Terminology
Academic year
The academic year runs from August 1st to July 31st. For example, the 2018-2019 academic year runs from August 1, 2018 to July 31, 2019.
Certificate of Eligibility letter
You will receive this award letter from the VA when you apply for benefits and each term that you are certified to the VA to use your benefits. This letter provides information about how much entitlement you have been awarded and how much you have used. For Chapter 33 students, the letter will list your current eligibility percentage.
Eligibility percentage
Under Chapter 33, the VA awards a percentage based on the active duty service member or veteran's active duty service. This eligibility percentage determines how much the Chapter 33 beneficiary will receive from the VA for education assistance. For more information about what percentage that you may qualify for visit https://benefits.va.gov/gibill/resources/benefits_resources/rate_tables.asp.
Entitlement
Under each VA education benefit, a certain number of months is awarded or transferred to a student. Your entitlement can be broken down into months and days. There are 30 days for every month of entitlement. For example, 10 months of entitlement equals 300 days of entitlement. For every day of a term that you are a full-time student, you will use one day of entitlement. Any months with 31 days will only use 30 days of entitlement, and any months below 30 days will use 30 days of entitlement.
Example: A full time undergraduate student attending the Fall 2019 semester. The semester begins on August 26, 2019 and ends December 17, 2019.
| Month | Days of Entitlement Used |
|---|---|
| August 26 - August 31 | 5* |
| September | 30 |
| October | 30* |
| November | 30 |
| December 1 - December 17 | 17 |
*August 31st and October 31st cannot be counted towards the student's entitlement. For an undergraduate student attending during the Fall 2019 semester, the student will use 112 days or 3 months and 22 days of entitlement.
Mandatory fee
A mandatory fee is a fee that all students are required to pay. Under Chapter 33, only mandatory fees and tuition can be certified to the VA. Mandatory fees include the General Student Fee, Administration Fee, Matriculation Fee, Laboratory/Course Fee(s), Chapel Fee, and Student Bar Association Fee (Law students).
Memo
The anticipated financial aid listed on your student account to reduce the amount due.
Merit-based scholarships
Merit-based Baylor scholarships are offered to incoming freshman based on ACT/SAT score and class rank and to transfer students based on cumulative transfer GPA.
Need-based scholarships
Need-based scholarship consideration is based on documented need as determined through the information provided on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), CSS Profile , and availability of funding.
Non-standard term
A non-standard term is a term that is not of standard length (quarter or semester). Non-standard terms have to be certified to the VA separately. An example of a non-standard term is the parts of the summer term for undergraduate students. The summer is broken up into Minimester, Summer 1, Summer 2, and Full Summer. All of the summer non-standard terms are certified to the VA separately.
Rate of Pursuit
Rate of Pursuit refers to how many hours a student using Chapter 33 is taking divided by how many hours is required to be full time. For students who are using Chapter 33 and are less than full time, the rate of pursuit is used to calculate how much their housing stipends will be. For example, an undergraduate student is taking 10 hours during the fall semester. The student's rate of pursuit is the 10 hours he/she is taking divided by the 12 hours required to be a full time student: 83.33%. The VA rounds to the nearest 10% to determine how much housing the student will receive. For the previous example, the student will receive 80% of the amount of housing that he/she would have received if full time. Entitlement will be used based on the rate of pursuit without rounding to the nearest 10%.
Request for Certification Form
For every semester that you wish to be certified, the Request for Certification form must be filled out and submitted to the VA Benefits Office. Before submitting the form, you will need to register for your classes and finalize your schedule. It is important that you submit the form to the VA Benefits Office as soon as you are ready to be certified to ensure that your benefit payments are issued from the VA on time.
Rounding out
Rounding out refers to a student's last semester before graduation when he/she is able to take enough courses to be a full time student without the courses all falling within his/her degree plan. The classes that fall outside of the student's degree plan can be certified to the VA because it is the student's last semester before graduation.
Tuition and/or Fee specific award(s)
Awards that are specifically designated to only pay your tuition and/or mandatory fee charges. i.e. Graduate Assistantships, some athletic scholarships, some Truett scholarships, etc.
Yellow Ribbon Program
The Yellow Ribbon Program is a program that Baylor University participates in and that is offered through the VA for eligible students to use with their Chapter 33 Post 9/11 GI Bill® benefits. For more information on who is eligible, visit the Yellow Ribbon Program page.