Veterans Education Certification Information

COVID-19 Veterans Benefits Update
as of 6/17

NOTE: The VA School Certifying Official office will be closed on the following dates: June 19, 26, July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, Aug 7, 14, 21, 28. Emails will be returned upon return.

To our Student Veterans:

Please check here for the latest information as it pertains to VA benefits certification at LCC and COVID-19. The situation is changing often, and this site will be updated to keep you informed. Contact us by email for anything specific not addressed here.

Please monitor the COVID-19 page for all LCC updates.

We understand that this is a very uncertain time, especially as it relates to your Veterans Education Benefits. Our goal is to provide you with the most recent and updated information that we have about the certification of your benefits what we will do to work with you over the next few weeks to ensure you have the information you need to be successful this spring term.

Our services have gone remote. We have adjusted our service methods to focus on the use of email. Rest assured, we'll process your certification and we are communicating with the necessary LCC departments, personnel, and the VA to ensure your processing is minimally impacted.

How To Contact Us

Email contact will likely provide you with the quickest response. Contact us by email at VAEdBenefits@lanecc.edu and use your LCC email if you have one and provide your L# in your correspondence. We are monitoring this email during work hours. You can also make an appointment for a Zoom call. This option is available only for students who already have a L#. Register for a Zoom appointment call and you will receive an email with the Zoom appointment information.

VA Planners

We will need to continue the coordination between you and your academic advisor to ensure we're remaining VA compliant. To make this as easy as possible, if you have not submitted a summer or fall term planner or need to update a previously submitted planner, here is what you can do. Contact your academic advisor, and ask them to help coordinate your VA planner. You can either scan and email your VA planner to advising or send them your name, L#, declared program, and the classes you want to take. This is the same information you would have listed on your paper planner. Your advisor will review this, concur that you are in alignment with your program, and they will email that to us. We will accept the emailed planner from your advisor to report your enrollment to the VA. As always, please keep advising and our office informed if you make any schedule changes. Once your planner is reviewed, we will notify the VA and you should receive an email from them confirming your certification was submitted.

FAQs

Is there any impact of classes being moved to a remote/online format, that were originally classroom instruction? (Updated 3/27)
Based on the new law, Post-9/11 GI Bill ® students who pursue resident courses converted to an online modality solely due to COVID-19 will continue to receive the Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) rate for resident training. The law only authorizes this special authority from March 1, 2020, to December 21, 2020. The new law applies equally to current and new students enrolled in the converted courses. Note: Other types of changes to a student’s enrollment status may affect payments. Non COVID-19 related changes must still be reported per normal requirements. Examples: class withdrawal, registering for a class after the term has started, no-show drop.

Will there be any impact on tuition and fee payments when only the modality changes within a term due to COVID-19? (Updated 3/27)
Tuition and Fees reporting requirements will not change due to COVID-19 national emergency, nor will VA’s rules for benefit payments. Note: All standard adjustments and amendments still apply to non-COVID-19 circumstances. As per our normal procedures, we will begin reporting tuition and fees to the VA after the add-drop with refund period. This reporting will begin in week 2 of spring term. You should receive a routine VA generated email saying an adjustment/amendment was processed.

Is there any change to students taking remedial class (Math or Writing below 100 level) and those classes now being taught online? (Updated 3/27)
Based on the new law, an approved educational institution which converts an approved resident remedial/deficiency course (aka traditional classroom) to an online training modality for that course (distance learning) due to COVID-19, we may continue to certify those credit hours to the VA as resident credit hours during the authorized timeframe: March 1, 2020, to December 21, 2020.

However, if a remedial course (those below 100 level) is designated as online on your registration, as opposed to a "traditional classroom" course that was temporarily converted to online, that course cannot be certified per VA rules. Be sure you register for the applicable traditional classroom remedial course, in order to use VA benefits for that course.

How will summer term certifications be handled if all courses are still being taught online?
Your summer term registration should look like it did in previous terms as far as some courses listed as instructional method online and some listed as "traditional classroom." We know that classroom courses are projected to be taught online, however for VA purposes, these are classroom courses converted to online due to COVID-19 whereas a course listed as "online" was not converted, it was already online. What this means is courses listed as classroom will still be certified as classroom and online courses will be certified as online. This is an important distinction because CH 31/33 students need at least one course in the term reported as "traditional classroom" in order to receive the full housing stipend for their number of credits. Our advice is to pay attention to the method of instruction when you register and choose a "traditional classroom" course if your housing stipend rate is a concern for you.

Is there anything different about summer term registration or anything I need to know?
Yes! During summer term, LCC offers more courses of non-standard length. The standard length is 11 weeks but during summer, you will see courses listed as 4, 6, or 8, weeks long and they may start and end at different times over the summer term.

Fall - Spring 12 credits is full time. In Summer, full time is when your credits for a specific course are equal to or greatly than the number of weeks of the course. If they are, then that is full time for that course only, not the whole summer. For VA purposes, we are required to report the time period of each individual course and how many credits in each time period and we cannot combine all the courses during different time periods to cover your enrollment for the entire summer. For example, if you start all your courses during the first 4 weeks of summer term and they are 4 week courses, then the VA will only pay benefits for those 4 weeks and nothing the rest of the summer. However, if you register for different courses that start during different parts of the summer, then the VA will pay you the rate applicable for each of the different course dates. For example, if you take 4 credit courses that are 4 weeks long and you take a different one starting on 6/22, 7/20, and 8/17, then you will have 3 separate VA certifications and your benefits will be spread out over each month you are enrolled.

For "full time" benefits during each different term period during the summer, your total number of credits in each period needs to be at least the number of weeks in the term. For example, 4 credits over 4 weeks or 8 credits over 8 weeks. 3 credits over 4 weeks, that is not full time. Where the course dates overlap, the VA will combine those benefit periods. Where they do not, the VA will adjust your benefit accordingly, such as when you take 4 week and 6 week courses that start at the same time but one ends before the other. The VA will combine your rate for the first four weeks and reduce your rate during the last 2 weeks. This can be a bit confusing so if you are unsure what your registration will do as far as your stipend or need assistance with maximizing your benefits to spread out payments over the entire summer term, contact us after you register and I'm happy to take a look at your registration.

Thank you very much for your patience during this time. We will inform you of any changes to VA certifying when we have it and don’t hesitate to email us if you have questions.

Please stay safe and please let us know if there are any resources we can provide you for success in your spring term courses.

- Sam Evans