What is Terminal Leave?

Nearing your separation or retirement from the military, there are bound to be a lot of preparations to be made, such as relocating to your old family home or to a new one, deciding whether to go to school or find a job (and do the necessary preparations for it), and so many more.

But, doing all these things after you retire translates to weeks or months without a paycheck. Unless you have some fat savings and don’t have to worry about your finances, you need to figure out a better way to go about this- and that is by taking a terminal leave.

Terminal leave is paid leave that is taken right before your contract of obligation in the service expires.

It comes from all your accrued leave that you haven’t been using (and are not part of the “use it or lose it” accrued leave in excess of the 60-day limit). 

You can find how many days of leave you can use as a terminal leave under the Expiration Term of Service (ETS) Balance on your Leave and Earnings Statement (LES). 

Note that this number is an approximation, and can change if you take a leave between now and your date of separation, as well as if you earn extra leave days under special circumstances.

Do I Get BAH if I Take Terminal Leave?

When you're on terminal leave, you're essentially already out of the service because you are actually required to process all your separation or retirement papers before you go on leave

(meaning, after the last day of your terminal leave, you are, once again, a civilian. No need to report to duty anymore!)

Although, since a terminal leave is just like an ordinary paid leave, it goes to say that you are entitled to continue to receive your salary and your benefits while on terminal leave.

This includes your Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), among other benefits. This means that you can enjoy and make the most of your leave without any worries!

But, the question is, how much BAH will you get during your terminal leave?

Is My Terminal Leave BAH for My HOR or ETS location?

You may or may not have been receiving a housing allowance as an active duty service member, depending on your living situation- such as whether you are staying in the barracks.

But once you start on your terminal leave, you may be entitled to receive a housing allowance benefit.

The rate of how much BAH you can get depends on the address you provide as your ETS address (as opposed to your Home of Record (HOR) address).

So, for example, even if your permanent residence is listed as in Ohio, if you are going to be residing in, let’s say, San Diego, once you get out of the service, then you’ll get San Diego BAH rates.

This is if you are not currently receiving a housing allowance that is for “with dependent housing allowance for dependents residing separately,” as if you are on active duty service and residing in Hawaii, while your spouse and children are way back in New Jersey.

If so, you will simply continue to receive BAH at this rate throughout your terminal leave.

As you're approaching terminal leave and want to explore what states you want to live in, you can use this nifty interactive county map tool here.

What are Other Benefits that I get to Keep if I Take Terminal Leave?

Here is the best part:

As we hinted earlier, a housing allowance or BAH is not the only benefit that you can still get and take advantage of while you are on your hard earned and well-deserved terminal leave. Aside from your base pay (and most of your other additional pays), you continue to receive benefits such as:

• Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS)
• COLA, FLPP, etc
• Health and dental insurance
• Tricare
• Use of base facilities
• Military shopping and uniform allowance

Given all these amazing perks, there is absolutely no reason for you not to use and take advantage of your terminal leave!

Want to find out about 29,000+ opportunities you can grab with your GI Bill benefits after your time in the military? Visit milversity.com/explore

Where Do GI Bill Payments Get Sent?

For most GI Bill educational benefit programs, such as assistance for degree, non-degree, and vocational education, you are usually entitled to receive three benefits: tuition, a housing allowance, and a stipend for books and supplies. 

Any and all tuition costs are sent by the VA directly to the school each semester or term.

As for the housing allowance and the stipend, these are sent to you, either via a mailed check or through direct deposit.

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When Do Post 9/11 GI Bill Benefits Get Deposited?

Regardless of the GI Bill program you are receiving benefits from, tuition costs are sent by the VA to the school or training facility you are attending, and is paid every semester or training period.

As this is a transaction that happens between your school and the VA, the only thing you need to do is make sure that your school certifying official has all your documents so that the VA can verify your enrollment for the semester that you are receiving benefits for.

Or, if a part of your tuition is not covered by your GI Bill benefits, then you will have to process the payments for that yourself (or through a grant or scholarship) with your school.

As for the Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA), also referred to by many veterans as the BAH, it is sent to you at the end of each month through an arrears payment scheme - meaning you will get it at the end of the month.

You will start receiving this benefit after your application for receiving GI Bill benefits has been approved.

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Meaning:

If for example, your application was approved on July 15, you will receive a prorated housing allowance that covers July 16 to 31, paid to you at the beginning of August. Then, from August onwards, you will get the full monthly allowance that you are eligible to receive.

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Meanwhile, with regards to the books and supplies stipend, which is a maximum of $1,000 sent to you annually, the VA will send you this payment immediately after the approval of your application for education benefits.

However, it may take up to 2 weeks for you to actually receive this payment. This is because of time allotments for processing and mailing.

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GI Bill Payment Processing Schedule

You have to take into account the processing period not just for payment requests, but also for applying for educational benefits, as well as for the verification of your enrollment so that you will have a better idea of when you can actually expect to receive your money.

Here’s the VA.gov page that shows you the projected payment dates based on the WAVE certification.

For first time applications to receive GI Bill educational benefits, it usually takes one month to process and approve your request

(longer if there are any issues with your application, or the VA needs more information to process your request).

This can take longer if you are applying during the fall term, as the VA typically receives an influx of applications during this time of the year.

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If you are just re-enrolling, however, the VA takes around a week to process your documents. 

Once your application is approved- whether it’s for first time benefits, re-enrollment, or enrollment verification- you can expect your check within 2 weeks (taking into account mailing time), or if you are enrolled in direct deposit, then just within a week.

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When Do Montgomery GI Bill Benefits Get Deposited?

Similar to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, the payment of benefits for the Montgomery GI Bill- Active Duty and the Montgomery GI Bill- Selected Reserve are as follows:

• Tuition costs paid directly to the school every semester/ term/ training period
• Monthly Housing Allowance sent to you via check or direct deposit at the end of each month
• Books and Supplies Stipend sent to you annually immediately after your enrollment is verified

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However, one important difference that you have to note:

If you are receiving benefits from the Montgomery GI Bill, you will need to verify your enrollment every month, so that you can receive your benefits for that month.

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How do I verify my GI Bill enrollment?

To verify your enrollment, you can choose any one of the ways listed below:

For Montgomery GI Bill (Active Duty or Selected Reserve)

• Verify your enrollment online through the Web Automated Verification of Enrollment (WAVE)
• Call the toll free Interactive Voice Response (IVR) hotline at 1-877-VA-ECERT (1-877-823-2378)

For DEA Chapter 35

• Verify your enrollment online through the Ask A Question website
• Call the GI Bill hotline at 1-888-GI BILL-1 (1-888-442-4551)

Once you are done verifying your enrollment, it usually takes 1-3 working days for this to reflect on your account, after which, the VA will be sending the payments to you.

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What If I Did Not Receive My Check Or My GI Bill Payment Is Late?

If you are receiving your GI Bill housing allowance and books stipend via checks sent by mail, these can sometimes inevitably get lost, as is the case for any other mail. If you think this has happened to the check you are supposed to receive this month, here is what you should do:

1. Wait for 3 weeks after the scheduled release date of your payment, and if no check has arrived,
2. Reach out to the VA’s Education Case Manager at 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551) to request a replacement of your check. This can take up to 6 weeks to process, as the VA needs to verify that they have released your payment and that you were not able to receive it, then issue you another one.

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You might be thinking, “6 weeks is a long time! I have bills to pay!”

Well, in order to avoid this unfortunate scenario in the future, you can opt to receive your educational benefits via direct deposit.

It’s not only to guarantee that you will be receiving all your payments, it’s also quicker and more convenient for everyone involved.

To set up a direct deposit account, follow these instructions set by the VA on direct deposits. Once you are done, it can take 1 to 3 days for your payment method to be updated on VA’s end.

What is the GI Bill MHA, BAH payment schedule for 2019?

If you want to know when you can expect to receive your MHA payments each month, here is a quick guide to determine your projected payment date:

• From the date your transaction was processed (labeled as “Transaction Date” on your WAVE account), jump to the next business day immediately after that. 
• Then, count 3 to 5 days for the range of your projected payment date.

To see more exact dates for each month, you can also see this payment dates chart released by the VA.

Why are my MHA, BAH payments delayed?

With the implementation of the Forever GI Bill, the VA is making a lot of necessary adjustments, and this includes payment rates for all GI Bill educational benefits. As per the VA, this can take until the first of December, 2019.

So if your MHA payments are delayed, bear with the VA as they are working on resolving the issue. They will be issuing all delayed or insufficient payments using the new rates under the Forever GI Bill.

For the meantime, if you need assistance due to the delayed payments, you can reach out to the VA Education Call Center at 888-442-4551 between 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday-Friday.

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Related Questions

What is the stipend payment for books and supplies?

The Books and Supplies Stipend is one of the educational benefits provided by the GI Bill for all eligible recipients and can amount to up to $1,000 annually.

What is the GI Bill Rural Benefit?

The Rural Benefit is a one-time payment assistance of $500 for all qualified GI Bill benefits recipients who need to relocate at least 500 miles from a highly rural area to the location of their school of choice, or who need to travel by air in order to attend their school, due to the lack of other travel options.

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If you want to find out about the 29,000+ amazing opportunities that you can use your GI Bill benefits for, visit milversity.com/explore