ROBERT M. WORLEY II DIRECTOR, EDUCATION SERVICE VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION North Carolina Association of Coordinators of Veterans Affairs March 17, 2014

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION OVERVIEW FY11-FY13 trainees/dollars paid/claims completed Long Term Solution FY13 claims processing highlights Claims processing timeliness Principles of Excellence – Centralized Complaint System – Comparison Tool EDU realignment 1

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION FY11 – FY13 Trainees/Dollars Paid 2 BenefitEducation Program FY 11 Trainees / Dollars Paid FY 12 Trainees / Dollars Paid FY 13 Trainees / Dollars Paid Chapter 30Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB)-AD185,220 / $1.4B118,549 / $932M99,755 / $775M Chapter 32 Veterans Educational Assistance Program (VEAP) 112 / $1.3M76 / $682K29 / $496K *Chapter 33 Post-9/11 GI Bill555,329 / $7.7B646,302 / $8.5B754,229 / $10.2B Chapter 35 Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance Program (DEA) 90,657 / $463M87,707 / $455M89,160 / $483M Chapter 1606 Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve (MGIB-SR) 65,216 / $201M60,393 / $157M62,656 / $156M Chapter 1607 Reserve Educational Assistance Program (REAP) 27,302 / $95M19,774 / $77M17, 297 / $70M Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP) N/A12,251 / $6.1M67,918 / $428M Total 923,836 / $9.8B945,052 / $10.1B 1,091,044 / 12.1B *As of March 13 th, VA issued $39 billion in Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit payments to 1,162,591 individuals since program inception (August 2009).

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Long Term Solution (LTS) Supplemental Automation Summary 3

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION FY13 Claims Processing Highlights 4,513,286 total education claims processed (28% more than FY12) ̶ 561,139 original claims (14% more than FY12) ̶ 3,952,147 supplemental claims (31% more than FY12) Payment processing accuracy rate at 98.7% – Exceeded the target of 98% 58% reduction in pending claims volume in FY13 ̶ Pending claims at the end of FY13 was 89,331 (FY12 was 213,590 claims) Exceeded claims processing timeliness goals (average days to complete) ̶ Original claims at 26.2 days compared to 30.5 in FY12 (14% improvement) ̶ Supplemental claims at 9.7 days compared to 16.5 in FY12 (41% improvement) 4

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION FY13 Original Claims Processing Timeliness Goal 28 Days Original Claims Oct-12Nov-12Dec-12Jan-13Feb-13Mar-13Apr-13May-13Jun-13Jul-13Aug-13Sep-13 MGIB (CH30) DEA (CH35) MGIB-SR (1606) Post-9/11 GI Bill (CH33) REAP (1607) VRAP Average All Programs

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION FY13 Supplemental Claims Processing Timeliness Goal 14 Days

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION LTS – Recent Releases Release added the following functionality to LTS: Duplicate Payments fix which addresses premature payments being released when a technical error occurs Off Ramp Adjustments ̶ Adjusted ‘Change of Address” off ramp to decrease number of cases incorrectly off ramped ̶ Adjusted ‘Validation Error(s) Detected During Automated Work Product” off ramp to replace non-null values when a termination is received ̶ Enabled ‘Change in VADIR Kicker Data has been detected’ off ramp Additional defect and enhancement request to improve processing and letter generation Auto-Pause dashboard – feature permits monitoring of automation to detect interruption of services Release 6.4 is tentatively scheduled for March 15, The functionality in release 6.4 will include: 81 months entitlement (PL ) that authorizes VA to award up to 81 months of entitlement to individuals who use the Survivors’ and Dependent’s Educational Assistance program (chapter 35) Adjustment to the VADIR TOE (Transfer Of Entitlement) Off Ramp Logic Fixes to minor production defects 7

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Principles of Excellence – Centralized Complaint System VA and DoD created a complaint system for students to register complaints against educational institutions for fraudulent, deceptive, and misleading practices that will be tracked to the educational institution and responses provided to the complainant Developed a system with DoD to accept complaints through a webform and the Education Service national call center ̶ Launched on January 30, 2014 ̶ 285 complaints received within the first 24 hours across agencies (VA, DoD, Dept. of Ed) 1057 complaints received by VA as 3/14/14 The top two complaints cited were: 8 8 COMPLAINTS BY BENEFIT Post-9/11 GI Bill574 Veterans Retraining Assistance Program299 COMPLAINTS BY ISSUE Financial Issues (e.g. Tuition/Fee charges)528 Other441

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Phase I – Launched February 4, 2014 Value of their GI Bill benefit at a particular school (estimator) School indicators (similar to college scorecard) Veteran indicators (e.g., PoE, Yellow Ribbon, GI Bill beneficiaries) 9 Principles of Excellence – Comparison Tool Phase II Calculates GI Bill Benefits – Tuition / Fees (pre-populated from ED’s database) – In-State vs. Out of State School Indicators (PL Requirements) – Retention rate – Accreditation Veteran Student Outcomes Measures – During School (Retention Rates, Persistence Rates, Course Completion Rates) – Graduation (Transfer Rates, Graduation Rates, Certificate Completion) GI Bill Estimator/Comparison Tool; allows Veterans and family members to calculate estimated GI Bill benefits and research approved educational institutions. Website -

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP) Public Law , Section 211 Sunset/Last Payment Date: March 31, 2014 – statutorily imposed (sec. 211(k)) Stopped accepting applications - October 1, 2013 Received 143,139 VRAP applications Legislation to extend VRAP: H.R. 357, Section 15 January 23, 2014: Legislation passed in the House to extend VRAP for two (2) months. S Authorizes VA to pay retraining assistance for up to 100,000 more Veterans under VRAP for two additional years, until June 30, One-Time Payments To enable VRAP participants to complete training for their current enrollment period, VA will make a one-time payment The one-time payments will cover training completed on or after April 1, 2014 through the end of the participant’s current enrollment, or June 30, 2014; whichever comes first 10

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION EDU Realignment  VBA realigned authority over the planning and management of education claims processing from the Office of Field Operations (OFO) to Education Service (EDU) on October 1, 2013 ̶ The realignment only affects managerial staff at the four Regional Processing Offices (RPO). It does not impact the day-to-day work of RPO claims processing staff. ̶ The realignment enhances VBA’s effectiveness by establishing a direct line of authority to EDU to enhance responsiveness between staff responsible for production and staff involved in policy, training, and regulations.  EDU established a new organizational structure to include an Operations Division  Key Operations Issues ̶ National workload management strategy ̶ Updated performance standards ̶ Organization structure ̶ Reporting requirements. 11

VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION CONTACT US 12 WEBSITE: FACEBOOK: TELEPHONE: GIBILL-1 ( )