If you are unsure if your circumstances will be accepted, please feel free to contact the VA.
Exceptions
Students are allowed to take a W without mitigating circumstances for up to 6 credit hours.
The 6 credit hour exclusion is a 1-time exception that lets you drop up to 6 credit hours and still keep the benefits you received up to the day you stopped attending classes. You don’t have to show mitigating circumstances to keep those benefits.
You can use the 6 credit hour exclusion only once, even if you drop fewer than 6 credits. So you can’t use it to drop 3 credits, then use it a second time to drop 3 more credits.
Tutorial Assistance
If you are a veteran and you are in need of tutoring, you may qualify for tutoring money. See the VA webpage for more information.
Changing Your School or Major/Program
If you are transferring to Drake and have already used your VA benefits, you will need to fill out the VA Form 22 1995 form to update your information.
If you have Chapter 35 benefits please use VA form 22 5494.
If you have changed your major while at Drake you will also need to fill out VA Form 22 1995 form.
If you have Chapter 35 benefits please use VA form 22 5494.
Study Abroad and Travel Seminars
If you plan on studying abroad or taking a Drake travel seminar, please note that the VA will not pay for any airfare, lodging, or food.
If you plan on studying abroad through an outside company or school, you will be expected to pay for the program out of pocket. The VA will not certify any student that uses a study abroad program that is operated by a third party. There are no exceptions.
If you plan on studying abroad and you working with the foreign school directly, there is a chance the VA will allow you to be certified. The foreign school will be the ones to certify you, but you will need to have a guest letter from Drake in order to use your benefits. You will want to make sure this school has the ability to certify you with the VA.
If the course is taken through Drake there will be charges that cannot be covered by the VA. We will have to break down the larger fee to see what the VA will cover. Student's will be expected to pay for a portion of the course. Please note that J-Term undergraduate seminars only charge you for the costs of the trip and not for tuition and fees.
Guest Student
If you would like to take a course at another accredited institution to help complete your degree. Please email veterans.benefits@b7bys.com for a guest letter. You will need to provide the name of the school, the course(s) you are planning to take, and the time frame you are taking them. If you then have the school contact for VA benefits, we will gladly send on the letter.
Other Military Benefits
Federal Tuition Assistance
Available to actively drilling National Guard or US Reserves members, FedTA pays for up to $250 per semester hour of coursework up to 16 semester hours per year. Limited to 130 total credit hours towards an undergraduate degree.
If you receive Federal Tuition Assistants (TA) you will need to work with your branch of service to get your benefits. Drake can only view these benefits but is unable to do much to ensure it is used or received. We may be able to let you know if we can see you in the portal and if you are missing any details you need to provide.
After you create your account, you must create an Educational Goal. This must be completed prior to submitting a Tuition Assistance Request. To avoid problems, create as soon as you know what school you plan to attend. NLT 10 days before courses start (recommend 30 days before courses start).
Tuition Assistance Request can be submitted up to 60 days before course start date. You must submit at least 8 days prior to the course start date (we recommend 14 days before or earlier). Recoupment Waivers must be submitted within 30 days from when the school submits the “W” grade.
Please reach out to your academic advisor to discuss and create your Evaluated Degree Plan. Our office will be unable to assist you with knowing what you need to graduate.
TA money is not the fastest process, please know it can either be on time or take all semester for Drake to receive TA money. Please email veterans.benefits@b7bys.com when you have been approved to use TA. This will ensure that we have your major/degree listed on the site you use for your benefit.
National Guard Benefits
If you are a member of the National Guard, please contact your Education Officer who can be found at your home base. This is the only person who can explain what educational opportunities that you may qualify for.
Contact Us
Drake's Office the of Registrar
Carnegie 101
2507 University Ave
Des Moines, IA 50311-4516
Please make an appointment before showing up to our office. We cannot guarantee that someone will be in the office with knowledge about the VA.
We prefer to communicate in writing, so please try to email us first. We often have links we need to share. There are also several of us who communicate with students and having previous communications helps us understand any needs you may have.
Phone: (515) 271-2025
Email: veterans.benefits@b7bys.com
Important VA Resources/Contact Information
U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs
St. Louis VA: (888) 442-4551 (for questions regarding education benefits)
Iowa Department of Veterans Affairs
(515) 252-4698 or (800) 838-4692
Des Moines Regional Veteran Affairs
(800) 827-1000 (for Vocational Rehabilitation and general VA questions)
Polk County Veteran Affairs
Polk County River Place
2309 Euclid Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50310
(515) 286-3670
Iowa National Guard Education Office
(515) 252-4468
Disclaimer
"GI Bill®” is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government website at www.benefits.va.gov/gibill.
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