Maximizing GI Bill® Benefits & Transfer of Benefits

The Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) is a program where veterans or currently serving members can take end-of-course final exams in select college courses – usually first-year 3-credit introductory ones – and if passed, get credit for the course without having to take the course.
There are three different DANTES test categories:

• College Level Exam Program (CLEP)Of the three exams, CLEP tests are the most popular. There are 33 typical freshman-level exams in five subject areas: composition and literature, world languages, history and social sciences, science and mathematics, and business.
• Excelsior College Exams (ECE)For service members having experience in healthcare or teaching, ECE tests are a good choice as they are more focused in those two areas. The 55 exams fall into six categories: business and technology, education, humanities, natural sciences and mathematics, nursing and social sciences, and history.
• DANTES Subject Specialized Tests (DSSTs)These 36 tests are divided into the following six categories: business, humanities, math, physical science, social science and technology.

Most DANTES tests take around 90 minutes to complete. With each exam awarding on average three credits, taking 33 CLEP tests alone could earn 99 credits. However, be sure to check the school’s policy on transferring in credits as most would not accept that many on a transcript. But by combining DANTES and the ACE conversion credits awarded for military service, veterans can be well on their way to a degree.

The power of DANTES is awesome, yet highly under-utilized. It is a fast way to build up college credits and it does two things: gets you to a degree quicker and conserves GI Bill entitlement for the courses you must take later. Tests are free for military personnel having a Common Access Care (CAC), however, veterans and dependents must pay for their tests. But, the cost of the test in almost all cases is much less than if paying to take the course, and it conserves GI Bill benefits which could then be used later, for example, to pay for more expensive graduate school tuition.

Much of the training military members receive can be parlayed into college credits. For example, Military Occupational Specialties (MOS), Professional Military Schools (NCO and Officer) and much of the training qualify for credits that can in turn be applied towards a degree. See what credits you may have that can be applied toward a degree by applying for a transcript.

These sources of education financial aid are free for the taking, and the best part is that neither require repayment. Application procedures vary and can be as simple as filling out an application or may require writing an essay in addition to an application. Many scholarships and grants worth thousands of dollars go unawarded each year due to a lack of applicants.

Some scholarships and grants are geared toward veterans, military members and specific protected groups, while others are open to all students. Here is a brief sampling of some of the scholarship and grant categories:

• General
  This category of financial assistance is not specific to any one group. Run-of-the-mill sources of financial aid are abundant and easily found.
  
• Women
  Women are a force of their own and as such recognized separately. As a result, some scholarship programs apply only to the fairer gender and others are more restrictive yet pertaining only to female military members or veterans.
  
• Disabled
  Veterans in this category deserve all the financial help they can get so they can get trained in a skill commensurate with their limitations. Many different scholarships and grants are available to help them along with their education endeavor.
  
• Specific Branches
  Because the military values education both while serving and after, many of the branches, either directly or through one of their member associations, offer scholarships to their own people and families that served in that branch.
  
• School-specific
  Most schools offer their own scholarship. Some are routinely offered, while others must be selected to receive and are usually based on some type of qualification such as need.

For more information on scholarships and grants, go to the U.S. Department of Education website for Federal Student Aid. Don’t forget to search the top-line menu while there.

This is a great source of funding for students looking to fund part of their education and putting in the time to get it. The beauty of the Federal work-study program is they try to match your work to your degree program. So not only do you earn money for school, but you get some on-the-job experience in the process. That gives you an edge when it comes to listing experience on your resume.

Filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^®) can net extra money from sources that might otherwise be unknown. Financial aid sources usually come from two areas: need-based and non-need-based. One of the good things about the FAFSA^® is that is does not include GI Bill payments as income, so your reported income on the application is actually lower than what you made in that reported year.

Many veterans come out of the military with two GI Bills: the Montgomery GI Bill – Active Duty (MGIB-AD) and the Post 9/11 GI Bill. For veterans having just one GI Bill or the other, they would have up to 36 months of benefits, but when combined, that coverage increases up to a possible 48 months of coverage under the Rule of 48. Now instead of just having enough entitlement for a four-year degree, there would be enough to help pay for a graduate degree too, but only if they are used in the correct order.

• To get the 48 months, veterans must first exhaust their MGIB-AD and switch GI Bills to get the additional 12 months of coverage. Veterans have the option to switch to the Post 9/11 GI Bill right away to get the better pay structure, but in doing so give up the additional 12 months. Veterans having used some of their MGIB-AD eligibility can also switch, however they only get the same number of Post 9/11 GI Bill months as they had left under their MGIB-AD.
  
• Deciding which route to go comes down to an individual’s educational goal. If there is no desire to progress farther than a four-year degree, then most students are better off switching to the Post 9/11 GI Bill right away.
  
• However, if a graduate course of study is in the plan, then it may be better to use the MGIB-AD for undergraduate work that has the cheaper tuition rate and save the 12 months of Post 9/11 GI Bill for the higher graduate tuition rate.

While not applicable to all students having the Post 9/11 GI Bill, it can be a financial boon to students attending private schools, or to students classified as non-residents and paying out-state tuition. The Post 9/11 GI Bill only pays up to $22,805.34 per year in tuition at private or foreign schools. Some schools charge that much for one semester.

In the case of non-resident students, the VA can only pay up to the resident rate, which leaves an unpaid balance between what the VA pays and what the school charges in out-state tuition. However, if the school has a Yellow Ribbon agreement with the VA, and not all of them do, a part of that unpaid balance (up to all of it) could be waived between what the school and VA together apply toward it.

In a school’s Yellow Ribbon agreement, the following should be stated:

• the percentage of unpaid difference of tuition the school will waiver
• the maximum number of students in the program at any one time
• a yearly monetary cap per student (if any)
• majors covered and at what degree level

A school has the option to waiver up to 50 percent of the unpaid balance in tuition; the VA matches whatever the school waivers on top of the tuition they already paid) making it possible for the student to have zero out-of-pocket costs. Of course, if the school chooses to waiver a lesser percentage, the VA will end up paying less too and the student would have some out-of-pocket expense.

If eligible for the Yellow Ribbon Program, a student would apply for it when registering for classes as a GI Bill student. It is the responsibility of the school to notify the student if s/he were chosen for the Yellow Ribbon program or not.

The way the Post 9/11 GI Bill is set up, students who attend classes only online get approximately half as much monthly housing allowance as students who take at least one class per semester on campus and the rest online. Just taking one 3-credit class on-campus per semester can double the housing allowance.