What is the difference between Chapter 33 and Chapter 35?

Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33)

38 U.S.C. 3312(a), 38 U.S.C. 3313(c)(1)

The Post-9/11 education benefit: up to 36 months that pay tuition and fees to the school, a monthly housing allowance set by the campus ZIP code, and a yearly payment for books and supplies. How much it pays depends on how long the member served (the eligibility tier).

Transfer of Education Benefits (TEB)

38 U.S.C. 3319(b) and (c), 38 CFR 21.9571(b)

Giving Post-9/11 GI Bill months to a spouse or children, the member’s dependents in DEERS. The Defense Department decides it: a member with at least 6 years of service who agrees to 4 more can transfer up to 36 months, requested through milConnect while still serving. VA’s rule calls it transfer of entitlement.

Chapter 35 DEA (Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance)

38 U.S.C. 3501(a)(1), 38 U.S.C. 3532(a)

A VA program for the spouse or child of a Veteran VA has found permanently and totally disabled by a service-connected disability, or who died of one or in the line of duty. It pays a monthly payment directly to the student, who pays the school, in steps by training time, and has no housing allowance or book stipend.

Fry Scholarship

38 U.S.C. 3311(b)(8) to (10)

A VA education benefit for the child or surviving spouse of a service member who died in the line of duty on active duty on or after September 11, 2001, plus the Selected Reserve and after-service cases VA lists, paid at the Post-9/11 GI Bill’s full rate.

Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA)

38 U.S.C. 3313(c)(1)(B)

The GI Bill’s monthly housing payment: DoD’s Basic Allowance for Housing for an E-5 with dependents at the ZIP code of the campus where the student attends most classes. Schools abroad use one foreign rate instead, and a U.S. school’s campus abroad may not get the home campus rate.

Books stipend

38 U.S.C. 3313(c)(1)(B)(iv)

The Post-9/11 GI Bill’s payment for books and supplies, paid by the credit up to a yearly cap for 24 credits. DEA has none.

Full time, three-quarter time and half time

38 CFR 21.4270(c), 38 U.S.C. 3532(a)

How VA measures a course load. VA counts 14 credits a term as full time unless the school certifies 12 or 13 for its undergraduates. Where 12 is full time, 9 to 11 is three-quarter time and 6 to 8 is half time; for graduate work, full time is what the school certifies, or 14 credits. Chapter 35 DEA pays in steps by it, and the GI Bill pays housing only above half time.

The 72-month planning cap

38 U.S.C. 3312(a), 38 U.S.C. 3511(a)(1), 38 U.S.C. 3695(c)

The planning number for a family that holds both programs: 36 months of DEA plus 36 months of Post-9/11 GI Bill.

The 81-month ceiling

38 U.S.C. 3695(c), 38 CFR 21.4020(c)

The outer limit in law for Chapter 35 combined with other VA education programs, which leaves the 72-month plan a 9-month buffer. After a line-of-duty death on or after August 1, 2011, a child uses the Fry Scholarship and DEA both only when DEA comes from a different event, and VA caps that pair at 48 months.

From The Order Matters, The Terms, Plainly, and terms added or reworded here since, which go into the book at its next update.