*IMPORTANT –Please Read*

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.

• VONAPP Veteran's ONline Application for GI Bill Benefits click here

• Each semester when you enroll you must:                   

1. Contact me to let me know you are enrolled.  I cannot certify your enrollment if you do not contact me.

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.

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)  The school does 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

Compare the programs

If you are eligible for another benefit program as well as the Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33), you should review the side-by-side comparison of benefits under each program.

While each individual's situation is different, this may help you determine which of the programs provide the most benefit for your individual situation. You should now have enough information to decide whether you want to apply for the Post-9/11 GI Bill or another benefit program. Remember, if you give up another program to receive the Post-9/11 GI Bill, it is an irrevocable choice - this means that once you have selected the Post-9/11 GI Bill, you cannot switch back to the program you gave up. At this time, you also will have to determine which school you will apply to for enrollment.

Click here to visit the GI Bill web page "Road Map for Success"

Click here for information of other DACC Staff who serve Veteran's (and more "links" to information)