Veterans Affairs

Throughout this presentation you will encounter the following acronyms.

VAO – VA Office at WKU
Voc-Rehab Counselor – Your Vocational Rehabilation case manager
VA Certifying Official – The VA representative in the VA Office at WKU. The VA Certifying Official for the Department of Veterans Affairs is your liaison with them if you encounter difficulties you can not resolve.

The application for VA education benefits does not constitute admission to WKU. Application for admission to the university must be made through the Office of Admissions. You may contact the Office of Admissions at 270-745-2551 or online at: http://www.wku.edu/admissions.

You cannot be certified to the VA unless you have been admitted to the university and registered in classes.

The VA Office at WKU will notify the Billings and Receivables office that your tuition will be paid by VA Vocational Rehabilitation.  You must turn in the Certification Request Form before this process can be accomplished. If you turn your Certification Request Form in late, your tuition will not be paid until you are certified to VA.

VA pays a monthly stipend for each month that you to actually attend classes. VA educational benefits are not based on the University's tuition and fees.

Training time and number of dependents dictate the monthly rate of pay. Change in training time will affect payment. Students must be certified at least half-time in order to receive a monthly stipend from VA. Your monthly stipend will be pro-rated on a 30-day month, for months when you are not in school the entire month.

Training time varies in Summer due to accelerated terms. Contact the VAO for the hours required for summer training.

If you do not receive your monthly stipend, you should contact your Voc-Rehab Counselor.

Students that interested in on campus housing should contact the Office of Housing and Residence Life by visiting their website or calling 270-745-4359 or visit their website at http://www.wku.edu/housing.

Your VA Education Benefits does not pay for housing. 

Veterans may be eligible for financial assistance (grants, loans, etc.) even if receiving VA Educational Benefits. The process of applying for financial aid begins with the completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). You may file via the Internet at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Federal financial aid cannot affect your VA Educational Benefits.  However, your VA may reduce the amount of financial assistance you are eligible to receive.

Credit for military training is evaluated/determined by the Office of the Registrar. In order to learn what credit may be granted, you must provide a copy of your DD214, Certificate of Training or other applicable documents. If you have served on active duty in a branch of the military for 181 days or more and earned an honorable discharge you may receive three (3) semester hours of credit applicable to category F of the general education requirements. Therefore, any course under category F of the general education requirements will not be certified to VA.

Note: WKU does not award credit for MOS training.

Every semester, upon completion of registration, you must submit a Certification Request Form to the VA Office at WKU.  Certification Request Forms are processed in the order in which they are received.

You will not be certified until you have submitted this form and any other documentation required to certify your courses in accordance with VA regulations.

The VAO requires at least 2 weeks to certify your classes to the VA after you submit your Certification Request Form.

Check with your VA Voc-Rehab Counselor to see when you will receive payment after the VA Coordinator certifies your enrollment. If you have questions about the status of your certification, you should call your VA Voc-Rehab Counselor.

You will receive benefits only for those courses that apply to your degree and are certified by the VA Coordinator. The VA Coordinator will not intentionally certify courses that are not part of your declared program of study.

You may take any course you want, but VA will not pay for it unless it is listed on your degree program as a required course for graduation.

Repeat courses are not certifiable unless required by the university to make a grade of "C" or better. If you repeat the course a second time, the VA Coordinator must go back and reduce your benefits from the 1st semester in which you registered for the course.  This will create an overpayment to VA.

VA will not pay for you to take an audited course.

You must be degree seeking in order to be certified to VA.

A Change in Status form should be submitted to the VA Coordinator when you drop, add or withdraw from a class or classes. Any of these changes in status MUST be reported to the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Failure to report these changes to the VA Coordinator in a timely manner could result in an overpayment of benefits and affect entitlement for future semesters.

You are required to submit to the VAO a copy of your official degree program your first semester at WKU. The VAO needs to monitor all classes according to your degree program.  Failure to submit a copy of an official degree program will/may result in suspension of benefits.

If a situation beyond your control causes you to be unable to submit a copy of your degree program, you must contact the VA Office at WKU.

A change in your major must be approved by your Voc-Rehab Counselor and reported to the VA Coordinator in the VAO. You will be required to file a new degree program if your major and/or degree changes.

You must keep your address current. You must notify your VA Voc-Rehab Counselor if your address changes. You also need to notify the VA Coordinator and the Registrar's Office.

Failure to notify these entities could result in loss of important information to the veteran.

You must make satisfactory progress toward your degree objective. Specifically, your GPA must meet the guidelines detailed in the current WKU catalog.

You must make satisfactory academic progress with the university. If you are placed on academic suspension, your VA educational benefits will be terminated for the duration of the suspension. You must also attend the course(s) in which you enroll.

An overpayment can result if you drop below the training time that was originally reported to VA and you fail to notify the VA Coordinator in a timely manner.

Example: You are certified full-time and then drop a class, which puts you below full-time. If VA continues to pay you at the full-time rate (even though you are below full-time), when the reduction is reported, you will receive an overpayment letter and those funds will need to be repaid to VA.

You will be issued a bookcard to purchase books and/or supplies and this bookcard will be authorized by the VA Coordinator upon submission of the Certification Request Form.  If your classes are at the WKU main campus, the bookcard will be picked up from the VA Coordinator in Potter Hall and take it to the bookstore on the main campus.  If your classes are at the Elizabethtown Community College campus or the Glasgow campus, you will pick up your bookcard from the designated person at each of these campuses.

You cannot charge your books to your WKU account.

Upon initial registration to the university you will be issued a WKU email address. Students will be notified periodically about important information through this form of communication.

This will be the email address that the VAO will use to correspond with all veterans and dependents.  If you do not know how to access your WKU email account, please read the instructions found at www.wku.edu/financialaid  under "How Do I..."

You can view the date that you are certified to your Voc-Rehab Counselor by checking your WKU TOPNET account.  The date you are certified to your Voc-Rehab Counselor along with how many courses are certifiable will be posted under your account.  You can view this information by logging into your account, click Student Services, Financial Aid, Awards and Veteran Information.

You must notify the VA Coordinator of ANY and ALL changes within five (5) working days. The VA Office at WKU will then notify your Voc-Rehab Counselor.

Telephone: 270-745-3732
Fax: 270-745-6586
Email: va.questions@wku.edu

Feel free to contact the VAO with any questions that you may have. We will respond in a timely manner to assist you with your questions.

The Certification Request Form and the Change of Status Form is listed on the VAO website at www.wku.edu/veteran. The Change in Status form can also be located at the above website.  The Change in Status Form is used after you submit your Certification Request Form, when you drop and/or add classes or if you withdraw from the university.