Survivors' and Dependents' Education Assistance
The Chapter 35 program provides educational assistance allowance to qualifying spouses, surviving spouses, and children of certain veterans who died while on active duty or as a result of a service related condition or who are permanently and totally disabled due to a service-related condition.
A person who wishes to apply for Chapter 35 benefits will need to have completed the following:
-
Provided Official Transcripts of
all prior accredited institutions of higher education
attended/attending currently to the Cameron University Undergraduate Admissions Office. (This is a requirement for all students using veterans benefits, even if the Admissions Office does not need them for your admission to the university. The reason for this requirement is the Department of Veteran Affairs requires the CU-VA Office to officially report all prior credits completed at other higher educational institutions.) For additional information, visit Cameron's
Undergraduate Admission's web site
.
*Graduate students would need to provide official transcripts to Cameron Graduate Admissions Office. (See Graduate Studies for more information.)
Students must be admitted to Cameron University before the CU-VA will proceed with processing a student's paperwork for veterans benefits.
-
Either an Application for educational benefits VA Form 22-5490
or
a Change of Program/Place Form, VA Form 22-5495 - completed. You may apply online at:
https://www.vets.gov/
IMPORTANT:
The CU-VA office is required to maintain a student file for everyone using veterans benefits. Any VA form processed through the CU-VA office will be reviewed for correctness & completeness, as well as to provide the CU-VA with basic information if a benefits problem should arise. All students must contact the CU-VA office to initiate VA educational benefits.
***Note: We always recommend copies of: Marriage licenses for present marriage, Birth certificates for all children under 18 years and attending school, and (if appropriate) Death certificate, be sent with the application in case it is not on file with the Department of Veteran Affairs. (It will significantly slow down processing the application if the VA does not have immediate access to all needed verifying information.) A copy of a letter from VA declaring spouse/dependents are eligible for Chapter 35 is also helpful to speed up processing per the Muskogee VA Regional Office.
Pay Status Information
To be considered a full-time student by VA for undergraduate students, you must be enrolled in at least 6 hours of 8 week courses each 8 week term or 12 hours of 16 week courses for the semester. For graduate students, you must be in 9 hours of graduate level 16 week courses, 4 hours of graduate level 8 week courses each 8 weeks, or consecutively meeting 3 hour 4 weekend courses (with no breaks between weekend meeting dates).
Mixtures of courses with different lengths requires special attention and advice. Graduate Assistantships will not count toward your VA pay status.
Note: The university considers a full-time student for the whole semester DIFFERENTLY than the VA for payment purposes!!
With the exception of Chapter 31, all less than half-time students will be paid automatically in a lump sum. See the Resident CU-VA student information concerning eligibility for Advance Pay requests.
We strongly encourage early enrollment of classes so we may have all necessary paperwork done and your enrollment certification ready to be sent to the VA Regional Office.
Contact the CU-VA for information concerning your VA payment status. VA Educational Benefits are non-taxable.
Special Tips & Information for Chapter 35 students
- A change in your class schedule may affect your VA benefits. Frequent changes often can cause a student to have an overpayment of benefits. Frequent changes of schedule may also delay your certification process, especially if non-required courses for your approved VA Educational Objective are taken.
- For additional benefit usage information, see appropriate pages on the CU-VA Student Information links in the menu.
