How many credits is full time for the GI Bill®?

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.

Rate of pursuit

38 U.S.C. 3313(c)(1)(B)(i), 38 CFR 21.9641(c)(1)

How much of a full load you are carrying, as a percentage. Nine credits where 12 is full time is 75 percent. The GI Bill pays housing by it, rounded to the nearest 10 percent, and only when it is over 50 percent. It also sets how fast your GI Bill months get used. DEA uses steps instead: full, three-quarter, half, and less than half.

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.

Entitlement

38 U.S.C. 3312(a), 38 U.S.C. 3511(a)(1), 38 CFR 21.9561(a)

The months of a benefit you have to use. The Post-9/11 GI Bill gives up to 36. DEA gives up to 36 if school started on or after August 1, 2018, and up to 45 if it started before. The GI Bill charges its months at your rate of pursuit, so 9 credits of 12 uses three-quarters of a month for each month enrolled.

School Certifying Official (SCO)

38 U.S.C. 3684(a)(1)

The person at a school who certifies enrollment to VA and can talk through a plan, and the one to ask to review yours in writing before you enroll. VA decides eligibility and months.

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