Getting Started

• Apply to Moorpark College 

• Activate your MyVCCCD student portal after your acceptance email is received

• Apply for Financial Aid or California Dream Act

• ​Veteran Students using GI Bill^® ​benefits: Apply for benefits

  • If you have any questions regarding VA benefits, contact the VA office at (888) 442-4551

  • VA office hours are Monday through Friday 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM (central time)

• Active Duty Students using Tuition Assistance:  Apply for TA at your local installation education center 

• Complete the online orientation located in Student Support in the link 'Student Orientation - VC'
• Send your Joint Service Transcript via https://jst.doded.mil/jst/ and all prior college transcripts to Admissions and Records 
• Complete the Veteran Student Intake Form located on the VRC Home Page under 'New Veteran Students'

• Schedule an appointment with a counsellor at the Veteran's Resource Center (805-553-4106) to make an education plan
• Register for the classes on your education plan 
• Notify your counsellor and update your education plan if your class schedule changes 
• Meet with a veteran's counsellor at the start of every new semester to make an updated education plan

GI Bill & Post 9/11 Chapters How-To-Guide V.12

Created by Ben Scotti at Moorpark College September 20^th, 2023

Updated: September 16th, 2024

Questions or Concerns call 805-553-4106 or email benjamin_scotti1@vcccd.edu

IMPORTANT: Military benefits, the policy, the practice, how to apply, what you get, changes all the time. Before taking this information to heart please either follow up with the Veterans Resource Center of your school or with the VA itself to verify the information listed below is still correct and current.

Important Things to Know When Using Post 9/11 Benefits

1. There is NO Universal Process for Military Benefits

Every School in this country, from community colleges all the way up to the Ivy League, everybody has their own expectations and requirements for the veteran students that attend their institutions. While there will be similarities between various schools on how they want you to submit your request for benefits no two schools will ever be exactly the same. Whatever school you attend, find the Veterans Resource Center of that school, find someone who works there and have them give you their schools walk through for what will be expected of you.

2. Tuition Payments
   • The VA will NOT pay your tuition as soon as the semester begins. The VA requires us to do two certifications for every student using Post 9/11 Ch. 33 before distributing registration fee payments to the school of attendance. The VA does the first certification with the school before the semester begins, and up until the add and drop period is over. They then do a second and final certification about 4-5 weeks later, depending on the dates of the classes, and later for late start classes. They will then distribute funds to pay for your tuition directly to the college, based on your “Percentage of Eligibility” for Post 9/11. This does not apply to students using Ch. 31, Ch. 31 students will have their registration and fee payments submitted after the first certification. This does not apply to those using Ch. 35.

The VA does this for Three reasons.

2. • Reason 1: The VA wishes to allow you time to make sure the classes you are taking are the ones that you will keep for the semester.
   • Reason 2: The VA wants to try and save money.
   • Example: A student using Ch. 33 of Post 9/11 signs up for all their classes, gets everything fully certified for their semester by the school. The VA then certifies on their end, pays the students tuition and starts giving them BAH and a book stipend. Then this student drops out of some of their classes and doesn’t tell anyone, so now the VA is paying tuition, BAH, and the book stipend for a class or classes the student is no longer in. This is why there’s now two certifications as part of this process.
   • Reason 3: The VA wishes to avoid a circumstance where you owe them money. This procedure helps keep the overpayments for students and the colleges to a minimum.
   • Example: In Spring of 2023 we had an ex-Marine attending Moorpark College taking 13 credits. 3 months into the 4-month semester he decided to drop two of his classes in order to avoid failing them, reducing the number of credits he was taking down to 6 credits. 6 credits is below part-time, when you are below part time you do not qualify for BAH. As a result of this not only does the ex-Marine owe the VA the tuition money, they paid for the two classes he dropped he also owes all the BAH money they gave him over the course of those 3 months. He became in debt to the VA for roughly $8000.
   • Please Note 1: Before dropping any classes or making changes to your schedule talk to the Veterans Resource Center of your school. Make sure you’re not doing something that will cost you. If you drop a class, or withdraw after your payments have started, you will most likely owe the VA money.
   • Please Note 2: The GI Bill does not cover out of state tuition, it only covers in-state tuition. To receive in-state tuition rates you need to be a resident of the state that your school is located in. To become a resident, you need to live in the state your school is located in for 1 year and 1 day or longer. Depends on the policies of the school and state.
   • Please Note 3: If you are attending a school that is out of state, but it is within 1 year of your EOS, the school may be able to waive the out of state fee’s. It depends on the policies of the school you are attending. Talk to the Admissions & Records office of your school for more information.
3. Benefit Percentage

• When a veteran or dependent is awarded educational benefits, they get awarded a percentage. The percentage you are awarded reflects how much of your benefits you will be allowed to use toward your education.
• Example 1: A Veteran student who served for 6 years and received an honorable discharge is awarded 100% of Post 9/11 benefits. For the 36 months of Post 9/11 benefits, they will receive 100% tuition coverage, 100% of the once per semester book stipend, and be eligible to receive 100% BAH.
• Example 2: A Veteran student who served for 6 years and received a general discharge is awarded 70% of Post 9/11 benefits. This student will still get 36 months of benefits to use under Post 9/11 but only 70% of their tuition will be covered, they will only receive 70% of the once per semester book stipend and only be eligible for a maximum of 70% BAH.

4. Book Stipend (Does Not Apply to Ch. 35)

• The VA pays veteran students a once per semester direct deposit book stipend to assist with the cost of text books. If eligible for 100% of your benefits the rate for this is, at the time of this writing, $41.67 per college credit. Example: If you are taking 12 credits in a semester you will get a one-time direct deposit of $500.04 around the beginning of the semester.
• Text book prices vary too much from one program, school, or requirement to the next for the VA to be able to realistically cover the full cost of text books. In short no matter where you go, what you work toward, or what percentage of disability you’re receiving you will always have to pay something for your text books. In some cases, Veterans Resource Centers with extra funding have been known to provide funds or certificates to cover the full costs of texts books for their students. But, again, whether you get this extra assistance or not will depend entirely on the budget of the VRC assisting you.

5. BAH
   • When setting up Post 9/11 Ch. 33 benefits the VA does 2 things to determine how much BAH you will receive per month, (Does not apply to Ch. 35).
     • Set everything to the E5 paygrade with dependents.
     • Determine what the average cost of living is for the area your school is located in.
   • BAH payments are direct deposited into your checking account either on the first day or last day of the month, it depends on the day of the week.
   • In receiving BAH how much you will get per month, in addition to being a full time or part time student, and having classes in person or online, will also be determined by when the semester itself begins and ends as well as when your individual classes are set to begin and end.
   • Example 1: Fall semesters at Moorpark College usually begins in mid-August. As a result, veteran students who are set to receive full time BAH will only get roughly 50% at the end of August because they will have only been in classes for two weeks. Veteran students will not receive their first 100% BAH deposit until the end of September when they’ve been in class for a full month.
   • Example 2: Fall 2022 we had an ex-Army veteran come to the vet center complaining that he was a full-time student but being paid part time BAH rates. We took a look at his schedule and verified that he was full time, taking 13 credits. We determined the reason he was being paid 50% BAH was because two of his four classes were late start classes. Fall semester began in mid-August, two of his classes didn’t start until early October, as far as the VA was concerned that made him a part time student until October when he would be taking all 13 credits simultaneously.
   • It is recommended that when registering for classes you make sure all of your classes start and end on the same days, or as close to the same days as possible, in order to be paid the maximum amount of BAH for the longest amount of time.
   • It is as a result of this policy that we at Moorpark College advise our Veteran Students not to use benefits during the Summer semesters. Fall and Spring semesters are both consistently 18 weeks long, so veterans attending Fall or Spring can get the maximum amount of money for the maximum amount of time. Summer semester classes are all on a different calendar, so they go for 4 weeks, 6 weeks, or 8 weeks. It’s difficult to the point where its borderline impossible for a veteran student to be able to bring in the maximum amount of BAH money during a Summer semester. In our experience at Moorpark College most veteran students who use benefits during the summer semesters usually end up losing money, or entitlement, or both.
6. Ch. 31 and Ch. 33 Combinations
   • There is a significant difference between how much BAH you will receive using Ch. 31 verses Ch. 33 of Post 9/11. However, there are some interesting ways around this problem.
   • If this is your first-time using benefits anywhere and you immediately start with Ch. 31 the VA will automatically pay you BAH at the rate of Ch. 33 benefits for the full 48 months of Ch. 31. However, in order to receive 100% BAH, although using Ch. 31 you will be required to follow Ch. 33 requirements, meaning at least 1 of your classes has to be on ground in order to collect the full amount of money. This will NOT burn through all of your Ch. 33 benefits; your Ch. 33 benefits will be there for you to switch back to once you are done with Ch. 31.
   • If eligible, it is recommended that you begin your education using VR&E Ch. 31 benefits and then switch to Post 9/11 Ch. 33. If eligible and successful in this you will have a total of 84 months of benefits to use.
7. 100% Disability and Your Dependents
   • The VA has very strict rules about how to transfer Ch. 33 to your dependents.
   • If a veteran qualifies for 100% disability that veteran can transfer their Ch. 33 benefits to a dependent. This will allow for a dependent to be paid and receive tuition coverage at the same rates as a veteran using Ch. 33 benefits.
   • Unlike Ch. 35 where you can give 36 months of benefits to each dependent in your household, in transferring Ch. 33 benefits the 36 months will have to be divided up.
   • Example: If a 100% disabled veteran wants to transfer their Ch. 33 benefits to their 2 children. Each child can get 18 months of Ch. 33 to use toward their college educations.
   • Once Ch. 33 has been fully used your dependents will be able to switch to Ch. 35 and continue their education on those benefits, if they are eligible

8. Other Benefits and You
   • The rule of thumb with military benefits is if you are eligible for it, you can use it, you do not have to pick and choose.
   • Example 1: A Navy veteran graduated from Moorpark College in 2020 and transferred to California State University at Northridge (CSUN). As a veteran student, when he did this, he was eligible for a number of scholarship programs. He applied and was awarded 3 scholarships. When his semester at CSUN began his Post 9/11 Ch. 33 benefits went through first, the scholarship money came in second. The school viewed the scholarship money as an over payment. Shortly after the beginning of the semester CSUN direct deposited $3500 in scholarship money to his checking account as a refund.
9. FAFSA

• Post 9/11 will pay for the majority of your tuition but there will always be some small fees that for whatever reason the VA just won’t be able to cover.
• Example: At Moorpark College we have a Facility Fee that students get charged with once a year. It’s a $5 fee that goes toward maintenance and upkeep of all facilities on campus. The GI Bill does not cover this fee.
• By filling out a FAFSA application you become eligible for some grant money, money that can cover any excess fees that Post 9/11 won’t cover. Also, by filling out a FAFSA application you become eligible to be hired for student worker positions on your campus.

10. Beware the Yellow Ribbon Program

Yellow Ribbon is a tuitional assistance program for veterans largely offered at private universities. If you are being offered this program what that means is that your school’s tuition is so ridiculously inflated that your Post 9/11 by itself simply isn’t able to cover it all. Yellow Ribbon is the school and the VA striking a deal, the deal is the school will cover half your tuition and the VA will cover the other half. It’s a good deal if you have benefits to use, but once you run out of benefits then you are on your own with that schools inflated tuition rates.

11. Joint Service Transcripts (JST)

• Joint Service Transcripts are military transcripts that reflect all of the training and education a veteran has received over the course of their military career. Some of the training and education veterans receive can translate to college credits.
• To send you JST to a school that you plan to attend you need to log onto https://jst.doded.mil/jst/. Through this website you can send your JST’s to any school in the country.
• The JST won’t do much for your education even if you are working toward something directly related to what you did in the military.
• On average the most common requirements that the JST can complete for a veteran student is any physical fitness requirements the school may set for them. Which is perfect because physical fitness classes are usually not covered by the GI Bill.
• Although the JST won’t do much for your education overall most schools do still require you to submit a JST in order to comply with VA requirements. In the case of Moorpark College when we get audited by the VA they specifically check to make sure we have a JST on file for the students they look at as part of the audit.

12. Duration of Benefits

For Veterans: If your military service ended prior to January 1, 2013, you have 15 years following your EOS to use all your GI Bill benefits before they expire. If your service ended after January 1, 2013, thanks to the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act – Forever GI Bill, your GI Bill benefits will never expire.

For Dependents: There is a set date that a dependent needs to use Ch. 35 benefits by. On average dependents have 8 years to use all of the Ch. 35 benefits they are awarded before they expire, starting either when they turn 18 years old or when they are awarded the benefits from the veteran they are associated with. Please follow up with the VA directly to verify how much time specifically you have to use these benefits if unsure.

Follow Up With the VA: A lot of GI Bill stuff, especially in relation to how long a dependent or veteran has to use these benefits before they expire not only changes on a consistent basis but can also be determined on a case-by-case basis. In some cases, especially if the VA is willing to work with you on a certain matter, the VA will allow for circumstances to happen that under normal circumstances would never happen.

Example: Currently at Moorpark College there is a dependent attending. This dependent is in her mid-80s, her husband was a Marine who fought in World War 2 well before the establishment of Post 9/11 and DEA benefits, her husband died of cancer roughly a decade ago. She, after talking to the VA, well after her husband’s death, was able to be awarded DEA Ch. 35 benefits which she is currently using today at the time of the writing of this Guide.

13. Cal Vet Fee Waiver (For Dependents ONLY)

The Cal Vet Fee Waiver is a state-run program, specific to California and ONLY California. It offers full tuition coverage to any dependent of a disabled military veteran attending any California based Community College or California State School. Link to their webpage: https://www.calvet.ca.gov/VetServices/Pages/College-Fee-Waiver.aspx

To Be Eligible

1. Veteran associated to the Dependent must be receiving any percentage of disability from the military. Can 1% disability, can be 99% disability, so long as there is something on the board it meets this requirement.
2. The Dependent must be making a yearly income, completely on their own and separate from the income of the veteran, that is less than $21,000 per year. If the Dependent is unemployed and making nothing then this meets the requirement.
3. Must be a resident of California.

Please Note: These requirements, specifically the income requirement, changes frequently. I recommend following up with Cal Vet to verify what the current requirements are for this specific set of benefits before proceeding in applying. The Cal Vet Fee Waiver organizers can be reached at their customer service line 1-800-952-5626.

Cal Vet Fee Waiver Plans

Under the Cal Vet Fee Waiver there are 4 plans to apply to. Plans A-D, each plan comes with its own set of requirements in addition to the initial requirements for the Cal Vet Fee Waiver Program itself. In applying for Cal Vet, you need to make an account on the website then read through the plans to see which one specifically applies to you, then apply to that plan. The Plans under Cal Vet Fee Waiver are as follows (copy and pasted directly from Cal Vet Fee Waiver Website):

Plan A

The unmarried child of a Veteran who is totally service-connected disabled or whose death was officially rated as service-connected is eligible. The child must be over 14 years old and under 27 years old to be eligible. If the child is a Veteran, then the age limit is extended to age 30. The spouse of a wartime Veteran who is totally service-connected disabled is eligible. There are no age limit restrictions. The unmarried surviving spouse of a wartime Veteran whose death has been rated as service-connected is eligible. There are no age limit restrictions. Any dependent of any Veteran who has been declared missing in action, captured in the line of duty by hostile forces, or forcibly detained or interned in the line of duty by a foreign government or power is eligible. The Veteran must have served at least one day of active duty during a period of war as declared by the U.S. Congress, or during any time in which the Veteran was awarded a campaign or expeditionary medal. Concurrent receipt of benefits under Plan A and VA Chapter 35 benefits is prohibited. To receive benefits under Plan A, a dependent must sign an "Election To Receive College Waiver Benefits" statement acknowledging this fact. There are no income restrictions under this plan. To be eligible, the event which caused basic entitlement to benefits (i.e., the date the Veteran died of service-connected causes or the date the military or United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) rated the Veteran as totally disabled as a result of service-connected disabilities) must have occurred prior to the child's 21st birthday.

Plan B

The child of a Veteran who has a service-connected disability, or had a service-connected disability at the time of death, or died of service-related causes is eligible. The child's annual income, which includes the child's adjusted gross income, plus the value of support provided by a parent, may not exceed the annual income limit. The current academic year entitlement is based upon the previous calendar year's annual income. Under Plan B, wartime service is not required and there are no specific age requirements. Children are the only dependents eligible under this plan. There is no prohibition against receiving concurrent VA Chapter 35 benefits.

Plan C

Any dependent of any member of the California National Guard, who in the line of duty while on active service to the state, was killed, died of a disability resulting from an event that occurred while in active service to the state, or is permanently disabled as a result of an event that occurred while in the service to the state is eligible. Surviving spouses who have not remarried are also eligible. "Active service to the state," for the purpose of this benefit, means a member of the California National Guard activated pursuant to Section 146 of the Military and Veterans Code. A copy of those orders pursuant to Section 146, not Section 143, must be furnished to establish eligibility.

Plan D

Medal of Honor recipients and children of Medal of Honor recipients under the age of 27 may qualify. Benefits under Plan D are limited to undergraduate studies only, and applicants are subject to both income and age restrictions. There is no prohibition against receiving concurrent VA Chapter 35 benefits.

Recommendation: We at Moorpark College advise dependents to apply for Plan B. Plan B provides you with full tuition assistance under Cal Vet Fee Waiver and also allows you to continue using Ch. 35. In short, you can use Plan B of Cal Vet to pay your tuition while pocketing the BAH money from Ch. 35 at the same time. The only other plan that allows you to do this Plan D, Plans A and C only allow you to use Cal Vet, you will not be allowed to collect funds from any other benefits if using Plans, A or C.

Please Note: The application process for applying to any plan offered by Cal Vet must be done through the instructions provided on the Cal Vet Fee Waiver website. This is a process completely separate from whatever California based school you are attending. Your school or your schools vet center CANNOT assist you with the application process for Cal Vet. If you need assistance with the Cal Vet application, please call Cal Vet’s customer service line: 1-800-952-5626.

Setting Up Cal Vet at Your School

After Applying for Cal Vet Fee Waiver benefits through the Cal Vet application process, if approved for the benefits, you will receive a PDF of an acceptance letter in your email. This letter will read something to the affect of “Congratulations you have been approved for Plan B of Cal Vet Fee Waiver benefits for the academic year of 2024-2025”. At the top of this Acceptance PDF will be a 16-digit code printed in bold across the top of the page.

You will need to print out the acceptance letter and take it to the Admissions and Records Department of the school you are attending and make sure it is delivered to the Certifying Officials of your school. Once the Certifying Official has your acceptance letter, they will use their log in for Cal Vet and type in the 16-digit code at the top of your letter. This code is a verification code that the Certifying Officials will use to verify that the letter you’re providing them with is authentic. Once they verify its authenticity, they will then process it for you to Financial Aid and your tuition will be covered for the rest of that academic year.

Please Note 1: A Cal Vet Fee Waiver Acceptance Letter is only good for 1 academic year. For continued use, every summer, you will need to re-apply to Cal Vet, get a new acceptance letter that lists the next academic year, and then provide it to the Certifying Official again.

Please Note 2: Depending on the Plan you’re using under Cal Vet, there is no specific time frame in which the benefits have to be used by like what you see with Post 9/11 Ch. 33 or GI Bill Ch. 35. Theoretically, so long as you remain eligible for Cal Vet Fee Waiver benefits, you can use them forever.

14. How to Apply to DEA Ch. 35

1.         Go to VA.gov

2.         Scroll to bottom of VA homepage, there will be 4 columns of links. In the second column click on the link that says VA Forms.

3.         In VA Forms there will be a search bar, in the search bar type: VA Form 22-5490 (Dependents’ Application for VA Education Benefits) and search.

4.         The first result ‘Dependents Application for VA Benefits’. Click on the link in this result that reads Fill Out VA Form 22-5490 online.

5.         Create an account and then click the link that reads Sign in to start application.

6.         For any assistance in filling out the application for DEA Ch. 35 benefits please contact the VA at 1-888-442-4551.

Questions and Concerns can be followed up with at the following:

Ben Scotti, Student Success and Support Specialist for the Veterans Resource Center of Moorpark College

805-553-4106 or benjamin_scotti1@vcccd.edu

VA Educational Benefits Service Line

1-888-442-4551

*It is a federal requirement for every school in this country to have a Veterans Resource Center (VRC) on their campus in some way, shape, or form. Please follow up with the VRC of your school.*

Instructions for Setting up Military Benefits at Moorpark College

By Ben Scotti, MC VRC Student Success and Support Specialist

*Must be a registered student at Moorpark College with an active student ID number starting with the numbers 900 before you can begin setting up benefits. If you have not applied to the school and do not have an active student ID number go no further, apply to the school and get your ID number*

Step 1: Moorpark College Veteran Student Intake

• Go to the Veterans Resource Center webpage located within the Moorpark College website, moorparkcollege.edu. https://www.moorparkcollege.edu/departments/student-services/veterans-resource-center
• Look for the section labeled New Veteran Students. In this section is a single link that reads “Please open this link, fill out, and submit this form”. Click on it and this will take you to the Moorpark College Veteran Student Intake form. https://vcccdsign.na2.documents.adobe.com/public/esignWidget?wid=CBFCIBAA3AAABLblqZhDHRG5WIM4J8LSH7kri-9jTpukUDtxgvxCL5rcl9J24_zFLEU_4J7tvgzrGv54YFRo*
• IMPORTANT: A general rule of thumb with military benefits, there is no universal process when it comes to setting up benefits. Every school in the country have their own independent process, requirements, and expectations for setting up military benefits. No one place is the same as the last. What we’re covering in this instruction guide is the policies, requirements, and expectations for setting up benefits at Moorpark College and ONLY Moorpark College. You graduate from here, go to another school down the line, find the Vet Center of that school (it is a federal requirement for all schools to have a veteran’s resource center in some way shape or form) find someone who works there like me and have them walk you through the process that you will be expected to follow.
• The Veteran Student Intake consists of 4 documents (depending on what specific benefits your using). Two documents that we provide for you within the intake form to fill out, and two documents that we will need you to attach to the form.
• Document 1, Your Information: The first part is all of your contact info. Your first and last name, student ID number, address, date of birth, etc. Everything you see with a red asterisk fill out to the best of your ability. Now for us in the center the most important pieces of your information come down to three things. Your Student ID Number, Phone number, and Email. Your Student ID number because I have to be able to find you in the system and that’s the best way to look you up. Phone and Email because I have to be able to reach you. A lot of how this works depends heavily on our ability to communicate with you, so if down the line there’s a problem with your documents or your benefits and I can’t a hold of you because you’ve given me a number that’s no longer in service or an email you no longer use then those problems will not be fixed.
• After you’ve filled out all your contact info go to a section labeled Chapter. In this section you will find several options, these are the different type of benefits that you can used at this school, select the option that you plan to use.
• Documents 2 and 3: Next are the documents you have to get us. Your DD214 and your Certificate of Eligibility.
• DD214 is your separation papers, now we can ask for this document, and you can voluntarily provide it to us, but it is not strictly a required document. What we need mainly is your Full Name and your Full Social Security Number. When we set up your profile with the VA that is what they need us to be able to provide them in order to set up your profile. We ask for a DD214, most schools will ask you for this, it provides us with both full name and full social in one document. Also, in relation to this school, it gives us additional documents to have on file for you that can be used to confirm your military status. There was an incident at Moorpark College in Spring of 2024 where students who were not veterans and not dependents claimed to be for the sole purpose of attempting to clean us out of all the free snacks and drinks, we keep in the center for our veteran and dependent students. So, if you provide us with a copy of your DD214 and at some point, someone questions whether or not you are who you say you are then we have the documents we need and then some to back you up. However, if you are not comfortable providing us this document then instead open up a blank word document, type your full name and full social, and attach that document to the DD214 box.

CH. 35 STUDENTS: We do not need the DD214 of the veteran you are receiving benefits from. All we need you to provide is the full name and the full social security number of the veteran you are receiving these benefits from.

• Certificate of Eligibility is a 4–5-page letter from the VA that verifies what benefits you are using, how many months you have to use, and what percentage of benefits you have been awarded. If you do not have this letter you will need to contact the VA directly and request one be sent to you. Their number is 1-888-442-4551. Because this letter is an official military document it can only be mailed to you via USPS, so on average it will take about 3-4 weeks before you receive it. WE CANNOT CERTIFY YOU FOR BENEFITS WITHOUT THIS LETTER.

CH. 31 STUDENTS: If you are using VR&E Ch. 31 there is no Certificate of Eligibility, you do not need to turn one in.

• Document 4: Veteran Statement of Understanding. As I said at the beginning every school has their own individual requirements and expectations for benefits. The Statement of Understanding is Moorpark College’s way of laundry listing all of the rules and expectations the school will expect you to follow as a student using military benefits at Moorpark College. Read through it, make sure you understand it, ask questions if you have them, then at the bottom sign and date.
• Submitting the Intake Form: Our intake form is part of a digital system. Once you have filled out, attached, and signed, every box on the form with a red asterisk a new box will appear in the center of the page. This box will ask you for an email address, whatever email is best for you type it in and submit. Once you do this an automatic email will be sent to the address you entered in, this email will ask you to confirm that this is you filling out these documents and making this request. Click confirm and then everything sends to me here in the vet center. I go over your documents, make sure everything is correct, then build your profile with both the school and the VA.

Step 2: Education Plan aka Ed Plan

• One of the many rules you will have to follow in using any kind of educational military benefits is you can ONLY take classes that either meet general education requirements or go toward a specific degree/certification offered by the school your enrolled in. How we prove to the VA that you are taking what you’re supposed to be taking is with an education plan.
• Think of an education plan like a tracker, it shows what you’re working toward, what you’ve taken toward that goal, and what you are in the process of taking toward that goal.
• Once I get all of your documents and verify everything is correct, I will then call you and schedule you an appointment with a Veteran Center counselor to create your education plan.
• All the documents you’re going to submit to us, you do that with us once and then so long as you are attending Moorpark College you are good to use benefits. The education plan however has to be updated with a vet center counselor prior to the beginning of every semester you plan to attend. If you forget to meet with our counselor and update your education plan then we have nothing to file to the VA for you for your benefits. You basically won’t get anything until you update your ed plan.

Step 3: Joint Service Transcript (JST) (Veterans ONLY)

• To submit your JST to any school you need to go to the JST website. Simply go to google, type JST, search for results, it’s the very first result. Here also is a link to the website: https://jst.doded.mil/jst/
• If you’ve never used the JST website before you will need to register and make an account, once you’re in the website you search for our school, or any school you wish to send your JST to, and then send it. Everything is done through the website. DO NOT hand in a paper copy or unofficial copy in person, do not try to email us something you have saved to your computer. If you do this whatever you try to submit won’t be considered a valid document, has to be done through the JST website, no exceptions.
• After you submit your JST to the school through the JST website, wait 1-2 days and then call the Moorpark College Admissions and Records to verify that they have received your transcript. We’ve had issues in the past where students request a JST through the official channels and despite repeated requests the school never gets it. Better to know there is a problem now and try to figure out to fix it then learn there’s a problem right before your supposed to graduate.
• A Note on JSTs: In my experience JSTs don’t do much for you. Even if you are working in a field directly related to what you did in the military the only credits that transfer over are usually 3 credits that knock out the general education physical fitness & health requirements. Although they don’t do much for your education overall, the VA does require us as a school to have an official JST on file for every veteran student attending. When they come and do audits of our school that’s something they specifically look for to ensure we have. So as a result, we have to make it a requirement.

Step 4: Transcript Evaluation Request Form (ONLY if you have a JST or transcripts from other schools)

• The Transcript Evaluation Request Form is an Admissions & Records documents that by filling out requires Moorpark College to do a full evaluation of any and all transcripts you have submitted to Moorpark College.
• Basically, by filling out this document and submitting it you ensure that any credits that can be transferred over will be transferred over.
• To find this document go to the Moorpark College Academic Counseling webpage. Look for and click on the link that reads ‘Forms, Petitions, and Handouts’. On this page, under the section labeled Downloadable Forms look for the link that reads ‘Transcript Evaluation Student Request Form’. Here is a link: https://vcccdsign.na2.documents.adobe.com/public/esignWidget?wid=CBFCIBAA3AAABLblqZhDGT-Z_Mradl8Z9778pZtZrgeMQNLqnEYyWspVjlVm9m4bZzYplTd3E72ai3dIN7AU*
• It’s a similar set up to the Veteran Student Intake, everything with red asterisks fill out to the best of your abilities. In the section on this document labeled ‘Transcripts for Evaluation’ all they need you to do is type the names of the transcripts you’re sending. It provides you with the means to attach unofficial copies if you have them but it’s not required. All that’s required is the name of the transcript. Example: For those wanting their JST evaluated type ‘Joint Service Transcript’.
• Once you complete this, much like the veteran student intake, a box will appear asking you for a email address. Whatever email is best for you type it in and click submit. You will then get an email sent to the address you entered in, this email will ask you to confirm that this is you filling out this document and making this request. Click confirm and then everything will automatically send to Admissions & Records for evaluation.
• This process is not quick, it will take the school roughly 3-4 weeks to complete.
• I recommend ensuring the school has received your transcripts before completing this form. Can’t conduct an evaluation if they have nothing to evaluate.

Questions or concerns about the process contact Ben Scotti.

805-553-4106

benjamin_scotti1@vcccd.edu