Are you currently pursuing your education with the GI Bill, but want to switch from full-time to part-time? Or perhaps you’re still active duty and want to use your GI Bill benefits on a part-time basis.
Here is the quick answer:
Yes, you can use your GI Bill benefits for part-time studies. The GI Bill education benefits can be used when pursuing higher education at a public or private school, whether one is studying full-time or part-time. The rates of reimbursable payments for tuition and other fees depend on which GI Bill program you belong to, your eligibility percentage, and your rate of pursuit.
Find out what you need to know about using the GI Bill for part-time studies by reading on further!
How to Calculate Full Time vs Part Time GI Bill Reimbursement
Step 1. You need to know what GI Bill You Have:
How much tuition you can get paid for depends on whether you are using the Post 9/11 GI Bill or the Montgomery GI Bill. Each program has a monthly or yearly reimbursable amount.
Step 2. Determine your “rate of pursuit” to get your maximum reimbursable amount
The amount that the VA will pay through your GI Bill is determined by your “rate of pursuit”, which is a fancy way of saying, “how many credit hours you are taking”. This is a prorated amount based on rate of pursuit and your eligibility percentage.
Can I use the GI Bill while going to school part time?
As you can see from the percentage rates below, you can take advantage of your GI Bill benefits regardless of how many credit hours you are taking per semester.
You can opt to just take one class and still get paid for your tuition charges!
Notes:
The above mentioned dollar amounts and percentage rates are based on the GI Bill benefits rates for Academic Year 2019-2020.
The VA pays all reimbursable tuition charges directly to your school.
Post 9/11 GI Bill
You can be entitled to the full in-state tuition costs if you are attending a public school, or up to $24,476.79 as an annual maximum if you are attending a private school.
The actual amount that you get depends on the amount of time that you have served as an active duty member.
You can calculate how much you can receive from your GI Bill benefits using this table as a guide:
Information sourced from the VA website
Furthermore, if you are pursuing your studies at a half-time rate (part-time), or any other rate that is not full time, your benefits are further calculated based on your “rate of pursuit”, which you can estimate through this table:
Information sourced from the VA website
Montgomery GI Bill
The Montgomery GI Bill pays a monthly rate for tuition charges based on your rate of pursuit, as well as whether you are on active duty or as selected reserve.
As of October 2018, these are how much the VA can pay you for your tuition costs, depending on how long you have been in service:
If you are on active duty, you can get:
- 3 years or more of completed enlistment: $1,994 monthly rate
- Less than 3 years of completed enlistment: $1,619 monthly rate
If you are under selected reserve, you get up to a $384 monthly rate.
These rates are prorated based on your rate of pursuit (or training time), and works like this:
What Is My Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) If I’m Part Time Instead Of Full Time?
Aside from providing financial support by paying tuition costs, the GI Bill education benefits also cover a housing allowance, which is paid directly to you every month. The maximum reimbursable amount is $1,789 monthly.
The actual amount you can get depends on a couple of factors, such as your rate of pursuit, and whether you are studying at a physical institution or taking an online course.
In order to calculate an estimate of the amount of housing allowance you can receive, use this formula:
# of credit hours you are taking ÷ # of credit hours considered as full time
= % of receivable monthly housing allowance
What Does the GI Bill Consider as Full Time Credit Hours?
The usual number of credit hours considered as full time for undergraduate courses is 12 units. For graduate studies, your school sets the requirements and criteria on how many units is considered full time, and the VA follows this rate in paying you your benefits.
For accelerated courses and short classes such as summer classes, these rates are calculated based on the regular term length equivalent.
*Note: Your school, not the VA, is the one that determines what is considered full time. Usually it is somewhere around 12 credit hours.
Can I Get a Monthly Housing Allowance as a Part-Time Student?
In any scenario, the VA requires you to be studying at least at a ½ full time rate in order to qualify for a housing allowance.
This means that if your school considers 12 units as a full time rate, then you have to be taking at least 7 units per semester if you want to get a housing allowance.
Also note:
If you are still active duty, you can not get a monthly housing allowance. This was the case when I was going to grad school on the weekends my last two years of active duty.
Can I use the GI Bill for online courses?
Another consideration is regarding the nature of the institution you are attending:
Whether it is a physical school or an online program.
If you are taking a 100% online course, the GI Bill currently only pays for half of the maximum amount, which means you can only get up to $894.50 per month for your housing benefit.
How to get started with the GI Bill Part Time
If you have not yet availed of your GI Bill education benefit for pursuing your college education, you may do so by filling up the VA Form 22-1990 (Application for VA Education Benefits).
Send in your completed application form online to the VA.gov website or to the nearest VA regional processing office.
Take into account that it takes around 30 days for your application to be processed and approved.
If you are already receiving GI Bill benefits, but are planning on changing your course load, reach out to your school’s Certifying Official so they can send proper documentation to the VA. Otherwise, your status will not be updated, and you can either get overpaid or underpaid.
You can also manually update your status through these links:
- For Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits recipients: Ask A Question
- For Montgomery GI Bill benefits recipients: Web Automated Verification of Enrollment
Related Questions
Does the GI Bill pay for failed classes?
Yes, the GI Bill will pay tuition costs for failed classes, provided that;
You have remaining entitlement benefits
The failed classes are required for your course in order for you to graduate
This means that the GI Bill benefits will pay for the class that was failed, and for retaking that class until it is passed.
If you’re ready to get started, search our list of 29,000+ GI Bill approved schools & opportunities here: https://milversity.com/explore/
