- Regardless of the courses you enroll in, the BC3 Veterans' Certifying Official can
only certify to the VA enrollment in courses that are required for your degree/certificate
as defined in the BC3 catalog.
- Once an area of requirement is met, no other classes can be certified for that area
unless there is unmet general elective credit availability.
- Once an area requirement is met for specified degree, any classes taken in that area
will be considered elective credit. Transfer credit from other institutions, including
military credit, will be evaluated for credit and applied to your BC3 degree plan.
Once requirements are completed for each area, no other courses in this area will
be certified to the VA.
- Audited courses cannot be certified to the VA.
- Short term and late start classes are only certified for the period in which they
meet. The VA will only count them in your total number of hours enrolled for the period
they are in session. This can affect your enrollment status and your payment level.
- To ensure the most prompt and accurate reporting of schedule changes, please submit
an Enrollment Certification Change Form as your are changing your schedule.
- If you drop or add classes, enroll in classes outside your BC3 degree program, repeat
classes, enroll in short term classes, or are dropped for nonpayment or nonattendance,
your enrollment status may change and will be automatically reported to the VA. These
changes can result in an overpayment as determined by the VA.
- You must attend class and make satisfactory academic progress as defined in the BC3
Course Catalog. If you stop attending a class and do not officially withdraw from
it and receive a failing grade, BC3 is required to report this information along with
the last day of attendance in that class to the VA. The VA will consider this a reduction
in enrollment and charge an overpayment against your VA education benefits.
- If you are placed on academic probation or suspension, BC3 is required to report this
status to the VA.
Class attendance: The Veterans Coordinator will monitor class attendance via your professors. Students
who do not attend on a regular basis, stop attending, or withdraw (officially or unofficially)
will be reported to the Buffalo Regional Processor. Such notification may include
a last date of attendance for each class and may result in adjustment or termination
of your GI Bill®® eligibility.
Academic Probation/Suspension and GI Bill®® eligibility: A student who does not make satisfactory progress for attendance at BC3, will have
his/her GI Bill®® benefits terminated. The veteran will receive a letter stating benefits
have been terminated.
An overpayment may result if you receive a grade of I, F, W, which are not used in
computing requirements for your degree program/graduation or if you repeat a course
in which you previously received a passing grade, unless a higher grade in that course
is required for graduation.
Additional Causes for Overpayments
- You stop attending classes.
- You withdraw from school.
- Information is received from professors which indicates you stopped attending or have
not attended class.
Avoiding Education Overpayments
To avoid overpayment of benefits, veterans and dependents must immediately report
to the Veterans Coordinator any change in credit hours, drop/add, withdrawal, or termination
of attendance.
- All overpayments must be repaid to the DVA.
- Failure to repay an overpayment will result in adverse credit and debt collection
may be turned over to a collection agency or the IRS.
- Contact the Veterans Coordinator before you cash your next check if you suspect a
change in credit load or termination of attendance could result in an overpayment.
If you change credit load or withdraw from the college after the drop/add period,
you will be asked to provide a statement explaining the events which caused the change
in enrollment. Mitigating circumstances are unanticipated and unavoidable "events"
which interfere with your pursuit of a course. Withdrawal to avoid a failing grade,
dislike of the instructor, or attempting too many courses are not considered mitigating
circumstances.
If you do not provide a statement or mitigating circumstances are not acceptable,
the DVA may reduce or terminate your benefits effective the beginning of the term,
rather than your actual last date of attendance.
