Enrolled Students
Registration and Course Information
Meeting the VA's required course load or student status is key to ensuring that you continue to receive VA benefits. The VA will not pay for any non-required courses or courses that you don't need to complete in order to graduate. This includes repeats of course where a grade "D" or better is earned (unless that course requires a higher grade), withdrawals, CO-OP programs, and excessive electives. However, if you fail a course, or if you receive a "D" in a course that requires a grade of "C" or better, the VA will cover the cost of retaking that course.
To ensure that you meet the minimum credit hours to receive your benefit, please use the linked Credit Hour Chart below for all terms.
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Determine which courses are certified to the VA
If you are an undergraduate student, log into your iRoar account and use your DegreeWorks to determine whether or not a course falls under your declared program requirement. If a course falls under the Excess Electives category or the Insufficient category, it is most likely that course cannot be certified to the VA. Our office will be able to certify courses that meet your specific (declared) program requirement(s).
If you are a graduate student, log into your iRoar account and use your GS2 Plan of Study to determine whether or not a course falls under your program requirement. Our office will be able to certify courses that meet your specific declared program requirement(s).
What are some reasons a course might not be included in my certification?
- The VA will not pay for courses you are taking unless they meet your specific degree requirement.
- The VA will not pay for courses for your concentration/minor unless you’ve officially declared that concentration/minor.
- The VA will not pay for repeated courses (unless you received a prior grade that is below the grade needed to satisfy the requirement according to your degree/program).
- The VA will not pay for courses that fall under Excess Electives.
- The VA will not pay for courses for which you’ve received prior credit (Examples: AP credit, transfer credit, etc.).
Dropping or Withdrawing from Classes
If you are planning to or need to drop a course, be sure to reference Student Financial Services “Adjustment of Academic Fees” website to determine the percentage of fees you may (or may not) owe based on the course(s) you are dropping.
Dropping your enrollment below the minimum credit load or withdrawing from the University may result in a retroactive reduction in benefits and a debt to the VA and Clemson University. To avoid owing the VA or Clemson, you should be sure to review the Credit Hours for VA Benefits document below with specific details for each term.
Please remember that any forgiveness of VA debts granted by the VA does not constitute forgiveness of any debt that may be owed to Clemson University. You may also need to submit a statement of mitigating circumstances and supportive documentation to the Veterans Administration.
VA "Round Out" Rule
If you have one required course to complete to earn your diploma or degree in your graduating semester, you may register for additional classes to ensure that you remain a full-time student. This is known as "rounding out."
If you choose to do and wish to take additional courses to remain a full-time student while completing your last required course, you must be sure to only add courses that fall under your academic discipline per the VA's "Round Out" Rule. The VA also only allows this once per student, and you can only round out in your graduating term.
For more insight, please visit the VA's website and view the "Round Out" statement.
Enrollment
Enrollment
Once you have been approved for an educational benefit through the VA, you will receive a document of confirmation. This is usually called a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) or Notice of Basic Eligibility or VR&E Authorization form.
Enrollment will be certified by semester based on programs approved by State Approving Agency to offer veteran education and training (GI Bill®).
While using federal education benefits from the VA, you are required by law to keep the University Certifying Official informed of all the following:
- Each time you drop or add a course
- Periods of enrollment
- Audits and withdrawals
- Change of major
- Curriculum year changes
- Course Substitutions
- Address change
- Students called to Active Duty
Unique Academic Considerations
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Taking courses at other schools
You can take a course at a different school and receive your benefits as long as that course will fulfill a degree requirement for your degree at Clemson University and is transferable to Clemson. Our office will need to send a parent institution letter to your other school. To do this, you must submit the Approval of Credits to Be Earned at Another School form first, as well as the contact information at your secondary school, noting the representative who should receive the letter from us second. You can submit these to our office via email to VABenefits@clemson.edu.
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Changing your major
You will need to work with your academic advisor to complete Clemson University’s change of major process. If you are approved to change majors, our office can see the change in our system. As an undergraduate student, once the paperwork has been processed by Clemson, you will be able to see the change of major reflected in your DegreeWorks. If you see the change there, that means we will be able to see the change on our side as well.
It is important that when we certify your term courses, that your current program in DegreeWorks matches the program for which we are certifying courses. If you are working toward applying to a different major and are awaiting approval of the change, please indicate this on your Benefits Request Form, and our office will follow up with other information we may need from you.
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Studying Abroad
To ensure you receive your benefit with studying abroad, you will need to work with Clemson’s Study Abroad Office first. Our office will work closely with Study Abroad to determine if the program you select is eligible for use with your benefit. Often, the VA will not pay for Study Abroad, so be sure to check with us about your specific plan.
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Courses that meet over multiple terms or non-standard terms of enrollment
Courses are certified to the VA by the start and end dates for each course (including final exams). If you are certified in several terms (such as an overlapping First Fall, Mini-A, Second Fall, and Full Fall), each term length is certified individually, and payment is determined by the VA. For instance, as an undergraduate student, if you enroll in six hours for the Full Fall term, and then in six hours for the First Fall term and in three hours for the Second Fall term, then the VA only considers you full-time when you are enrolled in 12 hours all at the same time, which would be only during the First Fall term in the example below:
Standard Terms Full Fall Semester First Fall Second Fall Mini A Mini B Mini C Mini D Standard Credits 6 Hours 6 Hours 3 Hours 0 Hours 0 Hours 0 Hours 0 Hours
Readmission for Service Members
Service members who withdraw or leave school for military service will be readmitted under the same academic status they had when they last attended. Former undergraduate students who apply for readmission by the posted deadlines are guaranteed readmission to the institution at the same academic status as when they left. Students with a hold on their account due to an unpaid balance, violation of community standards, or other disciplinary issues must resolve those with the appropriate departments before being cleared for re-entry.
