If you need assistance with your application, call the VA main information line at 800-698-2411 (TTY: 711), available 24/7.
2. Complete your VR&E Onboarding with your Veteran Readiness Counselor (VRC).
Meeting with your VRC is a very important step to maintaining your VR&E benefits. Not completing this step in time may result in delays or cancellation of your VR&E.
Your VRC will require some onboarding paperwork, as well as an employment plan (can also be called a rehabilitation plan).
3. Once approved for VR&E services, register for classes at Appalachian as soon as your enrollment timeslot opens.
Once you have applied and been accepted to Appalachian, follow the enrollment steps to secure your spot in your MyMountaineer Portal.
Choosing an orientation and meeting with an academic advisor will be your next step after completing all your enrollment steps in the MyMountaineer Portal. Once you meet with an academic advisor, you'll receive steps on how to register for classes.
4. Send a copy of your Approval Letter with your Student ID number and semester of entry to studentveteranservices@appstate.edu.
You should receive a letter stating that you were approved for VR&E. Our office does not receive information directly from the VA about if you have benefits or have an approval letter, so you will need to email us a copy.
You can find your Student ID number in AppalNet, your online information hub once you are admitted and accept that you are coming to Appalachian. You can also call Admissions at 828-262-2120 for help.
5. Once we have received your VR&E approval letter, we will alert you to the opening of your initial Enrollment Datasheet.
We will send you your first enrollment datasheet once you send us your COE. At the end of each semester, our office will send emails about filling out a datasheet for the next semester.
The form, called an enrollment datasheet, is very important to fill out each semester. It acts as a permission form for our office to send information about you to the VA, and protects your class schedule from cancellation and makes sure you don't get late fees. If our office doesn't receive an enrollment datasheet, we don't submit that you are a student at Appalachian to the VA.
Datasheets have a by-semester deadline decided by our staff based on the university calendar and on-time payment processing recommendations by the VA. You'll receive multiple emails with the deadline and reminders from our general inbox (studentveteranservices@appstate.edu) before we cancel a datasheet for no response. Sometimes our emails are considered spam, so check your spam folder.
6. Complete your FAFSA.
Even if your/your families' income doesn't qualify you for federal aid, a FAFSA opens opportunities for university- or state-specific grants. If you need assistance with filing a FAFSA, reach out to us or to the Office of Financial Aid.
VR&E generally does not affect FAFSA eligibility. You do not need to report VR&E benefits on the FAFSA, and they generally do not reduce the student's eligibility for federal grants or loans.
Non-education VA benefits, such as pension or disability compensation, do need to be reported as untaxed income.
7. If you have private insurance (TriCare®, BCBS, etc.), complete a medical insurance waiver.
Appalachian requires that every student have some form of health insurance. If a student does not have health insurance privately or through their parents, they can choose the student health insurance plan provided by the university. Chapter 33 will only pay for the student health insurance plan if the student has no other insurance option.
If you have a private health insurance like TriCare®, Blue Cross Blue Shield®, Aetna®, etc., you can complete a medical insurance waiver to void the automatic insurance charge to your bill. This will need to be done each semester.
8. If you are not already considered for in-state tuition, you are able to submit an in-state tuition appeal.
In-state tuition can only be considered if the student plans to relocate physically to North Carolina for their degree program, including for ASU Online and Flight Path.
You can find the required documents to file a tuition appeal and who to send it to in our VA Benefits FAQs page.
9. Meet with our office!
Student Veteran Services says veteran in the title, but we are open to everyone. Also - all of our staff are AppState alumni! If you need assistance in finding a resource, want to understand the process of how benefits are paid, how information is sent to the VA, or even where the best off-campus housing is, we are open and happy to help.
You can call, email, ask to set-up a Zoom call, or come by our office in person in the Student Union. For Summer 2026, we also have drop-in virtual hours twice a week to talk face-to-face (virtually, of course) to one of our staff members. You can find the days, times, and Zoom links on our main page.
Enrollment Datasheets
An enrollment datasheet will protect you from schedule cancellation and late fees, but it will not protect you from registration holds for non-payment with Student Accounts. All charges with the university need to be paid by the day registration for the following semester begins. Our office cannot lift registration holds that have been placed by Student Accounts.
Coverage and Payments
When you complete your enrollment datasheet, your account is protected from late fees and schedule cancellation. This allows for time for your VRC to send the necessary information to us or for our team to send necessary information to them.
While you can have out-of-state tuition covered by VR&E services, it may be beneficial for you to apply for an in-state tuition appeal if you qualify in case of benefit changes. You can find the required documentation on our main FAQs page.
Invoicing will take place directly between your VR&E division and Student Accounts. In order to have payments made to your account, Student Accounts will need a PO or invoice number provided by your VRC. Your VRC may provide this to you to give to Student Accounts, or your VRC may contact Student Accounts directly.
Funds outside of regular tuition and fees such as campus store funds for required or necessary equipment (i.e. laptop or laptop attachments) or parking permits can be submitted as a separate PO/invoice number.
Changes to Courses or Schedules
If you withdraw from a course and fall below 12 credit hours (or any withdraw if you are below 12 credit hours to start) and do not alert our office that you have withdrawn, you may owe funds back that the VA has paid you.
The longer you do not let us know, the more debt may be accumulated from combined monthly payments and/or tuition and fees from the time you were not enrolled.
Our office strongly encourages meeting with us first before withdrawing from a course, multiple courses, or the overall school to understand how those withdrawals may affect your benefits.
VR&E Regional Office
VA Winston-Salem Regional Office 251 N Main St, Winston-Salem, NC 27155 Phone: 1-800-827-1000
