GI Bill Pays for Prep Courses

Most veterans are not aware that the GI Bill can be used to pay for college entrance exams preparation courses. Entrance exams, like the SAT, ACT and GRE are often required or used to gain admission to an institution of higher learning or graduate school.

Any veteran, service member, or military dependent who is eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty (MGIB-AD), Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve (MGIB-SR), Reserve Educational Assistance (REAP), Survivors & Dependents Assistance (DEA), may be eligible to pursue training in preparatory courses.

There is no limit to the number of preparatory courses you can take. However, veterans must have remaining entitlement and your delimiting date must not have passed.

Like other courses used under the GI Bill, your GI Bill benefit will be reduced based on the students training time (or rate of pursuit).

For example, if a veteran is pursuing a preparatory course and he or she is considered to be training at one-half time (50% rate of pursuit), the VA will reduce his or her entitlement by a half a day for each day you are in training.

Veterans who have never applied for GI Bill education benefits need to submit an "Application for VA Education Benefits" (VA Form 22-1990). Veterans may apply for benefits at www.GIBill.va.gov. Once the application has been submitted, veterans should have their institution submit an enrollment certification (VA Form 22-1999) to VA for the course.

Vets who have applied for and are eligible for GI Bill education benefits, should have their school submit the enrollment certification (VA Form 22-1999) to the VA for the course.

Veterans can visit www.GIBill.va.gov to determine which preparatory courses are approved for VA education benefits. Click on the “Find A School” button in the middle of the page and “Search for approved Education and Job Training Program.” Enter the name of the institution that offers the preparatory course to obtain a listing of all programs approved at that institution.

If a veteran finds that the desired course is not currently approved, they should contact the institution’s VA school certifying official and ask them to contact the State approving agency and/or VA about becoming approved.