I would like to provide you with updates concerning Danville Area Community College’s Veterans Affairs Program.

Whether you are a new or returning student, I would like to introduce myself.  I am Lori Jones and I am located in the Financial Aid Office at DACC.  I will be assisting the veteran students attending DACC.  My phone number is 217-443-8864, my email address is lojo@dacc.edu, my mailing address is 2000 East Main St, Danville, IL 61832.

There are important steps that you, the student and myself, the certifying official,  need to follow to ensure that you receive your benefits in a timely manner, and that you do not receive over-payments that you are required to repay to the Dept. of Veteran Affairs.  These steps are as follows:

•  When you apply or renew your benefits, all correspondence with the State and Federal Agencies is with you the veteran.  I am not sent copies of your approvals or your certificates of eligibility. If you do not bring these in to me when you receive them, I do not know that you have benefits available to you.

•  Each semester when you enroll you must:

2. Provide a copy of your schedule to me with the DACC Veteran's Enrollment Certification Form signed by a DACC Academic counselor. Contact the Counseling office at (217)443-8750 to determine who is your academic counselor. The DACC Veteran's Enrollment Certification Form can be printed from this site(click here VACERT). The courses you enroll in, must go toward the degree or certificate you are pursuing.  If you are not in courses that meet the curriculum guide for the degree you are pursuing, these classes will not be certified. Regardless which enrollment method you choose ( by phone, in person, via the Internet)  you must follow the above procedures before your benefits will be certified.

3. If you withdraw, drop, or change credit hours in any way after your initial enrollment, you must contact me immediately so that I can contact the Dept. of Veterans Affairs to notify them of the change in hours.  If this is not done, it will result in an overpayment of your benefits and the Dept. of Veterans affairs will take aggressive action to reclaim the overpayment.  The Dept. of Veterans Affairs has a number of actions they pursue to reclaim overpayments, one of which is withholding future benefits.

If you have questions regarding the amount of your entitlement, how many months you have left, or other inquiries, please call the Dept. of Veterans Affairs Regional Office (go to Veterans Contacts click here) I do not have access to this information.

All enrollment certifications (exception: first enrollment period upon applying for benefits) are completed electronically.  They are then transmitted to the Dept. of Veteran Affairs office in St. Louis, MO.  Please take into consideration that the St. Louis Office assists 15 states in their region.  At times, there is an over-abundance of information sent to them and they may be back logged.  This may result in your hours not being available on the WAVE or the telephone electronic certification number.  If this happens, please call me to ensure that the hours have been certified.  After I have confirmed certification, you will need to call the VA Regional Office to certify your enrollment.  For the contact numbers click here.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy your educational experience at Danville Area Community College.

Sincerely,

Lori A. Jones,
Financial Aid Specialist/Veteran's Certifying Official

Illinois Veteran's Grant
Illinois National Guard
Pow/Mia (chpt 35)
Montgomery GI Bill (chpt 30)
Montgomery GI Bill (Selected Reserve)
Montgomery GI Bill (chpt 106)
Vocational Rehabilitation (chpt 31)
Veteran's Contacts

Recent Notice from VARO sent to all schools, please read:

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Regional Office
400 South 18th Street
St Louis MO  63103-2271

May 24, 2005

Dear School Certifying Official
In Reply Refer To: 331/22

This has been a very challenging year for you, your students, and us
here at the St. Louis Regional Processing Office.  We have made many
internal changes to meet the challenges and provide timelier processing
for the veteran and dependent student community.

WHAT’S NEXT?

We are adjusting our telephone access hours.  Beginning June 15, 2005,
you and your students will be able to call us at 1-888-GI-Bill1
(1-888-442-4551) between the hours of 8:00 a. m. through 4:00 p. m.
Central Daylight Time.  These hours will provide adequate access for
the public to make calls concerning general benefit information and claim
status.  In addition, you and your students can continue to access VA
through the “Ask A Question” feature on the WWW.GIBILL.VA.GOV
<http://WWW.GIBILL.VA.GOV> website.  All School Certifying Official
questions submitted though the website will be answered within 48
hours.

WHY IS THIS CHANGE NECESSARY?

We are making every effort to provide the right decision in the
shortest amount of time.  Changing these hours will provide more time for claims
processing.  The change will also make telephone service consistent
with our other business hours of operation.  We understand that this change
will reduce the time we are available to some callers; however, we
believe focusing on accurate and timely payment actions provides the
highest level of customer service.

QUESTIONS?

We are confident that our new service hours will provide you the access
you and your students need.  If you have any questions, your may direct
them to you Education Liaison Representative.
 

Douglas L. Bragg
Education Officer