Hampden-Sydney College participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program, a provision of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008. The Yellow Ribbon program allows degree-granting institutions to form a voluntary agreement with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to fund tuition and fee expenses that exceed the annual tuition cap that the VA will pay. Click for current rates. The institution can contribute up to 50 percent of those expenses, and the VA will match the same amount. The program is open to qualifying veterans or their children, if benefits were transferred to them.
Hampden-Sydney will contribute up to $12,000 yearly to your education, which is matched by the VA. The $12,000 from the College can consist of a combination of grants, from an academic scholarship awarded to you, or a Citizen-Leader Award, or any need-based grant. If the combination of scholarship and grant aid, plus the payments made by the VA (including the monthly housing allowance), exceed the College's total billed costs, your college aid will be reduced to equal billed costs.
For more information about the Yellow Ribbon Program, including eligibility criteria, visit benefits.va.gov/gibill.
Veterans Affairs Delayed Payment Policy
VA Delayed Payment Compliance Addendum
A Covered Individual is any individual who is entitled to educational assistance under chapter 31, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, or chapter 33, Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.
A covered individual under this new VA Addendum may attend or participate in the course of education during the period beginning on the date on which the individual provides to the educational institution a certificate of eligibility for entitlement to educational assistance under chapter 31 or 33 (a certificate of eligibility” can also include a “Statement of Benefits” obtained from the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) website — eBenefits, or a VAF 28-1905 form for chapter 31 authorization purposes) and ending on the earlier of the following dates:
The date on which payment from VA is made to the institution.
90 days after the date the institution certified tuition and fees following the receipt of the certificate of eligibility.
Hampden-Sydney College will not impose any penalty, including the assessment of late fees, the denial of access to classes, libraries, or other institutional facilities, or the requirement that a covered individual borrow additional funds, on any covered individual because of the individual’s inability to meet his or her financial obligations to the institution due to the delayed disbursement funding from VA under chapter 31 or 33.
If a covered individual still owes a balance after taking into account the expected tuition and fees payment from the VA, at least one payment equivalent to one full month’s Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) must be made prior to the published date that the class registration process opens up for the next semester. Otherwise, the covered individual will be blocked from registration. Any remaining balance after this payment is made must be paid in full by no later than January 31 for the preceding fall semester and by May 31 for the preceding spring semester. Otherwise, the covered individual will be blocked from registration until the balance is paid, and late fees may be assessed.
Yellow Ribbon Calculation Example
For this example, we will use the following assumptions:
You have at least 9 months of Post-9/11 GI Bill® eligibility at 100% eligibility and you will use them for the entire academic year.
You have been awarded an $18,000 academic scholarship by the Admissions Office.
Total tuition and required fees for each semester are $24,055. Total room and board charges for both semesters are $13,876 (assuming double room rate and unlimited meal plan).
The VA’s monthly housing allowance payment is estimated at $12,878 for the academic year.
For the 2020-2021 academic year, the VA is paying up to $25,162.14 as an initial tuition payment for the year (2021-2022 amount will not be known until spring 2021). This amount can be paid out completely in the fall semester depending on the tuition and fee charges.
The fall semester tuition and fee charges of $24,055 will be covered by the $25,162.14 maximum initial VA tuition payment; therefore there will be no Yellow Ribbon payments for the fall semester because all the tuition and fee charges will be paid by the VA in the initial tuition payment.
For the spring semester, the tuition and fee charges of $24,055 will first be paid by the remaining VA initial tuition payment of $1,107.14 ($25,162.14 maximum minus the fall semester amount of $24,055). The remaining tuition and fees of $22,947.86 will be covered through the Yellow Ribbon match program. The VA will pay ½ ($11,473.92) as its Yellow Ribbon match payment. H-SC will cover its match through a Yellow Ribbon Grant.
At this point, all tuition and fee charges have been covered by either the VA or by the College through the Yellow Ribbon match. That leaves the $13,876 in room and board charges, plus the $298 parking fee if applicable. If you are a Virginia resident and can verify your eligibility by completing the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant (VTAG), the $3,520 grant would be subtracted from your remaining charges (as in the example linked below).
The VA pays a monthly housing allowance directly to the student, adding up to an estimated $12,878 for the year. Hampden-Sydney subtracts the total monthly housing allowance payment from the room and board charges, which with the VTAG award, creates a credit balance for each semester. A credit balance of up to $3,200 may be allowed. If you are not eligible for the VTAG award, the remaining balance, after the monthly housing allowance, can be covered by part of your H-SC academic scholarship or grant aid (if applicable), or federal aid. In both of these cases, any academic scholarship would be reduced from its original $18,000 amount or would be in name only because all College billed costs have been paid by either the VA or Hampden-Sydney.
