I have a question for those that have transferred GI Bill benefits to their kids, how much did they receive for books, housing, and tuition? My kids will start using it in the fall and we are trying to stretch this as far as possible.
I worked for the VA education office for a couple years while in school.....
as far as tuition goes, if the school is public, they should get the entirety of their tuition paid of as long as they are full time (typically at least 12 credits for undergrad and 9 for masters, but a specific program might have different rules of what's considered full time, and med school has different rules). They should be getting BAH apar with the zip code of THE SCHOOL, some veterans always got this wrong, telling me they were living la vida loca in Miami while going to school in Boca Raton....and like someone said it before, it is prorated, meaning if classes start Jan 15, then they will only be getting about half of BAH for that month. Usually for one to get full BAH they would need to take at least one course in person, but ever since covid, one can take all the coursework online and get full housing. as far as books go, the way I understood it, you get up to 1000 bucks a year given that you take the 12 credits per the fall and spring terms (500 each), but if one takes 18 credits in one of those terms for instance, you might get more money for that term, and then get the rest of the other term. if you are trying to split your GI Bill between more than one of your kids, the best way ito stretch it as much as possible is for them to take as many classes as they can handle....the GI BIll runs out of time, not out of credits...meaning that, if you take 12 credits in one term, vs 18 credits in that same term.....you lose the same amount of time out of it...so you gotta be smart about it. There are private schools with the yellow ribbon program, for which they could get approved the same benefits as in a public school. make sure to have their Certificate of Eligibility ready to go, it often takes the VA a month to mail that thing, and most certifying officials won't get the ball rolling without it.. However, if they were to start classes, and not be certified, they can still start, get certified later and get retroactively paid. Tuition money goes directly to the school, and in case that they are not certified, the certifying official in the school should be able to submit a deferment to the controller's office for them not to get dropped out of classes due to lack of payment....also, any money you pay directly to the school for tuition should be reimbursed to you once the VA wire kicks in.
hope this helps