Steps to apply for VA Ed Benefits

  1. Go to va.gov
  2. In the lower left box, click on “apply for educational benefits”
  3. On the next page scroll down until you see the green box “find your education benefits form” Click on the box
  4. Click “applying for new benefit”
  5. A new box will appear.  Answer the question
  6. A new box appears.  Answer the question. (Generally, the answer is no)
  7. A new box appears. Answer the question. (Generally, the answer is no)
  8. Click on the green “Apply Now” box
  9. On this page, below the blue box you can click on the “Start your application without signing in”
  10. From here to the end of the application, just fill out the required information
  11. At the end, click on submit and you are finished. It generally takes the VA about 30 days to process the application. Once it is processed, it will be sent to the address you provided.
  12. If you require assistance, contact the Veterans Center at military@kckcc.edu or call 913-288-7591.

The VA generally takes around 30 days to process an application. If you are approved for the benefit, you will receive a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) from the VA in the mail. For updates on processing times, you can contact the VA directly at 1-888-442-4551.

  1. Apply to KCKCC.
  2. Once you have applied and have a student ID number, bring or email the COE to the Veterans Center.
  3. Contact an Advisor to enroll in classes. (advising@kckcc.edu or 913-288-7696)
  4. Go to https://forms.kckcc.edu/veterans-benefits-request-form/ and fill out the Request to Use Benefits form. This step needs to be completed every semester/term you want to use benefits.

Every semester you want to use your VA Educational Benefits at KCKCC you will need to fill out the Request to Use Benefits form after you enroll in classes.  The form generates an email that is sent to the Veteran Certifying Specialist will then conduct a degree audit to ensure all the classes you are enrolled in are required for your degree.  If there are no issues, the Veteran Certifying Specialist who will submit the certification to the VA.  If there are issues, the Veteran Certifying Specialist will contact you through you school email account.

Regardless of when you make the change, all adds, drops, and withdrawals MUST be reported to the KCKCC Veteran Certifying Specialist immediately.  Depending on when you drop/withdraw from a course, you may owe money back to the VA.  We encourage you to speak with a Veteran Certifying Specialist before you make any schedule changes to see how this will affect your benefits.

You should change your major by first contacting your Student Success Coach.  You will also need to inform the KCKCC Veteran Certifying Specialist of the change of major.  Your Academic Advisor will not notify the Veteran Certifying Specialist when you change your major. It is your responsibility. There are VA forms (VA form 22-1995) which need to be completed by the veteran/student when a change in major or program has occurred. Contact the KCKCC Veterans Center for assistance if needed. 

Regular and Partial Payments

Once the VA has processed your certification, payments are made around the first of each month for the prior month's attendance. For example, you would receive a payment in September for attendance during the month of August.  Payments are made based on the number of days you were enrolled in classes for the previous month.  If classes started on the 22nd of August, you would be paid September 1st for 10 days, not the entire month.  Please note that under the following circumstances, you may receive only a partial payment: if you drop/add a course or courses and it affects your overall training time, you will be paid at your new training time rate.  Based on when you dropped/added a course, payments may not reflect the change until the following month. 

If you fail a course or receive an unsatisfactory grade (i.e. did not make the grade required by the academic department for degree credit), you may retake the course and receive VA Educational Benefits for the same course as needed.  Courses that are successfully completed may not be certified for VA purposes if they are repeated. VA will not pay benefits to repeat courses to enhance a student’s GPA therefore all other duplications cannot be certified. Please note that the VA will not pay for any associated Repeated Course Fees.

If you enroll a class and it is later determined that the class you transferred to KCKCC counts as that class, the Veteran Certifying Specialist is required to adjust the certification that was submitted to reflect this.  This may result in the VA sending a debt letter to the student for the class and possibly for BAH payment.

To ensure you are paying the Military rate (in-state), send the Veterans Center a copy of your DD214 (Member copy 4) or a copy of your COE.  Spouses and dependents can also send us a copy of the service members DD214 with a copy of their driver’s licenses or a copy of their DEERS document.  For assistance contact the Veterans Center at military@kckcc.edu or 913-288-7591.