Chapter 33: Post 9/11 GI Bill

Individuals with at least 90 days of aggregate service after September 10, 2001, or individuals discharged with a service-connected disability after 30 continuous days on active duty, are eligible to participate in the Post 911 GI Bill. The percentage of eligibility ranges from 50% – 100%. You must also have received an honorable discharge or currently be on Active Duty to be eligible.

The Veterans Affairs Post 9/11 GI Bill Eligibility Chart will assist you in determining your percentage of eligibility.

• The 100% eligibility cap for Private Schools is as follows:
  • $27,120.05 for August 1, 2023 – July 30, 2024
• Pays up to 36 months of education benefits
• Pays housing allowance based on 50 percent of the national average payable in the United States
  • This funding is issued retroactively for the previous month's enrollment period (e.g., you will receive in October what you earned for September enrollment).
• Annual Book Stipend of $1,000

The housing allowance and the Book Stipend are paid directly to you. Funding for tuition and fees is paid directly to the institution and is then applied toward your student account.

If you have specific questions not covered here, please contact the JGSB School Certifying Official.

Further information is available on the Veterans Affairs Post 9/11 GI Bill website.

Yellow Ribbon

The Yellow Ribbon Program is a component of the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

This program allows institutions to enter into a voluntary agreement with the VA to fund tuition and fee expenses that exceed the annual Post 9/11 cap amount.

If you are Yellow Ribbon eligible, Rice Business will cover 50% of the remaining cost, matched dollar-for-dollar by the VA (this means 100% of your tuition/fees charges will be covered). Additionally, we do not limit the number of veteran students who may be awarded Yellow Ribbon or the total dollar amount of the Yellow Ribbon scholarship. There are no additional steps required to apply. 

To receive benefits under the Yellow Ribbon Program:

• Must be eligible at 100% for the Post-9/11 GI Bill
• Further information is available on the Veterans Affairs: Yellow Ribbon website

Caveat: If you receive a scholarship during the admissions process, that scholarship is considered a component of your total Jones School scholarship funding and is part of the Jones School Yellow Ribbon scholarship. In other words, students are not able to "stack" multiple Rice University scholarships. 

Before we are able to certify your enrollment for benefits, the following documentation/forms must uploaded through Rice Box (a secure online portal). Please include the document type and your first and last name in the file description field.

Required Rice University Forms

• JGSB VA Information Form
• VA Degree Plan (Please reach out to our VA School Certifying Official)

Required VA Documents- Post 9/11 GI Bill

• Certificate of (Honorable) Release or Discharge from Active Duty (DD-214): Your certificate must indicate Character of Service as Honorable (usually a MEMBER-4 or SERVICE-2 page). 
  • If you have been discharged from active service, please include this form with your application documents.
• Certificate of Eligibility (COE): You may request your COE through the Vets.gov website. 
• Military Transcript: This is a listing of all military training received while in the Service. Please use the applicable link below to request your transcript:
  • Joint Services Transcript: Army, Coast Guard, Marines, and Navy. Please have your transcript sent electronically to Rice University (William Marsh).
  • Air University: Air Force.

Once the above documentation is submitted, your VA student file will be created.

An estimate of your benefits will be calculated and sent to the University Cashier's Office. That office will post a placeholder on your ESTHER Account Summary in the amount of funding expected for that quadmester. Even though the VA might not send the funds for several weeks, the "placeholder" will prevent you from being charged a late fee, etc. 

We will begin certifying enrollment to the VA in the second week of the quadmester.

VA Post 9/11 and VA Yellow Ribbon begin paying to Rice University approximately 2-3 weeks after enrollment certification.

If you are pursuing funding in addition to your Post 9/11 (e.g., scholarship, student loans, etc.) and are expecting a credit refund, please set-up an Refund Account in your ESTHER Payment Suite section. This will allow the University Cashier's Office to transfer any account credit directly to the bank account of your choice.
Navigation: ESTHER => Student Services => Payment Suite  => Electronic Refunds

VA educational benefits are processed on a quadmester basis and are amended/adjusted during the quadmester as necessary per VA regulatory requirements and student need. It is imperative that students enroll in all quadmester classes prior to the start of the term.

Once enrolled, a VA Enrollment Hold will be placed on the student’s account by the JGSB Registrar and no changes may be made to the enrollment schedule without prior approval by the School Certifying Official. This is to prevent you from making changes to your schedule that may result in a "debt" from the VA. The decision is ultimately yours, but we want to ensure you have all the information needed to make the decision to add/drop courses after the beginning of the term. 

Yes. Your GI Bill funding does not preclude you from pursuing additional funding through student loans. Please reference the loan sections in the left menu for additional information. 

Yes. Once we have received all of your funding from the VA for your first term,  the Cashier's Office will process your refund. We recommend adding your bank account information to ESTHER so that your refund can be processed via direct deposit. 

Log-in to ESTHER – Select Student Student Services – Under Account Summary, select Payment Suite – Select Electronic Refunds

Post 9/11 and Yellow Ribbon are paid directly to Rice University and are processed by the Cashier's Office. The Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) and Book Stipend are paid by the VA directly to you.

It typically takes the VA several weeks after the term has started before they will send your tuition/fees to us. A "placeholder" will be on your student account, though, to prevent you from being charged a late fee while we wait for the funds to arrive. 

Your MHA payment is always paid in arrears. For example if you start school on July 5th, your MHA check will arrive in August (around the first of the month) and will cover the dates from July 5th – July 30th.