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For Military Families
Asked the way a Veteran after separation asks

Do I get the GI Bill® housing allowance if all my classes are online?

Yes, at a lower rate. All-online study pays half the national average housing allowance, and one in-person class keeps the local rate for the campus. Housing is paid only above half time, at your rate of pursuit.

Authority38 U.S.C. 3313, 38 CFR 21.9641Registeronline-mha, mha-zip, mha-more-than-half, rate-of-pursuit

Whether one class on campus is worth the trip depends on many factors. We factor in things like the local rate for the campus, how far you live from it, your work schedule and your health, and that still is not all. Only you can answer it for your situation and how you live.

Do I get the GI Bill housing allowance if all my classes are online? Question card with the answer and the law.Question card, free to share
The Short. The answer as a short video, with captions and a transcript.
Transcript
  1. Asked, plainly. Do I get the GI Bill housing allowance if all my classes are online? Asked by a Veteran after separation
  2. Yes, at a lower rate.
  3. All-online study pays half the national average housing allowance, and one in-person class keeps the local rate for the campus.
  4. Housing is paid only above half time, at your rate of pursuit.
  5. The law behind it. 38 U.S.C. 3313, 38 CFR 21.9641. The full answer is at wegotyou1776.com/questions
  6. We Got You 1776. Plan around your education benefits. wegotyou1776.com/questions
VA full time student chart, a printable poster: Reference chart of what a course load changes, by credits where 12 is full time: VA's full, three-quarter and half time, the Post-9/11 GI Bill housing share at each step, from the full rate at full time to none at half time, the Chapter 35 DEA monthly rate at each step, and how fast the months are used.
A chart with related figures: Full time and part time. What a course load changes, by credits. View or download it, 11 x 14. Other sizes are on Charts.

How does this apply to you?

If you are helping a Veteran back to school

If the Veteran you are helping would rather study from home, all-online study still pays housing, at half the national average and only above half time. One class on campus keeps the local rate.

Registeronline-mha, mha-more-than-half

If you have already separated

If you work days and study online at night, housing is paid only above half time, at half the national average when all of your classes are online. Your months are charged at your rate of pursuit.

Registermha-more-than-half, online-mha, entitlement-rate

If you are the student

If you are picking between a campus and an online program, look the school up in VA’s GI Bill Comparison Tool for its local housing figure, and set it beside the online rate, half the national average.

Registercomparison-tool, online-mha

If you handle the school paperwork

When a student’s schedule is all online, housing is paid at half the national average, and one in-person class keeps the local rate. VA does not pay for remedial or deficiency courses taken online.

Registeronline-mha, remedial-online

Does one in-person class get me the local housing rate?

Yes. One in-person class keeps the local rate for the campus, paid at your rate of pursuit above half time. All-online study pays half the national average.

Registeronline-mha, rate-of-pursuit, mha-more-than-half

If my husband takes all online classes does he still get BAH?

Yes, at half the national average housing allowance, and only above half time.

Registeronline-mha, mha-more-than-half

What is the GI Bill online housing rate?

Half the national average housing allowance, for study that is all online, whatever the student’s address.

Registeronline-mha

Will VA pay for my remedial classes if I take them online?

No. VA does not pay for remedial or deficiency courses taken online.

Registerremedial-online

Does taking one online class lower my housing allowance?

No. One in-person class keeps the local rate, so a schedule that mixes online and in-person classes is paid the campus rate, at your rate of pursuit.

Registeronline-mha, rate-of-pursuit

How does online study change the GI Bill housing allowance?

How does online study change the GI Bill housing allowance? Article picture with its opening fact and the law, 38 U.S.C. 3313, 38 CFR 21.9641.

The housing allowance is set by place. For a student in a classroom it is 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. For study that is all online, it pays half the national average housing allowance instead, whatever the student’s address.

One in-person class keeps the local rate. A student who mixes online and in-person classes is paid the local rate for the campus, and VA’s GI Bill Comparison Tool shows each school’s housing figure. How much of either rate is paid depends on how long the member served (the eligibility tier). The Post-9/11 GI Bill pays no housing allowance to a member on active duty, online or in person.

The load rules are the same either way. Housing pays only above half time; at exactly half time, 6 credits where 12 is full time, it pays nothing. Above half time it is paid at the rate of pursuit rounded to the nearest 10 percent: 7 credits of 12 is 60 percent, 8 is 70, 9 or 10 is 80, 11 is 90. GI Bill months are charged at the rate of pursuit too, so 9 credits of 12 uses three-quarters of a month for each month enrolled.

Remedial and deficiency courses are the exception: VA does not pay for one taken online, so a Veteran who needs a remedial course in math or writing checks how it is taught before enrolling. That holds on DEA too, and under DEA, remedial training VA does pay for is not charged against the student’s months, up to 5 months full time.

Pay comes after the month. VA pays after the month, prorated by the days enrolled, and pay stops between terms. A student on the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the Montgomery GI Bill or DEA verifies enrollment each month, and on the Post-9/11 GI Bill two missed months in a row pause the payment.

By We Got You 1776, LLC.

GI Bill and VA education benefits FAQ

Other ways people ask this

Related questions

Terms (5)
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).
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.
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.
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.

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

Art from this page (4)
GI Bill questions answered with the law: three question cards from Questions from the Field, fanned, a child’s transferred months and Chapter 35 in front.The We Got You 1776 seal, the picture for the founder’s article Transparent and referenced: 1776 and We Got You in gold and cream on black, For Military Families.We Got You 1776. Plan around your education benefits: a book, reference charts and an app for military families. The card shows The Order Matters in front of a reference chart and College Tool with its icon.The phase approach in College Tool: education benefits planned in the order you use them. The card shows two of its screens, the school search and the buffer by phase.

GI Bill questions from the field, and where each answer is written. Each page answers the big question first, then shows where the other factors are written in the law, VA’s rules and the official pages. On Medium.

Transparent and referenced: how We Got You 1776 works with rules that keep changing. How We Got You 1776 keeps its book, charts and app checkable: one register of official sources, a dated record on each page, and corrections emailed.

The website that shows its work. Every page shows its date and its official sources, and anyone can send a correction. How We Got You 1776 keeps its guide current, in the open.

College Tool: the method from The Order Matters, phase by phase, with the math and its sources. The phase approach from The Order Matters in College Tool: each phase, what it pays, the savings buffer, and one worked path from the book with its money.

See all the art
Sources (19)

The official sources this answer is built on, the law first, then the official pages.

  1. 38 U.S.C. 3311Post-9/11 educational assistance: who is entitled, including the Fry Scholarship
  2. 38 U.S.C. 3313What the Post-9/11 GI Bill pays: tuition and fees, housing by rate of pursuit, the foreign and online rates, books
  3. 38 U.S.C. 3319Transfer of Post-9/11 GI Bill months to a spouse or child
  4. 38 U.S.C. 3533Chapter 35 (DEA): remedial courses not charged, up to 5 months
  5. 38 U.S.C. 3680Payment in arrears, and dropping a class with or without a reason
  6. Public Law 115-48, section 107Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017 (the Forever GI Bill): housing by the campus where you attend, from August 1, 2018
  7. 38 CFR 21.3045DEA entitlement charges
  8. 38 CFR 21.4267Independent study, including remedial courses taken online
  9. 38 CFR 21.9561Post-9/11 GI Bill months charged at your rate of pursuit
  10. 38 CFR 21.9641Post-9/11 GI Bill rates of payment: housing more than half time, rounded to the nearest 10 percent, the foreign rate
  11. VASchool Certifying Official Handbook
  12. VA.govPost-9/11 GI Bill rates, August 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027
  13. VA.govFry Scholarship rates
  14. VA.govTransferred Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit rates
  15. VA.govGI Bill Comparison Tool: approved schools, housing, Yellow Ribbon, caution flags
  16. VA.govVerify your school enrollment each month
  17. VA.govSurvivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA, Chapter 35)
  18. VA.govTransfer your Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits
  19. Defense Travel Management OfficeBAH rate lookup, the table the GI Bill housing allowance is drawn from

The full list is on Sources and Official References.

Last updated .

The current edition of each publication, and when it last changed.

PublicationEditionDate
This pagewegotyou1776.com/questions/gi-bill-housing-online-classes
The Order Matters, PDFFirst Edition, Revised October 2026, ISBN 979-8-9967812-0-1
The Order Matters, EPUBFirst Edition, Revised October 2026, ISBN 979-8-9967812-1-8
College ToolVersion 1.2.3, App Store and Google Play
Reference chartsAll sizes, light and dark
Official sourcesCitation register, 110 sources
Updated
Date the content of this page last changed.
Revised
Date the current edition of the file was issued.
Published
Date the current version was released on the App Store and Google Play.
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Date each source in the citation register was last reviewed against its official text.
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