VA Benefits FAQs

Processing benefits is a multi-step process. Our office will start processing benefits for Fall semesters in July, in December for Spring semesters, and between May and June for Summer Sessions. Veterans will receive processing priority. Depending on the complexity of the certification (new student, multiple majors and minors, transfer credit from other institutions, being waitlisted on classes, etc.), it can take anywhere from 15 to 30 business days for your benefits to process to the VA from our office. If you submit your enrollment datasheets or certificate of eligibility late, it could be longer. 

While you are waiting for your benefits to be processed, as long as you have submitted an enrollment datasheet, your schedule is protected from cancellation and late fees. Student Accounts will send out automated emails asking for payments as they do for all students, but your VA information is on file and you are protected while waiting for your benefits to start. 

You will receive an automated email from the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) verifying that your enrollment has been certified to your AppState and/or personal email. Please review your email inbox before reaching out to Student Veteran Services. If you have discrepancies or some classes cannot be certified, a representative from our office will email you to let you know of the discrepancies or issues.

There are multiple factors as to why your payment has not arrived on time. Some factors could include:

• Not sending a certificate of eligibility to our office as soon as received from the VA.
• Not submitting enrollment datasheet as soon as prompted by our office.
• Delayed submissions of certificate of eligibility and/or enrollment datasheet to our office that require time to process.
• Not notifying our office of change of courses, or course changes needing to be reviewed (if applicable).
• Not completing your monthly verification with the VA. The VA requires a monthly verification from the student (separate from the university) and will hold payments until the verification is received. 

If all of these steps have been completed or if you have been verified through Appalachian and still not received benefits, please call the VA educational assistance line at 888-442-4551. Student Veteran Services as an office does not have an effect on payments, missing payments, or payment schedules once our office verifies enrollment.

Appalachian State University complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). FERPA provides students certain rights with respect to who can access their education records, including educational VA benefits information. A student is covered under FERPA when they reach age 18 OR begin attending a postsecondary institution regardless of age or type of student.

If you do not have student-given access, we are unable to discuss specific benefit or university information, including specific class or enrollment information.

App State upgraded the Parent Access system to a new platform on September 30, 2025. Returning students must re-authorize parent and guardian access in the new system by January 9, 2026.

Review our user guide, Managing Proxy Access, for further information and instructions on how you and your student can set up access to call our office on their behalf.

Exact months and days change based on the University Academic Calendar and where federal holidays fall each year, but these are the typical usages:

• A full semester (Fall, Spring) will use approximately 4 months of benefits.
  • Summer Sessions use between 30-36 days or 1 month per session.
• Flight Path sessions (including Summer) use between 50-56 days or 1.5 months per session.

It is extremely important to plan your benefits and how long those benefits will last around these usages, especially if benefits like Chapter 33 (Post 9/11 GI Bill®) are divided among multiple dependents.

In order to receive the full-time, maximum benefit, you will need the following minimum credit hours:

• For full Undergraduate semesters (Fall and Spring): 12 full-semester credit hours
  • If you take 11 full-semester credit hours and one half-semester course, you will only receive full benefits for the half of the semester at 12 credit hours.
• For Summer Sessions: 6 credit hours per session
  • You are able to take courses in only one session, but you will only receive benefits for the one session, not both.
• For Flight Path Programs: 6 credit hours per session including Summer
• For Graduate semesters: 9 full-semester credit hours
  • For Graduate Summer Sessions, we certify 6 credit hours as full-time for one session. 9 credit hours is full-time for a Full Summer.

If a course is required for graduation but is equivalent to 0 credit hours: there will be no reportable credit hours to the VA, so we will be unable to certify it for payment. 

To receive any monthly VA benefits, you must be at or above half-time (6 credit hours for undergraduate full semesters, 3 credit hours per session for Summer and Flight Path, 5 credit hours for graduate full semesters). If you are below half-time, you will only receive a one-time payment for the amount of tuition and fees of that semester/session.

Only classes that meet a requirement can be sent to the VA for payment.

These can include:

• General Education requirements
• Courses in your major that meet a requirement
• Courses in your minor(s)
• Required electives
• Prerequisites for required courses
• Student Teaching for education majors

Our office cannot certify these courses for payment:

• Excessive elective courses
• Courses being repeated that already have a passing grade
  • An exception is courses being repeated to meet a minimum grade requirement
• Courses labeled as 0 credit hours (such as MUS4901, MBA5820, etc.)

Our office is happy to review course schedules before registration to make sure they meet VA requirements. 

Everyone is allowed a poor grade every now and again - excessive poor grades can affect your benefits. 

• The VA will not require you to pay back funds you've received for an earned F - you received an F, but still attended classes to the end of the semester.
• We will submit for debt when an F is earned because you did not attend courses to the end of the semester and stayed enrolled in the course. Whatever your reported last date of attendance is from that course, you will owe funds for that class only from that date. The debt can accrue based on when you stopped attending (beginning of semester vs. mid-end of semester) or how many classes you did not attend.

You will only owe all funds back in a semester when you are academically suspended. An example is if you are academically suspended at the end of Spring semester, you will owe all funds back from the entire Spring semester.

If you withdraw from a course and fall below the minimum credit hours needed (or any withdraw if you are below the minimum to start) and do not alert our office that you have withdrawn, you may owe funds back that the VA has paid you and/or the school.

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.

The VA can work with students in certain unforeseen circumstances to reduce or waive the amount of debt from a withdraw, called a mitigating circumstance. 

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
• 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) one or more courses you were taking that the school or instructor cancelled
• A sudden permanent end to child care coverage that you didn’t know about ahead of time

You need to alert our office if any of these mitigating circumstances explain your situation.

You can file for in-state tuition with the Office of the Registrar. Student Veteran Services as an office does not verify residency for military-affiliated students.
These are the requirements for appealing for in-state tuition. While you may receive a non-residency number or denial letter, Appalachian State University commits to providing in-state tuition for all VA benefit types that we can. You can review more specifics at ncresidency.org.

In-state tuition can only be considered if the student plans to relocate to North Carolina for their degree program, including for ASU Online and Flight Path. The State of North Carolina does not currently offer free, completely waived tuition, or any similar program for any military members at any public institution. 
 

Documentation Required:

• Residency Appeal for VA Benefits OR Active-Duty Residency Appeal Application
• Residency Confirmation/Denial Number (RCN) from the NC Residency Determination System
• Certificate of Eligibility for VA Education Benefits
• Proof of Abode in North Carolina:
  • Documentation can include (but is not limited to) a copy of the student's: Lease Agreement, Utility Bill, Medical bill, Driver's License, Dorm Assignment with a valid North Carolina physical address.
  • Documentation must be in the student's name, not a parent or guardian.

All of this documentation needs to be sent to residency@appstate.edu. 

If you have specific questions on circumstances related to your residency (military relocation and/or deployment and ASU Online programs, ETS location, etc.), please direct your questions to residency@appstate.edu.

No. The Yellow Ribbon Program is only used when:

• The veteran is 100% Post-9/11 GI Bill® eligible, and
• The student is only eligible for out-of-state tuition and the GI Bill® cannot fully cover the out-of-state rate.

At institutions like Appalachian State, several factors reduce the need for Yellow Ribbon:

• Many Post-9/11 GI Bill® students have their tuition fully covered through their standard GI Bill® benefits at the in-state rate.
• Appalachian provides in-state tuition benefits and waivers for many eligible veterans, military-affiliated students, and dependents, which significantly reduces or eliminates out-of-state tuition differentials.

As a result, most GI Bill® recipients do not experience a tuition gap that would require Yellow Ribbon funding. The university instead focuses its resources on programs and services that provide the greatest benefit to the largest number of military-affiliated students.

No. The University of North Carolina System (UNC System) does not provide a blanket military tuition discount or full tuition waiver simply because someone is active-duty, a veteran, in the National Guard/Reserves, or related to a servicemember. 

Most UNC System school tuition waivers rely on the use of any of the VA educational benefits, as well as residency status. 

It depends. Our office, along with the Office of International Programs (OIP), will take into account what courses you plan on taking/will transfer back to Appalachian, as well as what kind of program you are looking for. The best programs for VA benefits are Faculty-Led or Appalachian Exchange to a VA-approved foreign school. Study abroad programs through any third-party (i.e. WorldStrides, CIEE, IES Abroad) cannot use VA benefits. 

The VA will often not pay for airfare, passports, lodging, or meals for any benefit. 

• For Chapters 33, 31, and Fry Scholarship, tuition, a book stipend, and BAH will often be paid.
• For Chapters 35, 30, and 1606, often you receive your monthly stipend as normal.

The program cost and OIP fee are NOT considered tuition or a required fee. In order for the VA to pay any additional fees such as an OIP fee or program cost, the Study Abroad must be required for your program (i.e. BSBA International Business, BA Global Studies, etc.). If there are alternate options to a study abroad (i.e. Honors College, other BSBAs), a study abroad is not considered required by the VA.

Our office highly recommends working with the Office of International Programs and Student Veteran Services early to make sure that your courses will be sufficient and to find a VA-approved school.

Called for Training: 

Students with adequate notice of training must work with individual professors to adjust class schedules, receive excused absences, or submit assignments. If your training will be for an extended amount of time during a semester (i.e. AT), please complete a Class Absence Notification with a copy of your orders/notice attached. If professors need more clarification or information, direct them to our office. 

Student with inadequate notice of extended training (two weeks or less) must submit a Class Absence Notification as soon as notified. If you do not have a copy of your orders/notice to provide, please contact the Office of the Dean of Students (828-262-8284).

Activation/Deployment Orders:

If you are provided orders or activated during a semester, there are multiple options that are available to you based on the timing of your orders/activation (beginning, middle, or end of a semester):

• Provided course materials to make up missed work;
• Complete course in alternate modalities (online, asynchronous, etc.);
• Complete the course early;
• Take an Incomplete grade (a temporary grade assigned when a student has completed most of a course but cannot finish all requirements at the courses' current schedule);
• Drop the course with no academic penalty and option of a schedule adjustment refund (at the discretion of Student Accounts).

Contact our office immediately when notified of orders/activation to ensure you have the best options for your situation.

You can read our full Call to Service Policy through the ASU Policy Manual. This policy is for enrolled students - if you are a staff or faculty member called for service, please contact the Office of Human Resources.

To download an enrollment verification letter, you can download one on your AppalNet. 

1. Go to Appalnet.appstate.edu
2. Go to Self-Service
3. Click 'Student' Tab
4. Go to 'Academic Records'
5. Go to 'National Student Clearinghouse'

Once you enter National Student Clearinghouse, follow the prompts to download your enrollment verification letter.

NOTE: The Office of the Registrar updates current-semester enrollment certifications through National Student Clearinghouse after the census date (10th day of class/instruction). If you need an enrollment certification before this day, please reach out to registrar@appstate.edu to request one sooner.

Fill out the student portion of this form: CHAMPVA School Enrollment Certification Letter and send to the Office of the Registrar at registrar@appstate.edu. 

Student Veteran Services as an office does not verify or enroll students for ChampVA.

You are able to apply for a Certificate of Eligibility again or call the VA education assistance line (1-888-442-4551) to receive an updated copy of your COE. 

If you are transferring from App, you will need to take the updated COE to the department that manages VA benefits at your transfer institution.

If you are transferring to App, you can follow the steps listed on the webpage with your corresponding benefit.

VA Form 21-674b (School Attendance Report) is used by veterans and claimants to report changes in a dependent child's school attendance status. It is essential for verifying that a child (between ages 18 and 23) is still enrolled in an approved educational program in order to continue receiving benefits for the parent. You should only need to fill out this form if prompted by the VA, who will mail a copy of the form to you.

Fill out all of the portions you can, including SSNs, and send the form for us to complete and sign. 

• You do not need to complete Section V unless your child has fully withdrawn from the university. If they are between semesters, they still do not need to complete Section V.