Correspondence and Payments
- Check your HawkMail account often for information from HCC and the VA.
- Contact the School Certifying Official (SCO) with any questions.
- Keep a file with all VA correspondence and award letters.
- First-time benefit applications may take the VA up to 90 days to process.
- Certification begins the first business day after drop/add and can take up to 30 days.
- Once the VA receives certification, it can take 4–6 weeks to issue payment. Basic Allowance for Housing will be issued a month after the student is certified. For example, if enrolled for August, payment will be made in September.
Academic Guidelines
- Veteran students must be Degree Seeking and planning to graduate from one of the following programs: Associate in Arts (AA), Associate in Science (AS), selected College Credit Certificates (CCC), or Post-Secondary Adult Vocational (PSAV). Note: Educator Preparatory Institute no longer qualifies.
- Courses in excess of the elective limit for the AA degree will not be certified unless the course is a prerequisite for a required course or it is the student's graduating semester.
- Courses that do not apply toward the HCC degree cannot be certified. Exception: In the graduating semester, course can be certified if the student is also taking a required course. This can only be done once and if the student does not pass the course, additional courses will not be certified the following semester.
- Repeated courses cannot be certified unless a grade of C or better is earned.
- Courses taken as Audit, CLEP or Credit by Exam cannot be certified.
- Students must maintain Standards of Academic Progress (SAP).
- VA students on probationary status may continue to receive benefits for two consecutive terms. Benefits will be terminated following the second consecutive term of attendance on probationary status if the student’s cumulative GPA does not meet SAP. Veteran students must maintain at least a 2.0 GPA.
- Veteran students must comply with attendance requirements established by each instructor.
Tuition Assistance
Any student who is planning to utilize Tuition Assistance (TA) is advised to contact their branch’s Educational Service’s Officer(ESO) before enrolling at Hillsborough Community College:
Air Force TA: Military Tuition Assistance Program
Navy TA: Naval Education and Training Professional Development Center: Home - NETC
Florida National guard (EDD): https://edd.dma.myflorida.com/flng/
Veteran Affairs Payments
In accordance with Title 38 U.S.C. § 3679(e), Hillsborough Community College will not impose any penalty, including the assessment of late fees, denial of access to classes, libraries, or other institutional facilities, or require a Chapter 31 or Chapter 33 beneficiary to borrow additional funds to cover the individual's inability to meet their financial obligations to the institution due to the delayed disbursement of funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
This protection is provided for a period of up to 90 days from the date the institution certifies the student's enrollment to the VA, or until the date payment from the VA is received—whichever comes first.
To qualify for this provision, eligible students must:
- Submit a Certificate of Eligibility (COE), Statement of Benefits, or other official documentation as required by the College.
- Certification Request; and
- Provide any additional information necessary for the certification of enrollment.
This policy ensures that Chapter 31 and Chapter 33 beneficiaries are not disadvantaged due to VA payment processing delays.
Additional Information
- When talking with an advisor or counselor, be sure to mention that VA benefits will be used.
- If you have an address change, please change it with the VA as well as HCC.
- If you are not enrolled for a year or more and plan to return, you must notify the SCO.