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VA STUDENT FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Regardless of Military/VA benefits, all students are held accountable to the “Financial Responsibility Agreement” with the DBU cashier: https://www.dbu.edu/cashier/financial-responsibility-agreement.html.  Prior to registering, all students should review “Payment of Fees / Promise to Pay” section and note that dropping/withdrawing from courses may cause the student to incur debts owed to VA and/or DBU as well as jeopardize some/all of any anticipated tuition payment from VA. 

Registering in (adding) courses after the first day of the term may cause VA to prorate their payment of tuition & fees (applicable for Chapter 33 Post-9/11), causing the student to incur some out-of-pocket charges.  If your benefits exhaust or reach the delimiting (expiration date) part way through the term without extension, VA will prorate their payment towards only the portion of the term in which you had remaining entitlement time.  Courses dropped or withdrawn prior to VA certification and subsequent submission of tuition & fees to VA may not be eligible for VA payment (applicable for Chapters 33 Post-9/11 and 31 VR&E), and may cause the student to incur debts to VA.  Courses dropped/withdrawn after VA certification may cause both the student and school to incur debts to VA.

A financial settlement with the DBU Cashier (214-333-8863) may be necessary for the following: any charges not covered by VA (e.g., dorm, meal plan, drop fees, fines, etc.), or if the specific VA benefit chapter/percentage tier does not cover all tuition charges, or if your remaining VA entitlement time cannot cover the entire enrollment period/term, or if your VA benefits approval (Certificate of Eligibility) or PO authorization from VA is still pending when the term begins.  Note that some chapters of VA benefits (e.g., Ch. 30 MIGB-AD, Ch. 35 DEA, & Ch. 1606 MGIB-SR) do not pay any funding directly to the school for tuition & fees, and the stipends VA sends directly to the students may not be enough in and of themselves to cover student account charges.

All balances must be paid as agreed or the actions under the section titled “Actions for Unpaid Accounts” may result. In compliance with Title 38 United States Code Section 3679(e), neither the “Actions for Unpaid Accounts” nor any other penalty/late fee will be imposed on any student covered under chapter 31 (Veterans Readiness & Employment) or chapter 33 (Post-9/11) VA benefits due to delayed disbursement of funding from VA.

For additional information, see the various sections in the general Financial Information - Home catalog page: (Home > Introduction to the University > Financial Information).

OTHER VA STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

It is the student’s responsibility to contact the VA School Certifying Officials (SCOs) in Military & Veteran Services to request certification and provide relevant documentation of benefits. Once a VA student has authorized the certification of an initial term of enrollment, the VA SCO will continue to submit certifications for subsequent terms until the VA SCO receives a request from the student not to certify a term/course or receives VA notification of exhausted benefits.

It is the student’s responsibility to ensure VA has valid contact information for the student to receive and review important notifications directly from VA to the student (e.g., remaining entitlement time, remaining annual tuition & fees cap, exhaustion of benefits or delimiting date, student VA debts incurred, etc.), of which the VA SCO may not be aware. Depending on the type of VA benefits, students may be required by VA to do additional monthly self-verification of enrollment. 

It is the student’s responsibility to communicate any concerns or requests for accommodations related to disabilities with the Accommodations Services (AS) department in Student Affairs: https://www.dbu.edu/disability-services/.

It is the student’s responsibility to communicate with the corresponding college of any course in which the student desires to utilize free tutoring available for all DBU students.

The VA SCO is available to assist the student as a liaison for VA matters; however, it is the student’s responsibility to bring any concerns to the VA SCO regarding current VA benefits status or how VA benefits may be affected prior to each term that he/she registers, adds, drops, or withdraws from a course. In addition to the VA SCO, students have an assigned academic advisor for consultation regarding their degree plans. Furthermore, both the Financial Aid and Cashier departments have designated military point-of-contact representatives available for assisting VA students with their other financial aid awards and student accounts.

See the "Transcripts and Military Transcripts" section for additional requirements.

Examples of Common Fees include, but are not limited to:

  • VA Chapters 33 (Post-9/11) & 31 (VR&E) can pay toward: Student Services fee, Technology fee, Specific Course Material Fees, Lab fee, etc.  In general, mandatory fees are required for all students enrolled in specific courses without exception or waivers.

  • VA Chapters 33 (Post-9/11) & 31 (V&RE) does not pay toward (i.e. these are the student’s responsibility): Enrollment fee (charged by admissions for students to confirm “intent” to enroll and gain access to their MyDBU student portal – not to be confused with Registration fee), Drop/Withdrawal fee, parking/library fines, meal plans, campus dorm/apartment fees, Student Life Package, Summer Bridge Program fee, Trip costs for travel courses, Continuing Progress (CP) course fee, Transcript charge, TaskStream Data Management (STRM) fee, Education program fees (e.g., fees tied to non-certifiable zero-credit hour seminar courses, TEA Educator Program fee, TExES materials fee), Fine Arts Adobe (FAAD) fee, etc.  In general, if fees are not mandatory, or if exceptions are made to waive fees, they are not eligible for VA funding.

  • Questions about any fee not listed here should be directed to the VA School Certifying Officials (SCOs) in Military & Veteran Services.

Examples of Fees waived:

  • Registration fee is waived for any term in which student will receive any chapter of VA benefits.

  • Graduation fee is waived for any student receiving any chapter of VA benefits, or any service member regardless of VA benefits status.  Waiver is only applicable if graduation application is submitted to the Registrar’s office during the “Early” and “Regular” application periods; however, student will be required to pay if submitted during the “Late” application (VA cannot pay for this fee).

  • PRST Guidebook material fee for PRST*2301 course is waived for any term in which student will receive any chapter of VA benefits.

  • Late Payment & Deferred Payment fees for tuition are waived only for students receiving Chapter 31 (VR&E) or 100% Chapter 33 (Post-9/11) VA benefits if all tuition is anticipated to be covered by VA.  Late Payment & Deferred payment fees may still be the student’s responsibility for any portion of their balance not covered by VA.