In order to maximize your benefits at OC, you should always try to meet the following requirements:

Full Time Enrollment -

Enrolling in Full Time will help ensure that you will get the maximum amount monthly, taking less than full time enrollment will result in the VA pro-rating your monthly payments accordingly.

Fall/Winter/Spring Terms 12 credits or more is considered full time enrollment.
Summer has a 7 Week session and only requires 7 credits or more to be full time enrolled.

Enrolling in courses that are required for your program of study -

The VA will only fund classes that are required for your program, as defined in the OC Catalog or an Academic Advising Plan that has been signed by an Academic Advisor or Student Success Coach that annotates specific graduation requirements.

You can still register for these classes, but they will not be counted towards the credit total to determine Full Time Enrollment.
Courses can only be repeated if you did not earn credit the first attempt, or you did not meet a specific grade requirement (ex. Math 99 requires a 2.5 GPA earned to pass and move on to the next level.)

Enrolling and Requesting certification early -

OC offers first day enrollment priority to Veterans and Active Duty Service-members. Please be sure to enroll as soon as possible and once you have, submit your request for certification.

The sooner you enroll and request, the sooner the MVP Benefits Team can review your classes and process your certification.
The sooner we get your certification completed, the sooner you get access to your funds.

When in doubt, ask! We appreciate students who reach out and ask for help, we know working on your education can be a huge and exciting challenge, there is a team of us ready to help.

How to enroll PDF
How to enroll Video (requires OC Microsoft 365 Account)

The following situations could result in a potential debt situation with the VA or OC:

Repeating classes you have successfully completed

If you received credit for courses at another colleges/university or through the military they may transfer credit to OC. The VA will not fund these courses. If you are certified for these courses and they transfer in, you may owe the VA for any funds related to the repeated course.

Dropping classes after the Start of the term refund period

Dropping classes after the 100% refund period

No amount owed to Olympic College for Tuition.
The VA may issue an overpayment notice if benefits have already been paid (book stipend).
Tuition Assistance will not pay for tuition costs for dropped courses.

Dropping classes after the 50% refund period

50% tuition charge for the dropped classes owed to Olympic College, less any prorated VA tuition payments.
- The VA will pay a pro-rated amount for tuition based on your last date of attendance/participation.
The VA may issue an overpayment notice if benefits have already been paid.
Tuition Assistance will not pay tuition for costs for dropped courses.

Dropping classes after of end of the refund period

Full tuition charge from Olympic College, less any prorated VA tuition payments.
- The VA will pay a pro-rated amount for tuition.

Dropping classes that have been certified will almost always result in a debt with the VA. The VA will adjust your payments to reflect your new credit total, and if you fall below Full Time Enrollment, you could owe the VA for any over-payment of monthly payments.

If you need to be dropped/withdrawn from your courses due to reasons outside your control, you can pre-emptively request a stay on the over-payments based on mitigating circumstances. If you experience a mitigating circumstance, please be sure to submit a request to inform the VA using our Communication Portal

Mitigating Circumstances that can be requested are:

COVID-19
Injury or Illness
Illness or Death of family member
An unavoidable change in your conditions of employment.
An unavoidable geographical transfer resulting from your employment.
Immediate family or financial obligations beyond the control of the claimant that require you to suspend pursuit of the program of education to obtain employment.
Unanticipated active military service, including active duty for training.
Unanticipated difficulties with childcare arrangements made for the period during which you are attending classes.

Receiving grades that do not affect your GPA

If you complete the course and the instructor awards you a grade that does not affect your GPA, it may result in an over-payment for any funding issued for that class, effective the date of the withdrawal or last date of participation. Examples are Withdraw (W), Withdraw Passing (WP), Withdraw Failing (WF), and No-Credit (NC).

Receiving a Failing Grade of 0.0 does not constitute an overpayment from the VA. If you do not receive credit for the course, you can repeat it using VA Education Benefits funding.