Legitimately posting while at work!
I work in student finance in a EU country, think equivalent of FAFSA, international division.
Today, the question came up whether a dependent child (resident in the EU) of a US veteran (resident in the US) can claim DEA benefits in order to attend school in a EU country.
In principle, this appears to be possible. However, I cannot find any further information about this on the VA DEA page. Instead, it refers to the GI bill search tool, which comes up with 0 results for the school I have entered. There appears to be a search function by country which I couldn’t get to work. So, dead end.
This is background information on the financial situation of a student. Since I am not acting on behalf of the student and it is not clear yet whether this is even relevant, I do not, at this point, want to contact either the VA or the student directly.
Can anyone help? Thank you so much.
Edited to add that the idea is not to verify information to the detriment of the student, but to the benefit of the US veteran!
you best bet would be to have the student’s parent to contact the VA to find out for him/her self what benefits are available for their child
Schools have to be certified in order for students to use VA benefits for attendance at that school. For example, I have very few students who use VA benefits, but I have to undergo annual training and annual recertification. I have to know all rules and regulations at all times, even if I don’t currently have a student receiving VA benefits. You would need to contact the VA to find out if the benefits available for that student can be used at any of the schools in which a student may be interested.
Thank you for weighing in.
Not sure whether you are referring to the custodial (EU) parent or the non custodial (US veteran) parent?
The student is an adult (DEA benefits are for students 18 to 25).
The noncustodial US parent, on being applied to for income information and/or reimbursement of financial aid, has claimed that the child is entitled to DEA benefits even though the child is going to school in an EU country and that they have provided all the info (including pre-filled forms) about applying for said benefit and applying to have the school determined eligible. The latter is apparently an additional process, about which I cannot find any info on the VA website, and I can’t find what the prerequisites might be.
I have asked the US NCP to supply more information about or verification of this claim - which I may or may not get. But I would very much like independent confirmation of the child’s DEA claim. Because if the NCP is correct, and the child actually could claim DEA benefits, the US NCP can then claim they have done everything they could to support their child and have no further obligation according to the EU country’s law (whether the child actually acts on this or not).
Which means I can not only tell the FA division that I am not going to initiate further legal proceedings against the non custodial parent (which I was highly unlikely do in any case, due to other legal complications particular to the case) but can also tell them to stop demanding income information, accusing the parent of failure to support their child and threatening legal action against a disabled veteran, year after year - which they will otherwise do, because according to the law in most EU countries (which I am fully aware may not apply in the US in the case of an adult child anyway but governs the procedure of the FA office), adult children are entitled to child support beyond high school graduation until their first post-secondary qualification.
Because I can tell that regardless of the legal situation, this upsets the veteran parent greatly and I do not like upsetting people unnecessarily.
Thank you kelsmom, that was useful information - it’s given me additional google search terms! I have found a search tool provided by the department of veteran affairs which was searchable by country, and while the specific institution that this student is attending is not currently certified, a number of comparable institutions is. So this is something worth following up on.