Office of Veterans Affairs

Our office at Valdosta State University is approved for veterans education benefits. We are proud to welcome you to our Blazer family. Our office is operated by staff members of Valdosta State University and Veteran’s Affairs Work-Study Program. Please contact our office for more information. 

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

Please notify our office if any of the following changes are made:

  • Increase or decrease in credit hours
  • Withdrawal from class
  • Complete withdrawal from the University
  • "Incompletes" received instead of grades

A reduction in your course load may result in a retroactive reduction in benefits and a debt to the VA. You will be responsible for paying back any and all debts to the Veteran's Administration if an overpayment is made.

VA Student Resources

  • New Student Application Waiver (Active Duty and Veterans Only)

    https://www.valdosta.edu/admissions/undergraduate/documents/application-fee-waiver-for-military-service-members.pdf

  • Veteran’s Benefits Brochure

    Information on eligibility, benefits, other funding available, payment information, how to get your benefits started at Valdosta State University and other important information concerning your Educational Benefits.

    Learn More

  • VA Benefits Checklist

    A new checklist must be submitted for each semester you plan to attend VSU. The checklist indicates to our office that you would like to continue receiving VA benefits during the upcoming term. Upon receiving this checklist, we will submit a certification to the Regional office for the new school term. Please note - If you do not comply with this requirement, we will have no way of knowing that you want to continue your benefits past the current school term. Failure to turn-in a new checklist in a timely manner could delay your benefit checks by as much as three months.

    What exactly is a timely manner? VA regulations allow our office to send certifications as early as 120 days prior to the beginning of the term. If you are requesting an advance payment, your certification must be received by the regional office no later than 30 days prior to the beginning of the term. However, certifications may also be sent in as late as one year after the start of the school term and be paid retroactively.

    You can submit your checklist online or mail/fax us the document.

  • Rate of Pursuit

    Please follow the steps below to calculate how many hours you would need to take, in order to be considered as “full time” for VA payment purposes:

    1. Visit http://www.gavco.org/traininghelps.htm and click on the first link that says “Rate of Pursuit Calculator”.
    2. Enter in the term dates that you are planning to attend (Example: The common Spring 2018 term dates were: 1/8/2018 – 5/4/2018.
    3. Ignore the Break Period section, unless you have a semester that has a week-long break in the middle (like Spring Break).
    4. Fill in the type of hours (“S” for semester), number of hours you plan to attend, and then the F/T (full time) measure (12 hours).
    5. If all of the above is filled in correctly, you will be able to then see the calculations. The “Rate of Pursuit” column (far right) will tell you whether or not you would be considered as “full time”. If the figure shows anything less than 100%,      you will not be considered as a full time student and will not be paid the maximum VA rate.

    If you have further questions about being full time and how the Rate of Pursuit is used to calculate your VA payments, please call the VA directly at 1-888-442-4551 (1-888-GIBILL-1).

  • Forever GI Bill® Information

    The VA is working to provide updated information on how provisions of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act (also known as the Forever GI Bill®) will be implemented. At this time all updates are being published on the GI Bill® website at: https://benefits.va.gov/GIBILL/FGIBSummaries.asp. A number of these provisions start August 1, 2018, and we will have more information to provide close to that date. If you are curious about a specific part of the Forever GI Bill®, you can keep up to date with information through the link above.

  • Yellow Ribbon Application

    Valdosta State University participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program, which addresses the gap between in and out-of-state tuition. If you are not approved for in-state tuition, and are being charged higher out-of-state costs, please contact our office for more information about how the Yellow Ribbon Program may help you.

    Learn More

  • Other Scholarships or Grants