Looking to study abroad while at JMU and utilize your Veteran Education benefits to help pay for it? While many of the study abroad programs at JMU can be used with the Federal and State Veteran Education Benefits, not all of them are approved. It is important that you work with the JMU Veterans Benefit Team to ensure you know your options, ideally before committing to a program.

Please reference the JMU Study Abroad website to review programs offered at JMU.

Federal VA benefits:

• Chapter 33 Post 9/11
• Chapter 35 DEA
• Chapter 31 VRE
• Chapter 30
• Chapter 1606 

Exchange programs and any programs that include third-party involvement in any capacity are not allowed with Federal VA benefits.

What costs are covered by Federal VA benefits? 

If your study abroad program is approved:

• Chapter 33 Post 9/11 and Chapter 31 VRE: Can only cover the instate tuition, comprehensive fee and any associated required course or differential fee charges for each course required for graduation. The study abroad supplemental program fee, room/board costs and any tuition/fees for non-required courses cannot be covered by the Post 9/11 or VRE benefits. 
• Chapter 35 DEA, Chapter 1606 and Chapter 30: Provides the monthly stipend directly to the student. The monthly rate received will depend on your approved course credit load and term dates. The full bill must be covered upfront to JMU.
• All Benefits: Only courses that are required for graduation can be reported to VA for eligible payments.
• External programs require additional evaluation. Please email veteran@jmu.edu for information on the review process.

The student is responsible to ask what will and will not be directly covered by their benefit and what must be covered out of pocket.

State Benefit: 

• VMSDEP tuition/fee waiver program through Virginia 

VMSDEP may be used for certain study abroad programs. If a study abroad program is owned by a public institution, then the respective institution is required to waive the tuition and mandatory fees; however, if the program is a contract, or third-party program offered through, but independent of, a public institution, the tuition and fees charges cannot be waived because VMSDEP benefits are not applicable at institutions other than a public institution. 

Exchange and external programs are not allowed with VMSDEP.

What costs are waived by the VMSDEP benefit? 

If your program is approved to be used with VMSDEP, it will waive the standard tuition, comprehensive fee and any associated individual course or tuition differential fees.

The study abroad supplemental program fee, room/board, etc. are never waived by VMSDEP. 

The JMU Financial Aid office (fin_aid@jmu.edu) determines what charges will be waived by the VMSDEP benefit. 

JMU Study Abroad Programs

The chart below lists the programs that have already been reviewed for benefit eligibility. New programs are added as they are reviewed. Keep in mind, your actual out of pocket expenses will depend on your specific benefit, the applicable courses taken, and the additional costs associated with the study abroad program. If your program is approved but the course(s) you take are not applicable to your degree program, then nothing cannot report anything to VA. 

If the program is not listed below, the student is required to email the JMU study abroad program website to the JMU Veterans Benefit office at veteran@jmu.edu. The JMU VA Benefits Team will work with the Study Abroad office to determine if it qualifies to use with Federal VA benefits or the State VMSDEP benefit.

While we will work as quickly as possible to review the requested program, we cannot guarantee a decision will be made prior to the student’s application deadline, deposit deadline, or date of departure. It is important for the student to be as proactive as possible in getting the information to the JMU VA benefits team for a timely review.

All programs listed below will need to be reviewed annually for any program changes.