The Wonderful World of VRAP in VA Education ILP, Ch. 31, Ch 35, GI Bill Forum

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The Wonderful World of VRAP

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Shade Shadowdancer

#141

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Posts: 1

06/14/13 22:06:00

Sorry to post in as a noob, but I wanted to chime on my VRAP experience. smiley: happy

First, let me say that 1 year for retraining is expected to be just what it it says - 1 year of school applied towards either a certification or even the start of a degree. You should go into it with every intention of taking as much advantage of that 1 year of benefits as possible. It makes sense to attend full time in order to receive full benefits so if you are unable to commit to that than it may not be the program for you. smiley: wink

Secondly, I was accepted after Fall semester of 2012 so I was not able to start until Spring 2013. I took the full time course requirements (4 classes) and now I am in Summer semester full time (2 classes condensed) The only initial payment crunch is the first enrollment/tuition that you may need to come up with. After this time monthly benefits are regular. There have only been a few weeks I may have gotten a bit knocked off due to breaks between classes or in one case spring break

(1 week).

I would also like to mention that state supported technical schools and community colleges are perfect for this. In many cases VRAP benefits are completely supported by state run schools. I think because the program was relatively new and not sure how well it would go over as far as veteran usage/enrollment/eligibility not all schools may have jumped on the bandwagon initially, but it does seem that more and more are now. If you have no problem with your local community college smiley: wink

they are much more affordable classes anyway... and many offer decent certificate and a variety of 2 year degree programs...

Anyway, I only wanted to add my experience...it may not be for everyone but there are a heck of alot of us out there right now that found this a saving grace in bad economical times...

Good luck whichever way you train or retrain... smiley: happy

"Keep your face toward the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you."

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alphaz

Agree

#142

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Posts: 10

06/15/13 02:11:42

I applied for VRAP while looking for a job just after completing Voc Rehab. My SC had started to get worse and I was having trouble finding employment in the field I trained in under Ch 31. I requested a change to my rehab plan just before I was about to complete my training but was denied. I was able to get into VRAP, and enrolled in a program at the local community college and started classes in Oct. 2012. Fortunately I took a few extra courses while in voc rehab and I only needed 45 credits for a Public Administration degree. Only 16 more to go and I'll finish the program. I just got called in for an interview with the VA, so I'm hoping to put my new found skills to work helping other vets. I think a provision for advanced payment would help with the initial budget crunch when trying to pay that first month's tuition, not to mention books (CHEGG can save you a bunch on books!). I think I read somewhere that advanced payment might be added to the program, but I can't remember where I saw it. Also, a federal work-study provision for VRAP was not included which I think was unfortunate. Make sure you fill out a fafsa to see if you qualify for any grants, such as PELL. I was lucky to have a completed fafsa on file at the time and am receiving about 6k in grants in addition to the VRAP cash.

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