General VA Benefits
The
Department of Veterans Affairs provides a variety of benefits for veterans, dependents,
and survivors based on active military service. For National Guard members, that
means being federally activated to serve, and being discharged under conditions
other than dishonorable.
Click on the topic below to jump to its section:
Compensation & Pension
Education/GI Bill
Home Loans
Vocational Rehabilitations
Life Insurance
Burial & Funeral Services
Compensation & Pensions
VA provides monetary support based on a variety of conditions. Veterans with low
incomes who are either permanently and totally disabled, or age 65 and older, may
be eligible for compensation if they have 90 days or more of active military service,
at least one day of which was during a period of war. Disability must be for reasons
other than the veteran’s own willful misconduct.
- Protected Pension: Pension beneficiaries, who were receiving a
VA pension on Dec. 31, 1978, and do not wish to elect the Improved Pension, will
continue to receive the pension rate received on that date. This rate generally
continues as long as the beneficiary’s income remains within established limits,
or net worth does not bar payment, and the beneficiary does not lose any dependents.
Beneficiaries must continue to meet basic eligibility factors, such as permanent
and total disability for veterans. VA must adjust rates for other reasons, such
as a veteran’s hospitalization in a VA facility.
- Medal of Honor Pension: VA administers pensions to recipients of
the Medal of Honor. Congress set the monthly pension at $1,194.
- Improved Disability Pension: Congress establishes the maximum annual
improved disability pension rates. Payments are reduced by the amount of countable
income of the veteran, spouse and dependent children. When a veteran without a spouse
or a child is furnished nursing home or domiciliary care by VA, the pension is reduced
to an amount not to exceed $90 per month after three calendar months of care. The
reduction may be delayed if nursing-home care is being continued to provide the
veteran with rehabilitation services.
More information about Compensation Benefits through Veterans Affairs is available
at the Department of Veterans Affairs website.
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Education/GI Bill
The Post- 9/11 GI Bill is a new education benefit program for Service members and
veterans who served on active duty on or after Sept.11, 2001. Benefits are payable
for training pursued on or after Aug. 1, 2009. No payments can be made under this
program for training pursued before that date.
To be eligible, the Service member or veteran must serve at least 90 aggregate days
on active duty after Sept. 10, 2001, and remain on active duty or be honorably:
- Discharged from active duty status
- Released from active duty and placed on the retired list or temporary disability
retired list
- Released from active duty and transferred to the Fleet Reserve or Fleet
Marine Corps Reserve
- Released from active duty for further service in a reserve component of
the Armed Forces (such as the National Guard)
Based on the length of active duty service, eligible participants are entitled to
receive a percentage of the following:
- Cost of tuition and fees, not to exceed the most expensive in-state undergraduate
tuition at a public institution of higher education (paid directly to the school);
- Monthly housing allowance equal to the basic allowance for housing payable
to a military E-5 with dependents, in the same zip code as the primary school (paid
directly to the servicemember or veteran);
- Yearly books and supplies stipend of up to $1000 per year (paid directly
to the servicemember or veteran); and
- A one-time payment of $500 paid to certain individuals relocating from highly
rural areas.
More information about Education Benefits through Veterans Affairs is available
at the Department of Veterans Affairs website.
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Home Loans
VA home loan guaranties are issued to help eligible Service members, veterans, reservists
and unmarried surviving spouses obtain homes, condominiums, residential cooperative
housing units, and manufactured homes, and to refinance loans. For additional information
or to obtain VA loan forms, visit
www.homeloans.va.gov.
A VA guaranty helps protect lenders from loss if the borrower fails to repay the
loan. It can be used to obtain a loan to:
- Buy or build a home.
- Buy a residential condominium unit.
- Buy a residential cooperative housing unit.
- Repair, alter, or improve a residence owned by the veteran and occupied
as a home.
- Refinance an existing home loan.
- Buy a manufactured home and/or lot.
- Install a solar heating or cooling system or other energy- efficient improvements.
In addition to the periods of eligibility and conditions of service requirements,
applicants must have a good credit rating, sufficient income, a valid Certificate
of Eligibility (COE), and agree to live in the property in order to be approved
by a lender for a VA home loan. Check out the Financial Management
Awareness Program for more homebuying tips.
Financing, Interest Rates and Terms: Veterans obtain VA-guaranteed
loans through the usual lending institutions, including banks, credit unions, and
mortgage brokers. VA-guaranteed loans can have either a fixed interest rate or an
adjustable rate, where the interest rate may adjust up to one percent annually and
up to five percent over the life of the loan. VA does not set the interest rate.
Interest rates are negotiable between the lender and borrower on all loan types.
More information about home loan Benefits through Veterans Affairs is available
at the Department of Veterans Affairs website.
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Vocational Rehabilitations
The Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) VetSuccess Program assists
Veterans with service-related disabilities to prepare for, find, and keep suitable
jobs. For Veterans with service-connected disabilities so severe that they cannot
immediately consider work, VetSuccess offers services to improve their ability to
live as independently as possible.
Who is eligible?
Active Duty are eligible if they expect to receive an honorable discharge upon separation
from active duty, obtain a memorandum rating of 20% or more from Veterans Affairs,
or apply for Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) VetSuccess services.
If you are a National Guard member, eligibility depends on whether you were federally
activated.
Veterans are eligible if they have received, or will receive, a discharge that is
other than dishonorable, have a service-connected disability rating of at least
10%, or a memorandum rating of 20% or more from the Department of Veteran Affairs
(VA), or apply for Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) VetSuccess
services
Services that may be provided by the VR&E VetSuccess Program include:
- Comprehensive rehabilitation evaluation to determine abilities, skills,
and interests for employment
- Vocational counseling and rehabilitation planning for employment services
- Employment services such as job-training, job-seeking skills, resume development,
and other work readiness assistance
- Assistance finding and keeping a job, including the use of special employer
incentives and job accommodations
- On the Job Training (OJT), apprenticeships, and non-paid work experiences
- Post-secondary training at a college, vocational, technical or business
school
- Supportive rehabilitation services including case management, counseling,
and medical referrals
- Independent living services for Veterans unable to work due to the severity
of their disabilities
More information about vocational benefits through Veterans Affairs is available
at the Department
of Veterans Affairs website.
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Life Insurance
Servicemembers Group Life Insurance (SGLI) is a program of low cost group life insurance
for Service members on active duty, ready reservists, members of the Commissioned
Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Public Health
Service, cadets and midshipmen of the four service academies, and members of the
Reserve Officer Training Corps. SGLI coverage is available in $50,000 increments
up to the maximum of $400,000.
Other types of Life Insurance:
- Veterans Group Life Insurance (VGLI) is post-separation insurance,
which allows Service members to convert their SGLI coverage to renewable term insurance.
Members with full-time SGLI coverage are eligible for VGLI upon release from service.
- Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life Insurance (TSGLI) applies to
active duty members, reservists, National Guard members, funeral honors duty and
one-day muster duty. This benefit is also provided retroactively for members who
suffered severe losses as a result of a traumatic injury between October 7, 2001
and December 1, 2005 if the loss was the direct result of injuries incurred in Operations
Enduring Freedom or Iraqi Freedom.
- Family Servicemembers Group Life Insurance (FSGLI) is a program
extended to the spouses and dependent children of members insured under the SGLI
program.
Learn more about preparing your life insurance policies at the Financial
Management Awareness Program website.
More information about Life Insurance through Veterans Affairs is available
at the Department
of Veterans Affairs website.
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Burial & Funeral Services
Burial benefits include a gravesite in any of the VA’s 131 national cemeteries with available space, opening and closing
of the grave, perpetual care, a
Government headstone or marker, a burial flag, and a Presidential Memorial Certificate, at no cost to
the family. Some Veterans may also be eligible for Burial Allowances. Cremated remains
are buried or inurned in national cemeteries in the same manner and with the same
honors as casketed remains.
Free burial benefits available for spouses and dependents buried in a national cemetery
include:
- Burial with the Veteran
- Perpetual care
- The spouse or dependents name and date of birth and death inscribed on the
Veteran’s headstone, at no cost to the family. Eligible spouses and dependents may
be buried, even if they predecease the Veteran.
Burial benefits available for Veterans buried in a private cemetery include Government headstone or marker, a burial flag, and a Presidential Memorial Certificate, at no cost to
the family. Some Veterans may also be eligible for Burial Allowances. There are
no benefits available to spouses and dependents buried in a private cemetery.
More information about Burial Benefits through Veterans Affairs is available
at the Department of
Veterans Affairs website.
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