38 U.S.C. § 3532 - Computation of educational assistance allowance

• Cite as: 38 U.S.C. § 3532

(a)

(1) The educational assistance allowance on behalf of an eligible person who is pursuing a program of education consisting of institutional courses shall be paid at the monthly rate of $1,224 for full-time, $967 for three-quarter-time, or $710 for half-time pursuit.

(2) The educational assistance allowance on behalf of an eligible person pursuing a program of education on less than a half-time basis shall be paid at the rate of the lesser of-

(A) the established charges for tuition and fees that the educational institution involved requires similarly circumstanced nonveterans enrolled in the same program to pay; or

(B) $1,224 per month for a full-time course.

(b) The educational assistance allowance to be paid on behalf of an eligible person who is pursuing a full-time program of education which consists of institutional courses and alternate phases of training in a business or industrial establishment with the training in the business or industrial establishment being strictly supplemental to the institutional portion, shall be computed at the rate of $1,224 per month.

(c)

(1) An eligible person who is enrolled in an educational institution for a "farm cooperative" program consisting of institutional agricultural courses prescheduled to fall within forty-four weeks of any period of twelve consecutive months and who pursues such program on-

(A) a full-time basis (a minimum of ten clock hours per week or four hundred and forty clock hours in such year prescheduled to provide not less than eighty clock hours in any three-month period),

(B) a three-quarter-time basis (a minimum of seven clock hours per week), or

(C) a half-time basis (a minimum of five clock hours per week),

shall be eligible to receive an educational assistance allowance at the appropriate rate provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, if such eligible person is concurrently engaged in agricultural employment which is relevant to such institutional agricultural courses as determined under standards prescribed by the Secretary. In computing the foregoing clock hour requirements there shall be included the time involved in field trips and individual and group instruction sponsored and conducted by the educational institution through a duly authorized instructor of such institution in which the person is enrolled.

(2) The monthly educational assistance allowance to be paid on behalf of an eligible person pursuing a farm cooperative program under this chapter shall be $636 for full-time, $477 for three-quarter-time, or $319 for half-time pursuit.

(d) If a program of education is pursued by an eligible person at an institution located in the Republic of the Philippines, the educational assistance allowance computed for such person under this section shall be paid at the rate of $0.50 for each dollar.

(e) In the case of an eligible person who is pursuing a program of education under this chapter while incarcerated in a Federal, State, local, or other penal institution or correctional facility for conviction of a felony, the educational assistance allowance shall be paid in the same manner prescribed in section 3482(g) of this title for incarcerated veterans, except that the references therein to the monthly educational assistance allowance prescribed for a veteran with no dependents shall be deemed to refer to the applicable allowance payable to an eligible person under corresponding provisions of this chapter or chapter 36 of this title, as determined by the Secretary.

(f)

(1) Subject to paragraph (3), the amount of educational assistance payable under this chapter for a licensing or certification test described in section 3501(a)(5) of this title is the lesser of $2,000 or the fee charged for the test.

(2) The number of months of entitlement charged in the case of any individual for such licensing or certification test is equal to the number (including any fraction) determined by dividing the total amount paid to such individual for such test by the full-time monthly institutional rate of the educational assistance allowance which, except for paragraph (1), such individual would otherwise be paid under this chapter.

(3) In no event shall payment of educational assistance under this subsection for such a test exceed the amount of the individual's available entitlement under this chapter.

(g)

(1) Subject to paragraph (3), the amount of educational assistance payable under this chapter for a national test for admission or national test providing an opportunity for course credit at institutions of higher learning described in section 3501(a)(5) of this title or a covered preparatory course (as that term is defined in section 3315B(a) of this title) is the amount of the fee charged for the test.