Current Students

Change of Status: Reporting Changes in Units

Students must report any changes in units (Adds, Drops, Incompletes and Withdrawals) to the Military and Veterans Program as soon as possible. The program will then report these changes to the VA to avoid possible under/overpayment of benefits and subsequent billing from the VA or the university.

The quickest method of contact is emailing military@sandiego.edu

Students will also need to submit a Change of Status form to the Office of Financial Aid.

Change of Status Form

Full Time Status

Often, military-connected students have questions about the minimum unit requirements for maintaining full time status. This table is a general guide to determining your status each term.

*Online Graduate Programs have 7 week terms, for which 3 units is considered full time. As such, most online graduate programs are considered full time for VA Benefits. Updated 2/26/24*

The Department of Veterans Affairs Determines the Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) for GI Bill® Users. For undergraduate students, the VA determines the rate of pursuit for a term, while for graduate and doctoral students, the school reports the rate of pursuit (see the Am I considered full-time FAQ). You should consult the GI Bill® Comparison Tool or call the GI Bill® Hotline, 888-442-4551, for questions on your housing stipend, including how much the VA will pay per month.

Remember that for online degrees, the online housing stipend is significantly less than the residential housing allowance. See the GI Bill® Calculator for more information.

If you contact the school, we will refer you to the VA.

Parent Letters: Taking Credit Courses Outside of USD

To get approval to take a course outside of USD, students must complete the Request for Transfer Articulation process. This can be done online from your MySanDiego portal.

1. The Transfer Articulation Form is located under the My Academics tab of the Torero Hub in the box titled “Transfer Articulation”.
2. Click on the “Request for Transfer Articulation” link.
3. To use VA benefits for these courses, students must request a parent letter and provide the following information to our certifying official:
   • Course Information (Subject and Course #)
   • Course Schedule (start-end dates)
   • If the course schedule differs from primary school enrollment dates, the rate of pursuit may be affected.
   • Contact information for the Secondary School Certifying Official
   • Copy of the course description from the college catalog

IMPORTANT: Parent School Letters are subject to approval. Courses offered by secondary colleges must be approved by the Counseling or Evaluations Office to confirm course equivalency.

Request a Parent Letter

You should follow up with the secondary college Veterans Affairs Office for certification processing times.

Upon completion of the approved course(s), students will be required to submit official transcripts no later than one (1) month after the completion of the semester/session. Failure to submit transcripts from your secondary college will result in a delay of future enrollment certification for VA Education Benefits.

Study Abroad and GI Bill Benefits*

It is possible to use VA education benefits to study abroad while a student at the University of San Diego, under certain circumstances.

Semester Study Abroad at the Madrid Center is now certifiable to the VA! Learn more and apply here: USD Madrid Center.

Other than the Madrid Center, only USD Faculty-led, short-term study abroad courses are certifiable to the VA:

• If the course is required for your degree program and is optional to be taken abroad, the VA will pay for the tuition only.
• If your degree program requires a study abroad course, the VA will cover the tuition and any mandatory fees.
• The VA will never pay for airfare or direct housing costs billed by the university.

Contact your academic advisor if you are unsure if your degree requires a study abroad component.

Please note: No other semester-length programs are approved for use with VA education benefits.

*Students using Chapter 31 (VR&E) should discuss studying abroad with their VA Voc. Rehab Counselor. Without their approval, students should not enroll in Study Abroad Programs at USD.*

Failed Courses

If you fail a class, you may receive a "punitive grade" for that class. This means that the grade you receive earns credit towards your degree, even though it may bring your GPA down. Since this grade counts towards your degree requirements (even negatively), you are entitled to GI Bill benefits for any class you receive such a grade in; the VA will pay for the course.

What if I Fail a Class?

Withdrawing: Grade of "W"

Withdrawing from a course ("W"): A "non-punitive grade" is a grade that doesn't earn credit towards your degree. An example of this may be a withdrawal from a course after the drop period; or other things like auditing a class, academic probation, or suspension. Since non-punitive grades don't count towards your degree, you may be required to repay any GI Bill money you received for such classes.

How your reason for withdrawing from a class affects your VA debt?

What about "Incomplete" Courses?

An "incomplete" grade is given for passable work that could not be completed during the term. The instructor assigning an incomplete grade must indicate the steps necessary to complete the remaining coursework and receive an earned grade. Students are responsible for completing the work before the designated deadline set by the university (refer to your program's academic calendar). VA will allow students to complete the remaining coursework within one year.

If the incomplete grade is not replaced by an earned grade within one year, MVP will report the student’s incomplete grade as non-punitive to the VA. This will create a debt to the school and the student may be responsible for payment for the incomplete course.

From the School Certifying Handbook:

Important: Health insurance premiums are specifically mentioned in the regulations governing the Post 9/11 GI Bill and are therefore treated differently than other fees that can be waived. If health insurance is mandatory for all students at an institution and the fee can only be waived if a student has their own health insurance, the fee may be certified for those students who do not have health insurance. However, please note the following:

• If a student has their own health insurance but fails to provide proper documentation or misses the deadline to have the fee waived, the institution cannot certify the fee to VA.
• If a student opts out and the fee is waived after certification, the certification must be amended to remove the fee.
• If a student has spouse or family coverage, or selects a premium plan for themselves under the insurance plan through the institution, only the portion of the basic fee covering the student can be certified.

This does not apply to Chapter 31 Benefits. Ask your VRC about possible coverage.

Financial Aid Guidelines for Satisfactory Academic Progress

Federal regulations require that financial aid recipients maintain certain academic standards when they receive financial aid - including VA education benefits - in order to continue to receive funding in the future.

The regulations are threefold:

• Maintain cum GPA of at least 2.0
• Successfully complete at least 67% of the units attempted
• Undergraduate Students are eligible through the semester in which they enroll in 180 units

Students who fail to meet SAP standards are not eligible for financial aid (VA included) for the following semester.

The VA also has standards that require us to monitor students once they do not meet academic requirements. If students do not demonstrate two consecutive semesters of academic improvement, we will have to report it to the VA and it could potentially lead to complete termination of your VA education benefits.

Satisfactory Academic Progress Appeal Process

If students fail to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress, and they have extraordinary circumstances that prevented them from meeting SAP they can complete a SAP Appeal.

• SAP Policy
• SAP Appeal Form

By Requesting to Certify, students agree that they understand the following Student Responsibilities for using VA Educational Benefits at USD

1. The student is responsible for tracking remaining benefit entitlement with the VA and/or ebenefits.va.gov to ensure ample benefit entitlement remains when requesting to process benefits for each semester.
2. Information about VA education benefits represented on student financial aid accounts at the beginning of a term is estimated and will be adjusted if needed when actual payment is received by USD from the VA.
3. The student is responsible for monitoring their financial aid and student account information to ensure accurate benefit information is applied and notifying military@sandiego.edu if there are any discrepancies. VA education benefits are not guaranteed to cover the entire student bill for any given semester.
4. The student is responsible for understanding their own benefit entitlement and student bill.

Students who receive VA benefits, or those who receive an ROTC scholarship AND a USD merit scholarship or the NROTC Prep Scholarship, may be eligible for university grants or scholarships to cover certain expenses not funded through their benefit/scholarship. This additional support is provided in response to an appeal and for the expense categories listed below.

https://usdkb.sandiego.edu/s/article/Veterans-Benefits-Appeal