Military and Veteran Student Services

Kira:

Hi everyone and thanks for attending the George Washington University info session. Today, members of our military and veterans services team are here to offer helpful tips to foster military and veteran students success. A webinar is scheduled for about 45 minutes, however, we may go over the hour mark if we get lots of questions from our audience for Q&A so you’re welcomed to stay. Also, our event is recorded and a link will be shared with everyone. I’m Kira the moderator for today.

Kira:

For today’s agenda we’ll meet with members of the GW Military and Veterans Services team who will walk us through the array of resources GW provides in support of military and veteran students and alumni as well as go over the VA and TA benefits and offering tips for success. One of our admissions coaches will also be on hand to provide info on the application process and participate in the Q&A segment with us. Now I’d like to invite Andy Sonn, director of GW Military and Veterans Services to introduce his team and himself. Welcome Andy.

Andy Sonn:

Thank you very much Kira. My name is Andy Sonn. I direct the office of military and veterans services at George Washington University and we are very excited to be here today to share with you some tips about using your educational benefits to pursue higher education. I’m joined today by two members of my team, Kellis Robbins, who’s our school certifying official and also Christian Mac Manning who serves as our program manager. I’ll next turn it over to Mac who will talk about programs and community building at GW.

Christian Mac Manning:

Hello everybody. My name is Mac Manning. I am the program manager for military veterans services and my primary responsibilities include day to day operations of the military community center, which we’ll talk a little bit more about in the future of this presentation and then as well as all the engagement and activities here at the university for student veterans.

Kellis Robbins:

And I’m Kellis Robbins. I’m the program coordinator here at military and veterans services. My primary duty is helping students like you take advantage of your G.I. Bill benefits here at GW and help facilitate that process.

Andy Sonn:

Great. I want to talk more about the services and resources we have for military students at GW. First and foremost, the mission statement for the office of military and veterans services. The two key words there are community, family are the two most important things to us. We want to build a very strong military community at GW and we look at ourselves as family members in that we welcome individuals who are allies, dependence, active duty, veterans, reservists, national guard, all within the military community at GW, which includes staff, students, faculty, alumni and it’s a very strong community that we’ll talk about in a little bit more detail.

Andy Sonn:

The next slide talks about our approach and series of resources and some context for the military community at GW. Serving military students and ensuring their success is our top priority in our office. We have four full-time staff members. We are here to help with any question and to own that question and to find answers to any questions you may have. The GW military community is a strong one at 1,800 military students. It’s among the largest of any private research university in the country and GW has a very rich history of educating service members.

Andy Sonn:

Among our alumni, are Tammy Duckworth, Colin Powell, [Thad Allen 00:03:39] and Billy Mitchell names you might recognize. We have a history of educating individuals with military backgrounds and there’s a rich history also of some first at GW. We had the first G.I. Bill recipient of 1944. The first of what became over 3 million G.I. Bill recipients was Don a Balfour, a GW student and we continue the present day to be the first institution in Washington DC to be a participant in Yellow Ribbon Program.

Andy Sonn:

We’ve been recognized by the Military Times. We’re among the top 20 or the number 19 among all institutions that are best for veterans in the United States and we’ve been a military friendly institution for the last 10 years by the G.I. Jobs Magazine. A little bit about our approach. We seek to first and foremost bridge academic and military cultures. We do that by offering services and resources across the student life cycle. That’s from pre-admission questions that might come up to alumni standing. We take a holistic approach, so by holistic we have services and resources to help academically to help in terms of filling part of the community and then also we have career education resources.

Andy Sonn:

We are a centralized hub. That means we are one-stop. We have one website. We also have four individuals who are ready and able to help you with any question that might come up. We own those issues and find answers to your questions and solutions. We’re also community focused, so that means we want to build a strong military community and we have a number of things that Mac is going to talk about that are focused on engaging military students and making sure that individuals feel a sense of belonging at GW. We like to say we go beyond military friendly to be focused with intensity on military student success.

Andy Sonn:

Mac and Kellis will talk more about how that manifests in our offerings or services and our resources and then finally, I mentioned the student life cycle that we have services and resources that go across from pre-admission to alumni standing. So what are some of the services and resources you can expect to GW to help you out as a military student? First and foremost, military.gwu.edu is our centralized website. We send a weekly e-newsletter to over 2000 individuals in the GW community who are military affiliated, so that includes everything from benefits information to job listings to some of our events and activities.

Andy Sonn:

We have a military community center that’s open seven days a week, 20 hours a day. That’s a type of USO for individuals to come in between classes that offers free coffee and free printing. We also have a lot of military students scholarship opportunities we’re Pat Tillman Foundation scholar schools, that means we’re able to send three prospective candidates to the Pat Tillman Foundation for their leadership scholarship each year. We also give as an office learning supplements grants to military students who have achieved inside and outside the classroom, but we also have a safety net for individuals who are waiting for VA benefits.

Andy Sonn:

We have a no interest emergency loan for individuals who might be waiting for BAH payments. We also will waive late fees and interest as well as lift holds for individuals who might be waiting for forthcoming VA benefits. We also want to reach out to the rest of the GW communities so that faculty and staff and other students know more about military students and military culture and military students and their needs. We offer military culture trained workshops at GW, which is a promising and best practice in the field.

Andy Sonn:

We have dedicated career education resources, a 30 year veteran of career education, Marva Gumbs Jennings, is a great resource that helps individuals with military backgrounds translate service experience to their private and public sector job search after GW or during their GW experience. We also have a series of wellness resources and activities. We’re one of 90 schools in the country with the vet success on campus counselor. That’s a department of veteran affairs, full-time staff member who works within our military community center and can help with the array of questions about VA benefits.

Andy Sonn:

It’s an incredible resource to have on campus, and then we also have a very large and active Student Veterans of America chapter, GW Veterans. This year we have over 250 members and this year also marks our hundredth anniversary of our GW Veterans student organization. Something we’re really proud of. We also have a series of 30 to 40 veterans who are faculty members who serve as mentors for military students at GW so those are just a sampling of our services and resources. I’m going to next turn it over to Kellis Robbins who is going to talk about VA benefits.

Kellis Robbins:

Thanks Andy. Like any side, we try to be a one-stop shop and we know for many of you a core piece of your GW and education experience is using your VA education benefits. No matter what chapter of G.I. Bill you’re using, whether that’s the Post-9/11, Montgomery G.I. Bill, Vocational Rehabilitation, we’re here to help you take advantage of those benefits and apply them to your education here. That also includes tuition assistance. If you are active duty and using tuition assistance, we are your contacts to help process that paperwork. As Andy mentioned, we also have several scholarships and are happy to provide financial aid counseling to help you understand how aid may be receiving either through our office, through GW as a whole or through outside partners might impact your VA education benefits.

Kellis Robbins:

We are one of the most generous Yellow Ribbon Program schools in the DMV by far and we’ve also been a proud member of this voluntary program for the past 10 years. The Yellow Ribbon Program is a voluntary program that GW enters into to provide additional funds for eligible students. In order to be eligible for the Yellow Ribbon Program, you must be 100% eligible for the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill and not on active duty or using transferred benefits from an active duty spouse.

Kellis Robbins:

Just a little bit on how the program works. The G.I. Bill pays a base benefit of about $24,000 for this current academic year but we know that for a lot of GW students that may not be enough to cover all of your tuition and fees. That’s where the Yellow Ribbon Program steps in. After that $24,000 cap is met, GW and the VA split the difference, 50 50 up to the caps in the table below. For grad students, that means you have an additional $31,000 on top of your 24,000 base benefit to go towards your educational costs for this current academic year. This means for about 95 plus percent of our eligible students, there are zero out of pocket tuition costs for the current academic year.

Kellis Robbins:

Now we’re going to talk through the admitted student checklist. Welcome to GW. If you haven’t already gotten your VA education benefits worked out, we recommend that you first contact the VA and apply for those benefits and that phone number to call the VA is listed there or you can apply for your benefits online. Once you are found entitled, you’ll receive a letter from the VA outlining what those benefits are, that’s called your certificate of eligibility. It’s that letter of proof of benefits that we will need a copy of to know what chapter of benefit and what kind of funding you’ll be receiving from the VA.

Kellis Robbins:

After you register for classes, you’ll then submit a request for certification online. This is your consent to our office telling us that you would like to use benefits for that semester. You do have to fill out this quick form every semester you would like to use entitlement, especially if you have limited benefits or you’ve transferred to a dependent or spouse. We’re happy to help you strategize how best to get the bang for your buck out of your G.I. Bill while here at GW. These are some more tips that we thought are important to reach out to you about, just to keep in mind while you pursue your education here at GW.

Kellis Robbins:

For example, every course you take needs to fulfill a academic requirement part of your… what we call degree map or degree plan in order for the VA to pay for it. For graduate students that usually isn’t an issue, but it does mean that we won’t pay for courses such as yoga, boxing or any other electives that are outside of your degree plan. We also want to mention that satisfactory academic progress, otherwise known as SAP can impact your VA benefits as well. If you feel like you’re struggling academically, please feel free to reach out to our office and we’re happy to hook you up with both VA resources as well as GW internal resources to help you succeed academically.

Kellis Robbins:

If you do need to hire an outside tutor for a program, the VA does have a reimbursement program for that that we can help you navigate and if you’re on campus we can help find you employment through VA Work-Study. We have about a dozen VA Work-Study students on our staff every semester and they work as our frontline helping other military affiliated students at GW as well. Now I’m going to pass it off to Mac to talk about our transition.

Christian Mac Manning:

All right guys. I just want to talk a little bit about some general tips that we like to give to our incoming students. To start off with you’re coming to a university that has a strong military community. We really recommend that you guys kind of explore some of the resources that we offer. As we mentioned military.gwu.edu is our main website. Take a look at that website, explore some of the resources that we offer. It has all things from scholarship opportunities to job postings where the dog tag is going to be the whole nine yards. We really recommend that you take a look at that before you come into the university.

Christian Mac Manning:

The second thing is meet with the military or veterans services staff, or at least make contact through email. Some of you might have already done that as you’re looking at the university in general. That is a good practice to start with, we highly recommend regardless if you’re looking at GW or another institution that you do that. And the final thing is take a look at our Student Veterans of America chapter or any other student organization that is military affiliated because they will have a good community that you guys could reach out to that will be a great resources for an individual to come out and connect with different people that are like-minded as yourselves.

Christian Mac Manning:

The second thing is we want to talk a little bit about some of the academic recommendations and successes that we want to pinpoint to you guys to make sure that your transition to the university is great. Number one, we find that a lot of our students feel very rushed and a lot of pressure to take on a little bit more than they probably should. The average age of a traditional undergrad that’s part of the military affiliate community is 27. The average age of a graduate student within our military affiliate community is 33. That’s a little bit older than the traditional student.

Christian Mac Manning:

Many of you guys have a plethora of unique experiences and you also might feel a little bit behind. Maybe you also feel pressured to provide for your significant other or your family. A lot of times we feel like you guys take on a little too much at once. If you’re in a cohort program, it’s less of a concern to ours because it is kind of set, but many times you feel like I’ll take an extra class here and there and try to manage it as well as work full-time, whatever the case may be. We really want to make sure you guys start off slow and confident and just go from there.

Christian Mac Manning:

The second thing is introduce yourself to your faculty. Once you start classes, make yourself known. I mean, GW is a large institution but if you make a statement and you kind of get to know the individual teaching, they will get to know who you are and that will pay dividends in the long run because you are going to need help from, hey I didn’t understand this material or I had a couple of questions on this, and developing that relationship is key. And the final thing is for those of you who are still in service and you’re drilling or maybe you’re active duty be really clear and honest and upfront with your faculty and staff about what your military commitments are.

Christian Mac Manning:

We find that faculty and staff want to go above and beyond to make sure that you have all the opportunities in the world to be successful but if you’re not forthright with them, then they’ll be less inclined to help you out. Some of the things that GW offers, we have a pretty extensive programming content from different events to socials throughout GW veterans organizations that we promote through the dog tags as well as our different social media platforms. We also have some really great career engagement opportunities.

Christian Mac Manning:

As Andy had said, we have a career services liaison that has over 30 years of experience, but we also do a specific events that have cash prizes. One thing that we do is called the Pitch, which is a professional developing opportunity, but we also have career mentoring programs. We’re doing one through Deloitte right now that’s really interesting and it’s just a great opportunity for you to meet like-minded people that are also veterans that want to see you be successful but also might have a lot of connections for you in the future.

Christian Mac Manning:

And then we also have a lot of wellness initiatives through yoga, hiking trips, kayaking trips, things like that, as well as community building and community service opportunities as well. Things that make you feel a part of a bigger picture that is GW. We really want to make sure that your time as a student is as impactful as possible but if it’s something where you’re here to get a great education, move on and be successful, but we want that appearance to be as good as possible so that’s what we’re going to strive for.

Christian Mac Manning:

And finally, I just want to talk about some of… we are on social media and for some people they’re really great with email and then other people are just very busy so if it’s something that you want to be connected with us, whether it’s ourselves or the GW Veterans, which is student organization we are available so we have… gwvets is our Instagram page. GW Veterans is our Facebook group, but military veterans services also has a Facebook group called military veteran services and you’ll be able to find us there.

Andy Sonn:

Yeah, turn it over to Kira about the application requirements next.

Kira:

That’s right. [Ilana 00:18:11] is on the line and she’ll actually be walking us through the information. Ilana.

Ilana:

Thank you. Good afternoon everybody. Andy and your new team first of all, thank you so much for making yourselves available and the informative webinar and to all the service people on the webinar. On behalf of the GW MBA healthcare team, we would like to thank you for you service. Now, let’s get down to business. In terms of the application requirements because, you military of course we do have an application fee but it is waived for all military. Where you’re not military it also would have been waived because of the fact that you’re attending the webinar.

Ilana:

In terms of the actual application itself we will be chatting with you individually, but the materials that we would require for the application would be a GMAT or GRE score where applicable. Anyone with over three years of working experience generally we can get you the GMAT waiver. Your academic coach will discuss that with you. We would need an updated grades, you may or CV, whichever you use. One professional letter of recommendation. We are not looking for a recommendation from a former professor. We would like one from someone whom you currently work with who can speak to your work ethic. It would be a statement of purpose.

Ilana:

I always tell people the statement of purpose, really look at it as an opportunity to let the admissions committee know about you. They not going to be able to chat with you obviously through the application process myself or my colleagues will be in constant contact with you. They don’t have that opportunity so they may be something that is not apparent from your [inaudible 00:20:24] you may, that you may want them to know. You would put that in your statement of purpose.

Ilana:

Again we’re going to work with you very closely in putting together the application, so we will give you the outlines for the statement of purpose. We’d want all university labeled transcripts. We do not need originals for review purposes. We can use copies and on acceptance, yes. Then they will ask for your originals. In the case of board certified doctors, it would be a copy of your board certification. Going back to the GMAT or GRE school this is also not a requirement for any board certified doctors or pharmacists and if applicable, the TOEFL or the IELTS scores… and as I said, that would only be where applicable.

Ilana:

The important dates. Our next term which is spring will begin on January the 13th. Our first, we call it a priority deadline is roundabout about October the 15th. I know that it sounds very close, but it’s very, very easy to get the application completed by the 15th because it is really such a simple process and we are here to assist you with it. The reason that we encourage people to get the applications done early, particularly if you’re going to make use of any of the G.I. Bills.

Ilana:

Obviously the sooner your file is competed, the sooner you are reviewed and let’s always be positive on your acceptance, then you can move forward with the necessary to be done for the G.I. Bill but more importantly is the fact that probably roundabout the middle of November, I would imagine course registration will be open and for those of you who’ve chatted with us, you know about the [live sing 00:22:44] sessions, if you haven’t chatted with us, we will be discussing those live sing sessions with you and the earlier you register into the courses that have the live sessions, the larger the number of days and times for that particular session will be available.

Ilana:

If one’s only applying sort of in November, you probably find that you wouldn’t by the same, they have the same choices as you would with an early application and bearing in mind also that once you’ve applied, we probably looking at anything up to two to three weeks before the decision comes through and then there’s a little bit of time obviously while the IT department, et cetera, sets you up. If you work backwards from that, I would say the closer to October the 15th one gets them done the better, and then again we’ll have another round of reviews roundabout November the 11th.

Ilana:

That having been said any time your application file is completed by us, we do send it off for review. It’s not that if you submit on the 16th of October, you’re not going to sort of be reviewed until the middle or end of November. And what we will do is myself, and as I said, my colleague, [Rajiv Debra annum 00:24:25] and [Farah 00:24:28] we will reach out to you all tomorrow. I’m sure you have some additional questions but in the meanwhile, if you want to reach out to us please do so and as soon as we have a copy of the recording we will email that to you as well.

Ilana:

I would say for any questions regarding today’s webinar, barring anything to do with the application or to the courses, et cetera. In other words, anything to do with the actual program reach out to us. Anything to do with benefits please reach out to the VA office. Thanks Kira.

Kira:

Wonderful. Thank you so much Ilana and to our audience. We’re coming up now to the Q&A segment. Just a reminder. To activate the Q&A box, you’re going to find the button at the bottom of your menu. Please click on that and feel free to forward any questions you have before we go into the Q&A. There is actually a question coming in from a member of our team. This is for the MBS panelists here. Most students are full-time professionals in a healthcare MBA. What is the minimum number of courses needed per semester to qualify for VA benefits according to GW?

Kira:

Who would like to take this question.

Kellis Robbins:

This is Kellis and I’m happy to answer that. There isn’t necessarily a minimum in order to use your VA benefits. However, if you are a veteran student, depending on what chapter benefit you are using, you may be eligible for a housing stipend. In order to qualify for that, it gets a little complicated, but the general rule is nine credits over the semester is full-time. Anything over half-time, meaning five credits or more would qualify for some sort of housing. It can get complicated depending on if your classes are of nonstandard length like they may only be an eight week course, for example but we’re happy to walk through any student individually if they contact our office.

Kira:

Perfect. Thank you so much, Kellis. And then the next question is, are there any specific services or activities for online students who may live far away or even be deployed? I guess this question might be for Mac.

Christian Mac Manning:

Yup. Specifically we have one student program called the SALUTE honor society, which is an honor society that is universal throughout the country. You can sign up for it. You get an invite after your first semester and they are all over the country. GW members all over the countries, they have lots of meetups but they also are at different universities so you being a member of the SALUTE honor society, it’s mostly online students that take part in it and if you qualify depending on your program and what your GPA is after your first semester, you will get an automatic invite to that honor society.

Kellis Robbins:

And one thing I’ll add is one thing GW does do for online students who may be deployed or otherwise not at GW. The libraries will ship you materials. If there is a particular book you need for a course or research materials, we’re happy to help coordinate with you to help you utilize that resource.

Kira:

Perfect and the next question we have is, I am an active duty army. I heard that there are changes coming up for the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill that will allow us, us active duty to have access to Yellow Ribbon Program starting in a couple of years. Are you familiar with these changes? And if so, would GW be participating in this? Thank you for the question.

Kellis Robbins:

Yeah. The active duty will become Yellow Ribbon eligible in 2022. Unfortunately the VA hasn’t listed too many details on that upcoming legislation that was passed as part of the Colmery Act, otherwise known as the Forever GI Bill. Like I said in the presentation, GW has participated in the Yellow Ribbon Program since its inception about 10 years ago. I don’t foresee any reason why we wouldn’t still participate in 2022. However, the figures for Yellow Ribbon are renegotiated every year based on whatever the new VA caps are, tuition inflation. We do post those new numbers every spring but we don’t foresee any reason why GW would no longer choose to participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program once active duty students do become eligible as well.

Kira:

Thank you Kellis, and his question is for Ilana. Does the program run through the summer? If you had to take a break in the program, how long do you have to wait to resume?

Ilana:

Yes, the program runs for the full suite semesters. In other words, spring, summer and fall. However if you need to step out of the program and take a semester off you can absolutely take that semester off and come in on the following start date of the next semester. In other words generally because it works almost like a carousel. Let’s say for example, you took off the summer, generally in the summer is when you would start your electives but let’s just say there were two courses in the summer and you miss those two courses providing neither of the two courses were prerequisites for courses that were coming up in the fall then you would go back onto the carousel and catch up those two courses when they on offer again.

Kira:

Thank you Ilana. We have a question from the [inaudible 00:30:22] that I wanted to clarify and I hope that we’re on the right track. The question is, what is the process for pursuing a dual degree in conjunction with the MBA, online healthcare? I just want to ask the questioner, are you referring to another master’s degree within GW? Is that what you have in mind? And if that’s the case, if our panelists can address that question.

Ilana:

In terms of the dual degrees I’m not sure truthfully which degrees are offered as a dual degree with the MBA healthcare. That having being said, I am not a believer in dual degrees. The reason being that I don’t think the majority of people understand that if you do a dual degree, let’s say for example, you are doing MBA healthcare and a master’s in project management and you began with the health care MBA and then at the end of the healthcare MBA you decided, you know what? I actually have enough information and education for what I want.

Ilana:

Unless every course in both degrees are completed, neither degree is conferred and for a dual degree, you’re looking on average at five years for dual degree. I’m not a great believer in dual degrees. I believe that one… for example, if you’re looking at let’s say, you’re looking at an MPH together with the MBA healthcare, they would actually be very little need, if any to do it as a dual degree because most of the courses that would be offered in the MPH you could do as your healthcare electors.

Ilana:

You won’t have two degrees behind your name, but you certainly have the knowledge that you need for those two entities. You’d have the MBA knowledge, you would have the health care and the health care side of it would be what you would have learned in the MPH. When you chat with your coach, if you haven’t chatted as yet they will actually explain to you that we don’t limit you in terms of where you need to take your health care electors. So can you take them from the school of public health? Absolutely. Can you take them from the school of nursing? Yes. I hope that sort of answers their question.

Kira:

Sounds about right. Thanks so much Ilana. And then the next question is, what are the unique resources for G.I. Bill recipients in the school of business?

Kellis Robbins:

I’m happy to take that one. Because we are a centralized one-stop shop office. We don’t necessarily have any specific school of business resources, but any programs, resources, scholarships, et cetera, that we offer are open to all GW students. Now the business school has in the past occasionally offered veterans specific scholarships, in which case we’re happy to help facilitate that process and we do work closely with the school of business. It’s a very popular school within GW for our military affiliated community but generally speaking, we don’t have any school of business specific resources.

Kira:

Thanks Kellis. Okay, so next up is, I know that spouses of active duty are not covered by the Yellow Ribbon Program. However, I am a veteran and a spouse of an [AAD 00:34:21] member. I have utilized all of my Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, but my AAD spouse has since transferred his to myself. In that case, would I be eligible for the Yellow Ribbon Program?

Kellis Robbins:

Unfortunately, no, because you’re using transferred benefits from your active duty spouse. The VA still looks at you as an active duty household, so to speak and as such you’re not eligible for the Yellow Ribbon Program.

Kira:

Okay. Thank you so much. Are there more questions coming in from our audience? If there are questions you’re welcome to send them over to us or you can send them over to us privately at the end of this webinar and we’ll definitely get in touch with you to have them answered. Ilana, there is a question coming up regarding the acceptance rate. I don’t know if you have that to share to our audience or maybe you can talk a little bit about what the admissions committee are looking for in application.

Ilana:

Generally what the admissions committee is looking for, obviously they give preference to people who are involved in some manner or means or form in the health care arena. That doesn’t mean you have to be a hands on physician. You could be involved in telemedicine. You could be working on a Navy ship. It really doesn’t matter so long as you are involved in health care and the reason that we do this is because of the fact that we want something that binds all the cohorts together, a common denominator.

Ilana:

I always say to people, it’s really based on your application. It’s a holistic review that they’re looking at. There’s no preference given, so if you meet the criteria that they are looking for, they will accept you. It’s not that if I, for example I’m working in telemedicine and the person next to me is a board certified doctor that they’re going to say we’re going to take the board certified doctor, [inaudible 00:36:30], Ilana. It doesn’t work that way at all. They assess each one of the applicants and I would say generally because you’re working with the coaches and we know where the strengths are and where the weaknesses are we would not encourage you to not make application or discourage you from making an application if we didn’t feel that you had the potential to be accepted.

Kira:

Thank you, Ilana. One of our audiences having a request for Kellis to go over this current slide from the perspective of the graduate program in terms of the no benefit caps and such specifically for the graduate level [inaudible 00:37:23].

Kellis Robbins:

Sure so this slide, this is predicated on the student being 100% eligible for the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. If they’re not 100%, you can be anywhere from 50 to a hundred percent or using a different chapter of benefits these figures wouldn’t apply. Just to put that little asterisk there, but after the $24,000 cap, that’s what the hundred percent base benefit for the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill is for the 2019, 2020 academic year. Students use those funds first and then after their costs exceed that limit, that’s where Yellow Ribbon kicks in and there is no minimum number of courses.

Kellis Robbins:

Students may only take three credits and for the VA that’s fine. Whether do you take three or nine or 12, the only thing it would impact is your rate of pursuit, which impacts your housing allowance, but it would not impact the amount of tuition the VA pays out. Your eligibility determines how much money you’re eligible per year, not necessarily a minimum number of courses, if that makes sense.

Kira:

Perfect. Thank you Kellis, and would you also go over emergency loans for military students? Maybe just elaborate on that.

Kellis Robbins:

Sure. We understand that the VA doesn’t always pay in a timely manner. When things work perfectly, it can take two to three weeks for the VA to issue payment once a student has been certified by our office, and we understand that you may need a little bit of money to make rent or other necessities while you wait for that VA housing stipend. We do offer an emergency loan equal to one month housing payment based on your enrollment. The only other stipulation, and unfortunately this is not ours, this is a GW policy, is that you do have to come sign that emergency loan paperwork in person at our office. If you work full-time, we’re happy to coordinate with you to meet after standard work hours but unfortunately if you are a distant student who is not located locally, we can’t sign off on that paperwork.

Kira:

Wonderful. We’re coming up to our 45 minute mark and it looks like it’s been great insights and all of our questions have been answered so thank you so much to our panelists, Andy, Kellis and Mac for going over the incredible resources offered by GW’s Military and Veterans Services. To our webinar attendees I hope you found our webinar informative and helpful as you navigate your TA and VA benefits. We are currently accepting applications for spring 2020 as Ilana mentioned and our wonderful admissions team will help you with your application portfolios to find out how our online healthcare MBA program and other GW programs can help you achieve your goals.

Kira:

Please reach out to members of our GW’s Military and Veterans Services team, as well as our admissions coaches and to our audience once again, thank you so much for your service and for spending the time with us and we look forward to having you in our spring 2020 class and looking forward to having you come back to our future webinars as well for more information. Thank you so much everyone.