Veteran Affairs Team Survey Responses by Campus

Transcription

1 Bakersfield Channel Islands As of Fall 2007, all veterans and dependents of veterans receiving VA educational benefits have registration priority. I ed our student bulletin board asking all veterans who have been discharged within the last two years and are not receiving VA educational benefits, to please contact me. To date, no one has responded. Extends priority registration to all students. For Spring 2008 advanced registration (which began the last week of November 2007), we gave all veteran students currently receiving GI Bill benefits the first available appointment for registration. We are currently working on how to identify students who are not receiving GI Bill benefits. Our Evaluations Office uses the ACE manual or ACE transcript to evaluate military training and experience in order to determine the amount and level of academic credit awarded. The majority of this credit is applicable to free elective units. If an evaluator believes a course might meet lower division general education requirements, they will ask the veteran to provide a complete description of the course. If a student feels a course or training is applicable to GE requirements, and the Evaluations Office did not grant credit, he/she can petition the VP of Undergraduate Studies to have credit granted. For a DD-214 (Basic Training), we give 4 8 semester units out of which 1.5 semester units are applied toward GE area E per prior CSU Admissions Handbook ( ). The remaining units are elective credit to be used toward graduation totals. Army, Navy, and Airforce receive 4 semester units for their basic training; USMC receives 8 semester units. For DANTES (CLEP) testing; We use the recommendations on the form and relate the score received to our Students eligible for the Cal Vet Waiver do not have to pay the application fee. Once enrolled they have to pay campus based fees only. We currently do not waive the application fee for veterans although I have submitted a request to do so to our campus fee committee. Being that the campus would have to pay the $55 fee if waived, I doubt it will be approved. If a student is called to active duty, when they return they are not required to reapply to the campus or pay an application fee. In addition, they do not lose their catalog The Cal Vet Fee Waiver waives any state-mandated fees, such as the State University Fee. The Application fee can also be waived or refunded. CSUCI does not waive other campus fees, such as Health Services Fee and Associated Students Fee. We have done a partial conversion (all new applications for Summer 08 and Fall 08) and will do a total conversion late March or early April. Our CedarCrestone consultant assures me that we will be able to track veterans, both new and continuing. Assuming I still have my sanity, we will address this issue prior to full conversion I asked our IT department whether information is populated in PeopleSoft directly from the CSU Mentor application, section 19/19a ( s questions) and the response I received was that the VA_BENEFIT database field is populated based upon information coming from the Mentor application. I checked ccardenas Page

2 campus CLEP articulations. For military transcripts, we use the ACE Guide recommendations as a reference and award credit on course work only, not work experience/job. We try to apply credit to areas we teach, such as PE, Communications, and Chemistry; otherwise we use generic lower or upper division course credit. the Bio/Demo information of a new student who will be receiving GI Bill benefits this Spring and the VA_BENEFIT box was already marked so it would appear that is working for us at CSUCI. Chico East Bay 60% - s Affairs Coordinator 30% - Records Specialist VA benefits certification and coordination of activities (Vet Team, events, etc.) All veterans, regardless of discharge date, will have priority registration beginning fall This only includes those who self identify as eligible for benefits and does not include dependents. We currently have one student group in PS for students receiving VA benefits, which will need to be split into 2 groups to separate the service members from the dependents. active duty (30), voc rehab (31), SR (1606), REAP (1607) and VEAP (32) are offered priority enrollment; not offered to dependents (ch 35 or cv fee waiver) Chico has historically awarded 4 units toward GE for basic military training, which must be documented on DD-214 or transcript. We are seeking to revise this policy so that these units are applied to Area E: Lifelong Learning requirement for our undergrads. All other military training is evaluated in accordance with the ACE guidelines. DD-214 submitted to evaluations team for transfer credit up to 9 units applied to GE, usually Area F Performing Arts and Activities We administer the Cal-Vet fee waiver for dependents of disabled veterans and other eligible persons as determined by any CVSO in California. This program waives the mandatory system-wide fees required for admission and registration. This group still pays for campus fees ($459), and course fees. We do not have a special application fee waiver for veterans. I am working with our Admissions Office to collect, monitor, and report this data. We are more aware of the data elements to complete the reports thanks to the monthly conference calls. At the moment, we rely on students selfidentifying with the VA coordinator. We are working on ways to identify these students proactively from the veteran question on the application. At the ccardenas Page

3 10% Administrati ve Work in Student Information Lobby to answer student inquiries and manage Records/Regist ration issues Represent Records/Regist ration Office on universitywide committees Assist with training staff Fullerton 100% Certification of s and Dependents (submitting, monitoring, updating, questions from students and maintaining files) Cal Vet Fee Waiver entries (questions from students, reminders to Include in priority registration all veterans receiving veterans education benefits: Chapter 30 Chapter 1606 Chapter 1607 (Eligibility for priority registration by this group will continue for the duration of their attendance at Cal State Fullerton (exceeding the "... within two years of leaving active duty" stated in the law) Exclude veterans in attendance at CSUF not currently receiving veterans benefits Based on the veteran's DD-214, 4 units of elective credit is given for basic training Waived: State University Fee only Not Waived: $55 application fee -based fees (Assoc Student Body Fee, Union, Consolidated Course Fee, Health Center Fee, Health Facilities Fee, Instructionally Related Activities Fee, Student ID Card and TITAN Participation Fee - totaling $305 in Spring 2008) moment, we are having technical difficulties in having these questions push down into PeopleSoft. Our campus has not yet converted to PeopleSoft, although we are in the midst of the preconversion process right now, with implementation expected in Although we don't have much to offer on this yet, we would be most interested to hear the experiences of others who have already moved into this new system. ccardenas Page

4 students) Respond to inquiries or requests for information regarding Certification Exclude dependents of veterans (Chapter 35) Keeping in compliance with changes in laws and regulations regarding Certification Research/resol ve historical certification problems tain statistics for Chancellor s Office reporting Preparing files and documents for VA audit ccardenas Page

5 Humboldt Long Beach 50% Program Assistant works 20 hours a week and 100% of time is devoted to the s Affairs program VA Program Assistant works 20 hours a week and 100% of time is devoted to the s Affairs program. Primary relevant to s Affairs include: We have moved veterans to a priority reg status for Spring 08. We give Area E credit for basic training and military registry bacc credit recommendation that are in line with the GE pattern We process the Cal Vet Fee waivers for spouses and dependents. No waivers for veterans. Supervising the VA Program Assistant and VA Program Clerks (VA Work Study students) Assisting active duty military personnel, ccardenas Page

6 veterans, and dependents of veterans in applying for and obtaining educational benefits provided by the Department of s Affairs; verifying enrollment of students in CMS and certifying them in VAONCE; notifying students when courses to not qualify for VA benefits. Referring students to appropriate campus and Vet Affairs departments relevant to their questions and needs. ccardenas Page

7 Monterey Bay Serving on the CSULB s Initiative Committee chaired by Dr. Troy Johnson. Beginning with registration for Fall 2007, CSUMB is offering priority registration to all students with status... and those dependents of disabled/deceased s who receive the Cal Vet Fee Waiver and/or Chapter 35 VA benefit assistance. CSUMB evaluators offer transferable unit credit for coursework designated as lower division baccalaureate level coursework from official ACE (Army), SMART (Navy & Marine) and CC Air Force transcripts. The only confirmed GE coursework that is applied directly to a student s record without petition review is the Physical Conditioning/First Aid (basic training course credits) which is applied to the Vibrancy Activity ULR on our campus. CSUMB veterans are required to pay all campus fees (no fee waivers currently in place for campus fees). students must also qualify for the $55 application fee waiver based on their income. This is an area where I believe the CSU system needs to take a stand and authorize waiver of the $55 application fee for all s applicants who can provide a DD214 showing honorable discharge! 90% of the veterans or active duty military who I correspond with by or phone regarding application to the University ask about a fee waiver. Some state institutions in the East offer tuition fee waivers for s... a larger chunk of $$ than the $55 application fee. Since California does not offer the tuition waiver for veterans (just dependents of disabled or deceased vets) again, CSUMB is currently in the process of converting and going 'live' with Peoplesoft... Admissions was set to go December 1st but has been delayed. Is there a way to track the response to the s status question directly in XAP? This would be easier to access and track in a timely manner while we are awaiting the creation of a place to hold that information in our PeopleSoft data bases. I am concerned that on my campus the VA information is the LAST thing that will be converted or made available in the new system... and that may affect our ability to comply with SB 272 in ccardenas Page

8 Northridge Sacramento CSUN has given priority Registration to all appropriate s. At present we are allowing registration at the priority level until graduation. We are giving the priority registration to all s and Active-Duty regardless of how long they have been out of the service. This is extended to veterans regardless of if they are getting benefits or not. If they self identify to us that they are a vet they get it. Hope this helps! The basic credit granted is 4 units Kinesiology for Basic Training for all branches except Marines and they receive 8 units. We grant no credit for service schools related to the MOS and other on a case by case base. CCAF is fully accredited so service school appearing from that school is full credit as well as the Defense Language Institute I personally think the CSU should show the legislators that we are will to sacrifice the $55 in order to support the educational interests of our s! There is no difference in the fees between a and the regular population. the most accurate way. I will be bringing these issues directly to the Registrar as I am part of the 'Records office' team that is working on the conversion. If I find out any tips or modifications that need to be shared with other campuses I will let our team know at the next conference call. We cannot track Vets in people soft and therefore do it manually ccardenas Page

9 San Bernardino 60% as the Coordinator and 40% as the Administrati ve Analyst Specialist for Records, Registration & Evaluations Act as the first point of contact for veteran students who are interested in attending our University Help the student "navigate" the admissions process. Act as liaison between the student and other departments such as Financial Aid, Housing, Advising, Services to Students with Disabilities office. We are already giving first priority registration to veterans. We do not include dependents of veterans. We determine their veteran status by either a DD-214, their coming in person to sign up for benefits or from the PS screen that carries over from the admission application. Our evaluations unit tells me that the veteran's basic training fulfills the "E" area in GE for them. Free elective units are given for course work from the military. We may put the units towards a specific discipline based on the ACE recommendation but if the degree does not require elective units in the major they fall into the free electives. If application fee, we waive it if a veteran has to reapply due to deployment putting off their attending school. We also waive it if someone who had applied for a leave of absence goes over their allotted time of being out on leave. I am currently in discussion with my "vet friendly committee" on campus to see if we can start waiving the application fee for "all" veterans. If we are talking about the "campus based fees" that the Cal Vet Fee Waiver does not cover, we do make the students pay those. This seems to have "fixed" itself. I can now get the vet info that is supposed to carry over from the application. Assist the student with the registration process. ccardenas Page

10 Assist student with establishing and using their VA educational benefits. Act as liaison between the DVA and the student Continue to aid student through their academic career with us, make sure they are taking correct classes and are on track to graduate. San Diego 100% veterans coordinator 100% assistant veterans coordinator Manage, direct and supervise the daily operations of the office including the coordination of staff and student If veterans arrive at SDSU and they are within the two-year window of being discharged--they will be given priority registration for four consecutive semesters, after we verify their discharge date on the dd-214. Priority registration will begin during the second term and will be We have extensive instructions on how we grant credit for military, however, here is the practice summarized: Military education credit is awarded at the time a DD-214, DD-295, AARTS or SMART transcript is presented. We award We do not waive the $55 application fee for veterans. We do reimburse the $55 application fee for eligible Cal Vet Fee Waiver recipients. We are looking into other fee waivers and deferrals. We are not using PeopleSoft. ccardenas Page

11 San Luis Obispo 50% position "onloan" from the Registrar's Office support. Advises students on all aspects of their transition from military life to student life including not only SDSU students, but outreach efforts to veterans at local community colleges and resource and education fairs. Support the Student Organization (SVO) in an advisory role. consecutive from that point. If the student takes a leave or is out one for a semester--the priority registration is still used on that term. If they attend somewhere else upon discharge--and "use up" their 2-year window under the bill, then they will not receive priority registration at SDSU. We are implementing SB 272 eff (Spring 2008) and excluding dependents of veterans (Chapter 35). Student must provide DD- 214 showing discharge from active duty w/in last two years. The policy will be announced via mass and the web. ACE recommended baccalaureate/associate degree category units. We do not award credit for any vocational, technical or certificate degree category units. Units awarded are lower division elective credit. We do not grant credit for MOS ratings (Military Occupation Specialties) or military experience. A DD214 provided by the student fulfills area D-4 (KINESIOLOGY 250) of student's curriculum (4 units) plus 5 units of elective credit. If student's D-4 is fulfilled already, 9 units of elective credit are awarded. Students receiving the Cal Vet fee waiver are responsible for our "campus based fees" There is a Patch in 8.9 for ERS reporting program that will grab the data (for the new Vet question) from the staging area. ccardenas Page

12 San Marcos Stanislaus 75% s; 25% Enrollment Services Certifying all current Students Assisting new and current Students with educational forms and questions All active duty military get priority enrollment Starting Fall 08 registration we are giving all active duty military priority enrollments. From the SMART or AART we are giving students area E for GE and general elective for all the rest. It is up to the department if anything will be used for the major If a student bring a DD214 to us and has 1 year of active duty (or more) they will receive 6 units. If the student hasn t completed GE area E as of that point, the 6 units will satisfy E-1 and E-2. If the student has already completed GE area E then the 6 units will be elective units. Any active duty member or dependant is given in state residency and the out of state is waived. If a student is eligible for the Cal Vet fee waiver we will waive their $55 application fee. James Garrison is working on all of this for us. R & R went live yesterday!!!! taining and setting up all Student Files including archives Revising and updating our Webpage ccardenas Page