§16131a Accelerated Payment of Educational Assistance

Summary

You can choose to get a lump-sum, accelerated payment of your education benefit if you meet the rules below. You must be in an approved program that is no more than two years long and does not lead to an associate, bachelor, master, or other degree. The school’s tuition and fees for your enrollment period must work out to more than 200 percent of the monthly benefit rate you would normally get. The accelerated payment will be the smaller of either 60 percent of the program’s “established charges” or whatever benefit money you still have left. “Established charges” means the tuition and fees that students who do not get VA benefits would pay; it does not include fees for buying a vehicle. The school must certify your enrollment and the charges to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The VA must pay the accelerated amount by the last day of the month after the month it gets the school’s certification. The lump sum will reduce your remaining months of benefit by dividing the payment by your full‑time monthly rate; if that monthly rate goes up while you are enrolled, the VA will split the charge between the old and new rates. The VA will make rules for how this works and may recover any overpayments. No more than $4,000,000 in these accelerated payments may be paid in a fiscal year for the kinds of programs described above.