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Payment Deferral for VA Beneficiaries

Summary

Per §103 of Public Law 115-407, the Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018, amended § 3679(e) of 38 U.S.C., to require educational and training institutions (ETI) to provide protections for any covered individual using U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) educational assistance under Chapter 31 or Chapter 33 while payment to the institution is pending from the VA.

Provision of the Law

  1. For each semester of enrollment, protection for covered individuals begins when the student provides the school with a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) or most recent award letter requires that the school:
    1. Cannot deny a student access to classrooms, libraries, or other institutional facilities available to other students who have satisfied their tuition and fees.
    2. Cannot make the student borrow money to cover the cost while waiting for payment.
    3. Cannot charge a student a late fee or penalty.
    4. Cannot prevent the student from attending or participating in their program of education during the period beginning on the date which the individual provides a certificate of eligibility or most recent award letter.
  2. The protection period ends when VA makes payment or 90 days after the date the school certified tuition and fees, whichever is earlier.

Additional Required Actions

While §103(a)(4) details additional actions that may be required of a covered individual to stay enrolled in a course pending receipt of tuition and fees, §104 of this law requires information be collected as to whether the institution requires additional actions of the covered individual.

The University of Northern Colorado requires that a covered individual must submit a written request to use entitled VA education benefits. This written request is referred to as a Veteran’s Certification Request (VCR), and can be found on all students’ URSA portal under the Student tab.