Covered Benefits

Understanding Your Coverage

VA education benefits generally fall into two categories: those that pay tuition directly to the university (“Tuition-Paying”) and those that pay a monthly allowance directly to the student (“Stipend-Based”).

These benefits are paid directly to USC to cover eligible tuition and fees.

The following chapters provide a monthly stipend paid directly to you. These benefits do not cover tuition and fees. You are responsible for settling your bill with USC Student Financial Services using these funds.

Rules applicable to ALL VA benefits.

Strictly Enforced: Degree Applicability. The VA will pay only for courses that are required for your specific degree program, as listed in the USC Catalogue.

• Electives: Covered only if your program requires a specific number of electives to graduate.
• Minors: Courses for a minor are covered only if the minor is explicitly required for your major.

Repeated Courses

• Allowed: You may repeat a course if you received a failing grade (F, NP, NC), or if your program requires a higher grade than what you achieved (e.g., Nursing requires a ‘B’ in Biology).
• Not Allowed: You cannot repeat a course solely to improve your GPA if the original grade satisfied graduation requirements. The VA will not pay for these repeats.

Withdrawals & VA Debt

Dropping a class after the Add/Drop deadline can have serious financial consequences.

VA Debt: If you withdraw from a course, the VA may retroactively cancel your payment for that class. This often creates a debt that requires you to repay the VA for tuition and housing stipends already received.

The Six Credit-Hour Exclusion: The VA offers a one-time exclusion for the first instance of withdrawal (up to 6 credits). In this specific case, the VA may treat the withdrawal as if “mitigating circumstances” exist, allowing benefits to be paid up to the date of withdrawal, rather than cancelling them retroactively to the first day of school. This reduces but does not always eliminate the debt.

Subsequent Withdrawals: For any drops beyond this one-time exclusion, the VA generally stops payment immediately. You will be personally responsible for any resulting tuition balance or debt owed to the university and to the VA.

“Rounding Out” (Final Semester Only): If you do not have enough required units to be considered full-time in your final semester before graduation, you may take non-required classes to reach full-time status. You must notify the Veterans Certification Office if you intend to do this.

To receive 100 percent of your Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA), the VA requires you to be enrolled full-time AND meet specific in-person requirements.

Part 1: Academic Full-Time Standards

For a standard semester (15 weeks or longer), you must meet the following unit counts to be considered full-time:

• Undergraduate Students: 12 units or more.
•  Graduate (Master’s Degree) Students: 8 units or more.
•  Doctoral Students: 6 units or more.

Non-Standard Terms (Summer & Short Sessions) 

For terms shorter than 15 weeks (e.g., seven-week summer sessions), the VA calculates your “Rate of Pursuit” differently. Fewer units are needed to equal full-time intensity because the coursework is compressed.

• Example: In a seven-week session, a graduate student typically needs ~3 units to be considered full-time.

Warning: If your Rate of Pursuit is 50 percent or less, you will not receive a housing allowance. You must be enrolled at a rate greater than 50 percent to trigger any payment.

Part 2: In-Person vs. Online MHA Standards

Your MHA payment rate is determined by where you take your classes, not just how many credits you take.

The “One In-Person Class” Rule 

To receive the full Resident MHA, you must take at least one course in residence during the semester while maintaining full-time status.

How Your Schedule Affects Your Payment:

• Full-Time (All In-Person): You receive 100 percent of the MHA rate.
• Full-Time (Mixed In Person & Online): If you have at least one in-person credit, you receive 100 percent of the Los Angeles MHA rate.
• Full-Time (100 Percent Online): You receive the Online MHA Rate, which is significantly lower.

If you are a student planning to use your VA education benefits for a Study Abroad program, please note that the process requires advance approval and has special funding considerations.

What Is Approved

Study abroad programs are not currently pre-approved by the VA for funding.

• When Approval May Be Granted: Funding is generally possible only for courses taught by USC faculty or by faculty at a VA-approved foreign school.
• Approval Timeline: The California State Approving Agency assesses these requests and may take 5 to 15 business days to reach a decision.

Getting Approved

• Email Us: Immediately email us at vets@usc.edu to request approval for your specific program.
• Provide Foreign School Details: To help us certify your enrollment, please provide the following:
  • The foreign school’s VA facility code.
  • The SCO (School Certifying Official) contact information.
  • Course transfer pre-approval from USC.
  • USC Letter: If needed, our office can issue a USC primary school letter to the VA-approved foreign institution.
• Find Approved Schools: You can check the list of VA-approved institutions and find SCO contact information on the VA website or by calling 1-888-GIBILL-1.

Payment

• Tuition Payments: USC cannot certify funds on behalf of a VA-approved foreign school. The other participating school must request the award funds directly from the VA.
• Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA): Your MHA may be based on the location abroad.
• Yellow Ribbon Program: If eligible, you must check directly with the SCO at the foreign institution to verify their Yellow Ribbon participation.

GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government website at https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill.