Understanding VA debt letters

Owned by Denise Kidd
Dec 17, 2024
2 min read

  • VA will cover but not exceed the annual tuition cap, according to the student's benefit rate which can be 100, 80, 60 or 50 percent.  

  • Mail that comes in from VA for Belinda is typically debt letters. Debt letters are sent when VA is owed money back from the student. 

  • Any Registrar staff can open the debt letter, look the student up in SOAIDEN to get the student ID#, write TUID on the debt letter, then scan and send a copy of the debt letter to Kennedra Graves kgraves1@tulane.edu cc’ing Belinda on the email. AR issues checks on Wednesdays. 

  • This often happens when scholarship $ specified for tuition is not entered in our system at the time Belinda submits reports tuition $ to VA in September.  

  • Any scholarship $ specified for tuition MUST be deducted from tuition costs first. VA covers remaining tuition, regardless of what the full VA tuition award is. 

  • Example: A student may have a $37,000 VA tuition benefit. If their tuition is $37,000 and they have $7,000 in scholarship $, then VA will provide $30,000. 

  • Belinda checks all current students receiving VA benefits once a month to ensure scholarship $ and VA tuition $ are accurate. Discrepancies (stemming from late entry of scholarship among other things) are then reported by Belinda to VA. VA sends a copy of the debt letter to TU/Belinda as well as a letter to the student. 

  • Average # all of students with VA benefit for a term can be from 100-300 

  • Students may not realize that scholarship money specified for tuition MUST be deducted first. They may think they have extra funds available and request to be reimbursed/paid out by AR. 

  • Students may then reach out asking why they have unpaid tuition, as the VA only paid part of the full VA tuition benefit total. Explain the nature of VA benefits and scholarship $. 

  • Note: Scholarship $ can be provided “late” (though there is not a deadline date for when scholarships need to be posted). Belinda has encountered scholarships posting 2 years after the term they are applied for. 

  • Suggestion: Have information on our website regarding scholarship $ and VA $ relationship to easily refer to.