Marie George, Chief Education Liaison Officer, Central Region St Louis Regional Processing Office Update SCO Workshop Annual Reporting Fees AVECO July 14 – 18, 2014

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION 1

Annual Reporting Fee - Background 2 The Annual Reporting Fee is authorized under 38 U.S.C. §3684(c) and is paid in lieu of any other compensation or reimbursement for reports or certifications that the school is required to submit to VA by law or regulation The ARF payment shall be used solely for the processing of enrollment certifications or for supporting programs for Veterans at a facility. Educational Institutions are paid at a rate of $12.00 per student enrolled during the calendar year. Educational Institutions that process certifications for advance payments are paid at a rate of $15.00 per student that receives an advance payment Fees are paid for students receiving VA education benefits under Chapter 30, 31, 32, 33, 1606, and 1607.

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Annual Reporting Fee - Background 3 BDN calculates the ARF payment for each facility based on the award lines within the BDN master records for each benefit BDN will extract a list of students per facility from each benefit system These extracts include info on whether the student received an advance payment during the calendar year The extracts are combined and then scrubbed to remove duplicate instances of a student The count of students at each rate is summed and a total amount due is calculated for each facility

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Annual Reporting Fee - Validation 4 Once the amount payable is calculated, the stations will receive a preliminary list of potential facility rejects A facility may be rejected for one of the following reasons: –Reporting Fee Bar indicator is set in WEAMS –Applicable Law Code Indicator is set to “Not Approved” in WEAMS –School Name and/or Address Error –Invalid Facility Code Stations are to make corrections in WEAMS to facilities that were erroneously rejected If the facility was rejected for Invalid Facility Code, stations may submit a corrected facility code to Hines ITC Once validations are complete, final payments will be generated

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Annual Reporting Fee - Payment 5 The ARF payment must be made as close as possible to the end of the calendar year for which it is due, typically it is paid within the first quarter of the calendar year Payments are paid using the 8 digit facility code, one payment per facility code will be generated (no combined payments for a school with multiple facility codes) Payments will be made by Electronic Funds Transfer to the EFT account stored in WEAMS If no EFT account exists for a facility, the payment will be sent by check to the mailing address of the School Certifying Officials A listing of students associated with the ARF is sent to each facility directly

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION REPORTING FEES Reporting fees have been issued Schools received a list of students directly from Hines ELRs can request payment for any students not included Send a list of names to ELR $12.00 for each certification Effective October 1, 2011, VA requires all reporting fees to be used exclusively in support of school efforts to certify the enrollment of their VA students 6

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Annual Reporting Fee – Rejects 7 VA Responsibility Any ARF payments that were rejected during the final payment processing will be reviewed by the Station of Jurisdiction If it is determined the payment should be paid, the SOJ will request a supplemental payment be issued to the facility If it is determined the facility was not due an ARF, no further action is necessary

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Annual Reporting Fee - Rejects 8 VA Responsibility A daily report or returned ARF payments is generated by BDN If an ARF payment is returned, the Station of Jurisdiction must review to determine if the facility is still entitled to the payment If entitled, the SOJ will request a supplemental payment be issued to the facility

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Annual Reporting Fee – Supplemental Payments 9 If a supplemental payment needs to be issued to a facility, the Station of Jurisdiction must submit a request to Hines ITC which should include a list of facility codes to be paid along with the payment amount due

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Reporting Fee Requirements PL , Section 203 ``Any reporting fee paid an educational institution or joint apprenticeship training committee after the date of the enactment of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance improvements Act of 2011 shall be utilized by such institution or committee solely for the making of certifications required under this chapter or chapter 31, 34, or 35 of this title or for otherwise supporting programs for veterans.''. Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take effect on October 1,

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Locate your ELR Download SCO Handbook Benefits information Ask a question (Right Now Web): National Education Call Center – General Questions SCO dedicated phone line Debt Management Center – SCO - students or Resources

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