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VA CERTIFICATION

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs requires that each student receiving benefits must follow an approved degree plan. A VA student may not receive benefits for courses previously completed, for courses that are in excess of degree requirements, or for courses that do not apply toward the student's approved degree. A degree plan must be on file as soon as possible. The DBU VA SCOs will not certify students for “Undeclared/Undecided” degree programs/majors; therefore, a student receiving VA benefits needs to declare a specific program/major (note that some chapters of VA benefits allow a student to change programs/majors later without consequence).

The VA Certifying Official submits enrollment certifications/adjustments/amendments/terminations for all students receiving VA benefits. Per VA guidelines, initial enrollment certifications (VA Form 22-1999) to report term dates and credit hours are required to be submitted within 30 days of the beginning of the term; however, efforts are made to pre-certify a student’s enrollment before the beginning of a term if possible. The VA Certifying Official is also required to report changes in enrollment and/or tuition and fees (VA Form 22-1999b) within 30 days of any change. For Chapter 33 (Post-9/11 GI Bill®) benefits, a second certification amendment (VA Form 22-1999b) to report tuition and fees is submitted after the Add-Drop period of the standard semester upon finalization of awards and review by the Financial Aid department. Billing invoices of tuition and fees for Chapter 31 (Veterans Readiness & Employment – VR&E) benefits are managed separately by the Cashier’s office and the Bookstore after the VA Certifying Official submits enrollment certification.

VA Guest Student (aka: Transient Student)

A “VA Guest student” is taking applicable courses at a “Secondary” institution that fulfill pursuit of a degree/program at another “Primary” (or “Parent”) institution.  The student may be concurrently enrolled at both institutions, but not necessarily. 

DBU identifies students as “transient” if DBU is the Secondary institution. In order for a VA Guest student to be certified for VA benefits, the VA School Certifying Officials (SCOs) at the Primary institution must provide official notice in the form of a “VA Primary School Letter” (aka: Parent School Letter, PSL) to the VA SCOs at the Secondary institution with assurance that the specific courses will be both transferrable and directly applicable toward specific program requirements at the Primary institution. 

When DBU is the Primary institution, the following 3 steps must be completed before the VA SCOs can prepare a PSL:    

  1. It is the student’s responsibility to coordinate with their academic advisor to complete the “Permission to Take Course(s) at Other Institution(s)” form to be submitted to the Registrar’s office.

  2. The Transcript Evaluators in the Registrar’s office will process the Permission Request Form to determine if the courses are transferrable to DBU.

  3. If the courses are transferrable, the academic advisor must further provide documentation to the VA SCOs that the courses are also directly applicable to specific program requirements.