The Veteran Supported Education Service Treatment Manual: VetSEd

As a general rule, it is better to seek and gain information about schools from multiple
sources, as opposed to relying on just one. Many Veterans, particularly OIF/OEF/OND
Veterans, might choose to search out information about schools through the internet.
Online searches of college Web sites is a good initial recon method to use. Most college
Web sites have information about programs of study offered, available student support
services, tuition and fee costs as well as admission requirements and deadlines. Beyond
online searches, it will be worthwhile for the Veteran to recon further by a) attending any
admissions or college fairs in the local area; b) visiting the campus and meeting with
admissions, faculty, relevant disability services staff and current students; and c)
speaking with people who have graduated from the school. Worksheet #6: School Choice
Checklist: Possible Questions for Campus Visit contains a list of questions that Veterans
might consider asking school representatives during a campus visit. It may be helpful to
the Veteran for you to accompany him/her on one or more of these recon missions to take
notes, provide encouragement or otherwise serve as a familiar face in an otherwise
unfamiliar environment. As with all aspects of VetSEd, you should provide information
to the Veteran about how you can be of assistance with recon and let the Veteran choose
what level of assistance s/he prefers from you.
Once a Veteran has made a decision about his/her top 2-3 choices, s/he should meet with
school admissions personnel to discuss the specific programs of study, the courses
required, the estimated time to complete the course of study, and internships required.
This will give the Veteran get detailed information about what the path to their education
goal will look like. At this point, it might also be useful to conduct informational
interviews with current students in the program, professors or recent graduates who can
talk about how well the program of study prepared them for their current careers. The
school‘s transition office or career placement office should also have information about
the percentage of students who completed their degree program and entered the
workforce in their chosen field or entered graduate school, etc.
iv.
Course Load Considerations
As returning Veterans progress towards their educational goals they will undoubtedly
face decisions regarding course load. Course load is the number of classes or credit hours
a Veteran takes per academic semester or term. Course load is used to determine whether
a Veteran is enrolled full or part time. As a peer VetSEd provider, you should ask
Veterans about their current or intended course load. As you discuss course load with
Veterans it is worthwhile to take the following into consideration:
Course load relates to financial aid and Veteran benefits. For example, Veterans
can be enrolled in as few as one course per semester and the GI Bill will pay for
that course. However, in this instance they will not receive a housing allowance
and, regardless of the number of courses completed, the maximum number of
months of GI Bill benefits is 36.
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