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For Military Families
Asked the way a parent who already transferred asks

Is my spouse or child paid the same GI Bill® rate I would get?

Yes. A student on transferred months is paid at the same rate as the person who transferred them, which depends on how long that person served. The housing allowance has its own rules: a spouse gets none while you are on active duty, and a child may get it even while you serve.

Authority38 U.S.C. 3319, 38 U.S.C. 3313Registerteb-same-rate, ch33-tier, ch33-no-mha-active-duty, teb-child-housing

Is my spouse or child paid the same GI Bill rate I would get? 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. Is my spouse or child paid the same GI Bill rate I would get? Asked by a parent who already transferred
  2. Yes.
  3. A student on transferred months is paid at the same rate as the person who transferred them, which depends on how long that person served.
  4. The housing allowance has its own rules: a spouse gets none while you are on active duty, and a child may get it even while you serve.
  5. The law behind it. 38 U.S.C. 3319, 38 U.S.C. 3313. The full answer is at wegotyou1776.com/questions
  6. We Got You 1776. Plan around your education benefits. wegotyou1776.com/questions
Chapter 35 and GI Bill chart and poster for military families and dependents: Reference chart for military families: up to 36 months from the Post-9/11 GI Bill by transfer or the Fry Scholarship, up to 36 from Chapter 35 DEA, 72 months when a family qualifies for both, and the ways a family qualifies.
A chart with related figures: For families. Chapters 33 and 35 and the Fry Scholarship. View or download it, 11 x 14. Other sizes are on Charts.

How does this apply to you?

If your child or spouse is using your months

Their share of tuition and housing is the same as yours, set by how long you served. What moves the housing figure is the campus ZIP code and how many credits they take.

Registerteb-same-rate, ch33-tier, mha-zip, rate-of-pursuit

If you are deciding whether to transfer

The months pay your family at your own rate, and you can split them among family members in any amount.

Registerteb-same-rate, teb-split

If you are the student

A child on a parent’s transferred months is paid at the parent’s rate, and may get the housing allowance while the parent is still on active duty, figured from the campus’s ZIP code. A spouse gets none while the member is on active duty.

Registerteb-same-rate, teb-child-housing, mha-zip, ch33-no-mha-active-duty

If you are planning for the family

Plan the housing by who is in school: a spouse gets none while the member is on active duty, and a child may get it then.

Registerch33-no-mha-active-duty, teb-child-housing

How is the rate on transferred months figured?

The share of tuition and housing
the member’s eligibility tier, set by how long the member served
The monthly housing
the housing figure for the ZIP code of the campus where the student attends most classes × the member’s tier × the student’s rate of pursuit rounded to the nearest 10 percent, above half time

Does my child get my GI Bill percentage?

Yes. A student on transferred months is paid at the same rate as the person who transferred them, and that rate depends on how long the member served.

Registerteb-same-rate, ch33-tier

Does my wife get housing money on my GI Bill while I’m active duty?

No. A spouse using transferred months gets no housing allowance while the member is on active duty. Once the member is off active duty, it can be paid.

Registerch33-no-mha-active-duty

Does my child get housing while I am still on active duty?

Yes. A child using transferred months can get the housing allowance even while the parent is on active duty, when enrolled above half time.

Registerteb-child-housing, mha-more-than-half

Is the housing on transferred months based on the member’s rank?

No. 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, paid at the member’s tier.

Registermha-zip, ch33-tier, teb-same-rate

What does a family member on transferred months get paid?

What does a family member on transferred months get paid? Article picture with its opening fact and the law, 38 U.S.C. 3319, 38 U.S.C. 3313.

A student on transferred months is paid at the same rate as the person who transferred them. That rate comes from the member’s own service: how much of the tuition and housing the Post-9/11 GI Bill pays depends on how long the member served (the eligibility tier).

The Post-9/11 GI Bill pays tuition and fees to the school, a monthly housing allowance, and money for books and supplies. A member with at least 6 years of service who agrees to 4 more can transfer up to 36 months, and can split them among family members in any amount, changing the split later for months VA has not yet paid out.

The housing allowance 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, whatever the member’s rank. It pays only above half time. Above half time it is paid at the rate of pursuit rounded to the nearest 10 percent: at a school where 12 credits is full time, 7 credits is 60 percent, 8 is 70, 9 or 10 is 80, and 11 is 90. All-online study pays half the national average housing allowance, and one in-person class keeps the local rate.

Who is in school changes the housing while the member serves. A spouse can use transferred months right away, whether the member is serving or separated, but the Post-9/11 GI Bill pays no housing allowance to a spouse using transferred months while the member is on active duty. A child using transferred months may get the housing allowance even while the parent is on active duty.

The rates themselves move on a calendar. Post-9/11 rates change each August 1, and DoD’s BAH table takes effect each January 1, so the same tier can pay a different figure from one year to the next.

By We Got You 1776, LLC.

GI Bill transfer to a spouse or child

Other ways people ask this

Related questions

Terms (6)
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.
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.
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 (3)
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.

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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.

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Sources (13)

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. 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
  5. 38 CFR 21.9571Transfer of entitlement
  6. 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
  7. VA.govTransferred Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit rates
  8. VA.govPost-9/11 GI Bill rates, August 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027
  9. VA.govTransfer your Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits
  10. VA.govFry Scholarship rates
  11. VA.govChapter 35 (DEA) rates, effective October 1, 2026
  12. Defense Travel Management OfficeBAH rate lookup, the table the GI Bill housing allowance is drawn from
  13. DoD milConnectRequest, change or revoke a transfer of Post-9/11 GI Bill months

The full list is on Sources and Official References.

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