Tuition/Fee Specific Aid for Post 9/11 Recipients

Including scholarships, tuition waivers, and other tuition/fee specific aid

The Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-377) changes the amount of tuition and fee charges that a school certifying official can report to VA. As of August 1, 2011, the following must be taken into consideration before reporting charges to VA:

"The actual net cost for in-state tuition and fees assessed by the institution for the program of education after the application of any waiver of, or reduction in, tuition and fees; and any scholarship, or other Federal, State, institutional, or employer-based aid or assistance (excluding loans and title IV funds, such as Federal Pell Grants, Federal Stafford Loans, Federal Plus Loans, Perkins Loans, etc) that is provided directly to the institution and specifically designated for the sole purpose of defraying tuition and fees."

What Does This Mean?

Effective August 1, 2011, VA is the Net Payer for tuition and fees. Schools must report the net cost of tuition and fees after deducting (regardless of your eligibility %):

• "Tuition/Fee" specific scholarships
• Tuition waiver (ex - employer tuition waiver, graduate assistantship tuition waiver)
• Federal or state programs that pay towards tuition and fees (ex - Federal TA through military branch, ROTC Scholarship for Tuition/Fees or VMSDEP with the Commonwealth of Virginia)
• Any other Federal, State, institutional, or employer based aid that is provided directly to the school towards tuition and fees for the sole purpose of defraying tuition and fees

The "tuition and fee specific" scholarships and other tuition/fee specific aid are deducted from the instate portion of tuition only. If you are an out-of-state student and have a tuition/fee specific aid, it cannot be applied to your out-of-state difference. This is regardless of your Post 9/11 eligibility percentage or if your benefits are exhausting in a term you are receiving the tuition/fee specific aid.

Exclusions:

• Title IV Funds, such as Pell Grants and Federal Loans like sub and unsubsidized loans received through the FAFSA application
• Any "general" scholarship, grant or aid not specifically intended for just tuition/fees

Example:

2023-2024 Instate Tuition/Fees: $6,788.00

(-) Scholarship specific to Tuition/Fees: $2,000.00

Pell Grant/Unsubsidized Loan: Not deducted

"General" Scholarship (see below): Not deducted

Amt Reportable to VA for payment : $4,788.00

• If 100% eligible for Post 9/11, VA pays to JMU: $4,788.00
• If 50% eligible for Post 9/11, VA pays to JMU: $2,394.00

Important - Only aid or assistance, sent directly to JMU, that is designated for the sole purpose of reducing a student's tuition and fee cost will be deducted from the charges reported to VA. Aid is deemed "general" if it can be applied to other charges or expenses (such as room and board, books, computer, supplies, etc) on a student's account. It will not reduce the tuition and fee charges reported to VA and those funds can be used to help cover other expenses on your bill, such as room and board.

What Does Your School Certifying Official Need?

If scholarship check is made out to you: Documentation is not needed if the scholarship money or other aid is sent directly to you at home, made out to you and not reflected on your JMU financial account. (If you receive the check but the check is made out to JMU, please see the next line)

If scholarship check is made out to JMU: If you receive any aid/scholarship for a semester that you are requesting Post 9/11 benefits and the money is sent directly to JMU or they send you the check and it is made out to JMU, we will require you to provide written proof on how the money can be used. We will need to know if the money is tuition/fee specific or if it can be applied to other charges on a student's account, such as room and board, books, computer, and/or supplies in addition to tuition and fees. This proof will guide us as we process T/F charges to VA and meet VA Compliance requirements. We need documentation for either scenario: tuition/fee specific or not tuition/fee specific. 

Proof can be obtained from:

• Scholarship website or website for the aid
• Scholarship letter originally sent to the student
• Request a letter or email sent to the VA Benefits team with the required information

Required information for letter:

• Student's full name
• Scholarship/aid name
• The term the scholarship/aid will be used (ex - 2019-2020 academic year, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, etc)
• State what expenses the scholarship/aid is allowed to cover (ex -tuition and fees only, or tuition and fees, room, board, books, computer, supplies etc)
• Written and signed by someone from the organization

Please provide this information as soon as possible to prevent delays in processing your semester enrollments. This information must be in writing. Letters can be emailed to Veteran@jmu.edu, faxed to 540-568-5615, or mailed to:

Please contact your School Certifying Official (SCO) at JMU with any questions.

Contact VA if you have any questions about the law.