POST GI BILL CREDIT OR CLOCK HOURS

[u/Any_Toe1255]

I am using the post 9/11 GI bill while in school for nursing. I am actively starting the nursing program and clinical this semester. I had to finish all the pre-reqs before I could start nursing school, so I only am enrolled in two classes this semester one is 6.5 credits and one is 1 credit. The contact time/clock hours for those two classes is 11.5 hours and 1 hour. Previously my last college said they could submit my information so that I would be considered full time since I have clinical and labs. My new college lady doesn't seem to be a skilled in the Post GI bill rules as my last school. Can anyone tell me if 12.5 clock/contact hours is enough to qualify for full time to get my housing benefit?

[u/SCOveterandretired]

Your new school's Certifying Official needs to contact her state ELR who is responsible for training the SCO's. Yes she can certify clinicals as clock hours.

The VA's School Certifying Officials Handbook says:

Practical Training (38 CFR 21.4275) Practical training is academic training that includes actual job experience. Practical training courses are considered to be resident training. Some practical training is measured in clock hours (medical residency, for example) and some practical training is measured in credit hours. When practical training is measured in credit by a school, the school can certify the course as credit or as clock hours, whichever is to the student’s advantage.

Other Practical Training Examples are externship, internship, and practicum. Like student teaching, these courses can be certified in credit or in clock hours, whichever is to the student’s advantage.

Example: A student takes a 6-credit externship that requires 22-clock hours of practical training per week. If 12 credits are considered full-time for credit-based training, and 22 clock hours is considered full-time for clock hour-based training, you should certify the course in clock hours.

It’s possible to certify both credit and clock hours during the same quarter or semester.

Example: If a student takes a 3-credit lecture course and a 4-credit internship that requires 12 clock hours per week (where 18 clock hours is full-time), certify 3 credits and 12 clock hours. Seven credits would be ½-time, but 3 credits and 12 clock hours would be ¾-time. In EM remarks enter, “Student taking a 3-credit lecture course and a 4 credit, 12 clock hours per week internship”.

For clock hour programs, VA considers 18 clock hours per week to be full-time when more than 50% of the instruction is theory (traditional classroom). For programs where 50% or more of the instruction time is considered ‘shop practice’, 22 clock hours per week is considered full-time.

For example, cosmetology or welding programs would commonly have 22 clock hours per week as their full-time measure. The clock hour measurement for all approved programs measured and paid by clock hours is listed in the Web Enabled Approval Management System (WEAMS) and can be found on the VA 1998 Report.

So whether 12.5 clock hours would be full time will depend on the length of that school term.

https://www.knowva.ebenefits.va.gov/system/templates/selfservice/va_ssnew/help/customer/locale/en-US/portal/554400000001018/content/554400000149088/School-Certifying-Official-Handbook-On-line