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Veteran and Service Members Using Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) Benefits

The information on this page applies to students using Chapter 31 Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) benefits.

All VR&E users should contact Veteran and Military Affiliated Services to verify that VA education benefits can be used for your program of interest.

To use VR&E benefits at The University of Texas at Austin, students should have completed their application for VR&E benefits on va.gov and be approved by their Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC). The student’s VRC will submit the approved invoice into the Tungsten system or processing by the University.

Students who have used VR&E benefits at another school should contact their VRC to ensure they are approved for UT programs.

Requesting VA Enrollment Certification

All Students

All VR&E students must submit a VA Enrollment Certification Request (GI Bill® Questionnaire) for each semester they want to use their VA benefit. Requests should be submitted after enrolling in courses for a semester.

All students using VR&E must also upload the following documents to the GI Bill® Document Uploads portal:

Graduate Students

In addition to the requirements listed for all students, all graduate students (excluding MBA and Law students) will be required to upload two additional documents their first semester.

  1. An official degree plan from the student’s academic advisor or program coordinator that specifies the overall degree requirements, the title of the degree (e.g., MA, PhD, etc., not merely the level (e.g., master, doctoral, etc.), the major and a complete listing of required coursework (including course numbers and titles).
  2. A semester-specific letter from the student’s academic advisor or program coordinator identifying which courses the student is registered for (including course numbers and titles), and how those courses apply towards the student’s degree. This is also referred to as an advisor letter. Both the degree plan and the advisor letter must be signed by the graduate advisor or program coordinator on departmental letterhead in order to have your enrollment certified to the VA.

Each semester thereafter, students must upload a semester-specific letter from the student’s academic advisor or program coordinator identifying which courses the student is registered for (including course numbers and titles), and how those courses apply towards the student’s degree.

Tuition Deferment for VR&E Users

The University’s School Certifying Officials (SCO) team will use the Tungsten invoice to provide a 90-day tuition deferment while the University waits to receive the tuition payment from the VA.

If the tuition deferment results in a zero balance ($0.00) bill, the student must still confirm their attendance on their tuition bill before the payment deadline. Failure to confirm attendance prior to the payment deadline will result in the student being disenrolled from the university.

Book and Supply Purchases

Students using Chapter 31 Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) benefits are eligible for VA payment of required books and supplies, which must be purchased through the University Co-op.

To purchase books and supplies, students should follow these steps:

  1. Coordinate directly with your assigned VR&E counselor. VA will determine the semester allowance and types of expenses covered. Your VR&E counselor will upload a purchase order into the Tungsten system.

    You can provide the following University Co-op information to your VR&E counselor to help them process your purchase order:

    Vendor Name: University Co-Operative Society
    Vendor ID: 740960070
    Facility Code: 99999999
    Email: coopservices@universitycoop.com
    Billing address: 2246 Guadalupe St., Austin, TX. 78705

    Once you know your purchase order has been loaded into Tungsten, proceed to step 2.

  2. Students should contact the University Co-op (David Barkley or Jason Shumate by email (coopservices@universitycoop.com) as early as possible to coordinate your book and supplies purchase. You should be prepared to provide your class schedule with course numbers.

  3. The textbook staff at the University Co-op will be able to:

    • Provide information about your school supply allowance.
    • Confirm your textbooks are on hand and reserved.
    • Provide information about the Longhorn Textbook Access program.

If you have any questions about your VR&E book and supplies purchase, please contact the following individuals: