Calhoun’s VA Benefits Policies

• Remedial and deficiency courses offered as an independent study (online) cannot be approved and cannot be certified by VA.

• Veterans must be enrolled in a degree or certificate program to be eligible for benefits. You may pursue only the required courses for your particular degree as outlined in the college catalog.

• Remedial courses will be paid for if they are prerequisites to courses or are required by the school. (Alabama GI Dependent Scholarship doesn’t pay for remedial courses.)

• Classes that are successfully completed may not be certified again for VA benefits, even if VA did not pay for the class(es).  VA will pay for a repeated course under the following exceptions:
  
  (1.) Failed classes can be taken until successfully completed,
  (2.) If a program requires a higher grade than the one achieved in a particular class for successful completion, and
  (3.) If a student successfully passed a course so long ago, the school requires it to be completed.

• Veterans who withdraw from a course(s) which alter their benefits after the college’s official Add/Drop period, will be charged by the VA with an overpayment dating from the first day of the class unless there is a “mitigating circumstance”. The VA will consider such reasons as illness, new job, altered work hours, transfer, etc.

• Eligible service members should speak with their Educational Service Officer (ESO) or counselor within the Military Service prior to applying and being enrolled at Calhoun. This is to ensure that service members understand their eligibility for TA and their potential financial responsibility toward Calhoun.

• Students planning to use Tuition Assistance (TA) must have approval from their respective military service branch prior to the first day of classes.

• Students must have a completed Admissions file. For transfer students, all previous transcripts (including military transcripts) must be evaluated by Calhoun before submission of enrollment to the Department of Veteran Affairs.

• Students are required to speak with an academic advisor and be familiar with their DegreeWorks to ensure all courses they register for are included in their current degree plan. The VA will not cover courses that are not required for the student’s program of study.

• All students need to meet with an academic advisor to discuss test results, degree plans, and course requirements. In following NACADA standards, the academic advisors at Calhoun Community College are full-time professionals for whom advising is a primary or secondary function and possess an appropriate combination of educational credentials and related work experience. Login to your MyCalhoun account to search for classes and build your class schedule. Academic Advisors are available to meet with current students, new students, transfer students, and nontraditional students for degree planning.

• Readmission of service members who cannot attend school due to military service will be readmitted with the same academic status as they had when last attending Calhoun or accepted for admission to the school. The cumulative length of the absence and of all previous absences from the school for military service may not exceed five years. Only the time the student spends actually performing service is counted. The student must notify the Admissions office of their military service and intention to return to school as follows:
  
  

  • Notification of military service. The student (or an appropriate officer of the armed forces or official of the Department of Defense) must give oral or written notice of such service to the school as far in advance as is reasonable under the circumstances.
  • Notification of intent to return to school. The student must also give oral or written notice of their intent to return to the school within three years after the completion of the period of service. A student who is hospitalized or convalescing due to an illness or injury incurred or aggravated during the performance of service must notify the school within two years after the end of the period needed for recovery from the illness or injury.

  
  A student who submits an application for readmission shall provide to the institution documentation to establish that they have not exceeded the service limitation or received a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge, general court-martial, or federal or state prison sentence. Documents that satisfy the requirements:
  

  • DD 214 Certificate of Release
  • Copy of duty orders indicating completion of the described service.
  • Letter from the commanding officer of a Personnel Support Activity or someone of comparable authority.
  • Certificate of completion from military training school.
  • Discharge certificate showing character of service.

  
  Calhoun will readmit the student into the next class or classes in the program beginning after they provide notice of intent to reenroll, unless they request a later date or unusual circumstances require Calhoun to admit them at a later date. The student will retain the same academic status to the same program to which the student was last admitted or, if that exact program is no longer offered, the program that is most similar to that program, unless they choose a different program. If Calhoun determines that the student is not prepared to resume the program with the same academic status at the point where they left off or will not be able to complete the program, Calhoun will make reasonable efforts at no extra cost to help them become prepared or to enable them to complete the program.