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This is a tricky one based on the nature that both the school and the Government are looking out for their own interests when it comes to paying the least in financial aid. Basically how it works, as I’m sure you may have figured, is that the P911GIB will cover up to $17,500 in tuition and fees costs per year (split over the course of 36 months of benefit, if you qualify for 100% of the benefit). Now, the Government will not want to pay that full $17,500 if they don’t have to, so they will look at your award as post-scholarship and grant awards. For example, if your S gets a merit scholarship to a particular school that covers 5k for that year, then the P911GIB will come into effect after that 5k has been applied to the COA, and thus the Govt saves a potential 5k in having to pay to the school. The same with outside scholarships. They will require you report all your financial awards so that they can determine the proper amount they will give you towards tuition. That’s the simple semantics of it, but it gets complicated when determining need-based aid. Schools also know how much the P911GIB will pay towards tuition and fees, so when they are determining any need-based awards, they may take that into account and interestingly enough you may see FA letters that show you everything you need, but just short of somewhere around that magic $17,500 mark. Sometimes, a student can be caught in the middle of the school and the VA playing a cat and mouse game on who will be saving the most money when paying for the beneficiary’s education.</p>
<p>So in short, the amount of award, especially if it is need-based grants, that you see on the NPCs will most likely change due to the students P911GIB eligibility. What may be important to look for is to see which NPCs have your family out-of-pocket contribution already near (or below) the $17,500 range. Those ones will most likely give you less need-based grants, but will still give you enough to have the 17.5 from the VA cover the rest. If none of this is making sense, please just let me know and I will be more than happy to explain in further detail.</p>
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Okay, so YRP (Yellow Ribbon Program) will certainly affect what I state above. Yellow Ribbon is a program for P911GIB eligible beneficiaries to possibly have their tuition and fees covered above the $17,500 mark. You must be awarded 100% eligibility for the P911GIB to be able to use the YRP.</p>
<p>It basically works like so: a school signs a contractual agreement with the VA stating that for x amount of students where the $17,500 does not end up covering all of the tuition or fees for a given year, then the school will kick in a grant award for 50% of the remaining cost and the VA will kick in the same amount (the other 50% of the needed cost) to have more of the tuition covered. In most, but not all instances, this will result in all tuition and fees being paid for. The more expensive the school and the lower their YRP kicker amount, the less likely that that would be the case.</p>
<p>Ex: School A costs me 50k. School awarded me 5.5k in loans, 2k in grant aid and $0 in scholarships. VA pays 17.5.
50 - 25k (total loans, VA, and grant) = 25k left for me to pay. School A’s YRP kicks in 10k more, so the VA matches the contribution of another 10k, totaling 20k more.
25k - 20k (YRP) = 5k for me to come up with to attend. (This is a very rudimentary example).</p>
<p>The availability and depth of a YRP varies from school to school. Some schools have a limited amount of “seats” for students to be on the YRP and any new eligibles must be placed on a waiting list until other YRP users have left the program (through graduating or manual withdrawal). Other ma have an unlimited amount of spot and an unlimited amount of funds to kick in. Please refer to the VA’s website which periodically updates a list of YRP schools, the amount of “seats” they offer, and the amount they are contracted to kick in:
[Welcome</a> to the GI Bill Web Site | The Home for All Educational Benefits Provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs](<a href=“http://gibill.va.gov/benefits/post_911_gibill/yellow_ribbon_program.html]Welcome”>http://gibill.va.gov/benefits/post_911_gibill/yellow_ribbon_program.html)
Just click on the most recent school year search link and then click on which state you would like to search schools in.
[Welcome</a> to the GI Bill Web Site | The Home for All Educational Benefits Provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs](<a href=“http://gibill.va.gov/gi_bill_info/ch33/yrp/yrp_list_2012.htm]Welcome”>http://gibill.va.gov/gi_bill_info/ch33/yrp/yrp_list_2012.htm)</p>
<p>Obviously the schools with unlimited seats or contribution kickers will be better bets, but it’s fair to mention that YRP contracts are reevaluated every year to every few years (depending on school) and the list and it’s details can change by time he is applying to schools. For the schools that have a limited number of seats, it’s best to call them to ask if they have a waiting list (first-come, first-served) for their YRP. Some schools may have a small mount of seats to offer, but they may also have a lower demand for the program.</p>