Please note that this transcript was auto-generated. We apologize for any minor errors in spelling or grammar.

[00:00:00] So I’ll record this webinar and we will send it to you tomorrow so that you’ll be able to refer back to it or share with anyone else, you know. And, um, I, we will also send you the slides as well. And if we can just click to the next slide, Nick, I will do a, give a little housekeeping. So you’re able to control your audio, um, right from the bottom of your screen.

And then if you have a question, just ask it either in the question and answer section or the chat feature. And I will monitor that and I can pose those questions to Nick as we go along. Um, and if we don’t get to it, we’ll certainly answer that your, all your questions at the end. Um, there’s also a live transcript feature.

You can press the CC button and that will give you a live transcript of the words that are spoken. So feel free to, uh, use that service. And [00:01:00] if you need to leave, you can leave. And again, we will, um, we will send you the recording tomorrow. Um, if you want to. I think we’ll go to the next slide. Might might just say a word about MEFA, just so that you know who MEFA is.

We have been around since 1982. And we help families plan, save, and pay for college. Uh, we have the state’s college savings plans, we also have loans. And then everything else we do is giving free guidance to, um, to people of all ages about, um, planning, saving, and paying for college. So if you wanna come back and look at our other webinars, you can find them [email protected] slash.

Events and we’re always available for quick questions or longer conversations, um, to help you. So thanks and Nick with that, I will turn it over to you. Excellent. Thank you so much. So, you know, as we already talked [00:02:00] about, this is our Veterans Education benefits, how to pay for college as a veteran presentation.

Here’s the Veterans Upward Bound team. Uh, we are a team of three. Myself and Jen are the assistant directors. Um, I live on the South Shore. She lives on the North Shore. So we kinda split the way that we, uh, work with students and, you know, work with our, our partners in the veteran community, uh, geographically.

And then Kate is our communication and outreach specialist. So, uh, just a little bit more about me. Um, I’m an Army veteran. I was in the Army for four and a half years. I did, uh, my first duty station was at Fort Drummond, New York, the 10th Mountain Division. Um, I did one year in Korea at Camp Humphreys, and I did my last eight months at the United States Military Academy at West Point in, uh, um, you know, upstate New York.

Um, the reason I share this picture is I just, you know, wanna let everyone know in attendance that, you know, I’m a veteran who has used my VA education benefits. And, uh, to put it simply, they really change my life. So that’s why I love doing what I do at [00:03:00] Veterans Upward Bound. I like helping veterans understand their benefits and, you know, choose a career and make sure that they are using these life changing benefits.

Veterans Upward Bound does offer a lot of services. And I’m just gonna quickly run through a little background, and if any of these are of interest to you, you can, uh, reach out to me and I’ll put my information in the chat at the, um, at the end of the presentation. In addition to helping veterans with their VA education or state veterans benefits, we also offer remedial and refresher courses.

Uh, currently we are, are fully online due to the pandemic, uh, but we do anticipate going back on campus. In the fall, um, our courses are designed to, uh, make sure that upon completion you are testing at a college level so that you hit the ground running and you use your education benefits. Um, for courses that kind of co count towards your degree.

We don’t like seeing veterans go in and have to use their GI bill or voc rehab to, uh, fund those pre-college courses. We’d like to see you take them with us for [00:04:00] free and hit the ground running when you go to your school. Additionally, we have, uh, you know, various workshops. We do one-on-one counseling.

And we offer tutoring services for veterans who do request ’em. Here’s our agenda. Um, at the end of each section, I’m gonna just stop briefly and see if we have any questions. Uh, specifically the first and second subsection are a little bit more, uh, heavy. So I will stop there and make sure that if you have any questions, you want me to clear something up, uh, that I get to that while it’s on your mind.

So here’s our first section. It’s a VA education benefits overview. Uh, just some quick stats on, you know, what veterans are using their benefits right now and, uh, where they’re doing it. Uh, just short of 1 million veterans reported using their, uh, GI bill benefits in 2019, uh, which seems like a lot, but then if we look at the stat below, only 41% of Massachusetts Veterans Guard, uh, Gardas and Reservist reported using some sort of VA or state education benefits through the year 2017.[00:05:00]

Often, you know, when we work with veterans who maybe their GRL expired or, you know, it’s the expiration date’s coming up, they cite uncertainty on how does it work. Um, and that’s what Veterans Upward Bound is here for. Uh, we offer these free services to make sure that you understand your benefits and you’re using them to the best of your advantage to pay for college.

So here’s a pretty big list of, uh, various VA education benefits. This is what may cause a lot of this, um, uncertainty that veterans cite. You can see the three bolded ones. They are the three most commonly used right now. So if you are, you know, a veteran or someone who works with a veteran who, uh, qualifies or wants to use 32, 35 or 1606, please just have them reach out to us and we’d be more than happy to help them one-on-one.

So there’s a lot of different, there’s a lot of similarities and a lot of, uh, key differences between these three programs. There are things that make post nine 11 and vr e very similar, but there’s things that [00:06:00] make them very different as well. So it’s important to understand that, um, this is something I’m gonna come back to multiple times in this presentation, but your benefits are individual to you.

So what, you know, a veteran who you served with during your time, maybe using you may not qualify for. Um, so it’s important to understand the, the key differences between them and what you qualify for before using it. ’cause often. Um, using a benefit is an irrevocable decision, so we wanna make sure you’re using the right one from the beginning.

So we’re gonna hop into the chapter 33, post nine 11 GI bill. This is the most, uh, commonly used GI bill right now. Um, you could see here the requirements are you had to have served at least 90 days total active duty after nine 10, 2001, or you could have been discharged with a service connected disability after 30 days.

But you must have an audible discharge. And also note the expiration guidelines at the bottom here. If you separated prior to 2013, there unfortunately is a 15 year, um, [00:07:00] expiration date. However, if you separated after or during 2013 or later, there is no expiration date, which for those veterans is great, but for those before they kind of got awry to the deal.

So, um, you’ll see this, this is a little different from the other GI bills because the, uh. Eligibility percentages are tiered in 10% as opposed to other gis that we’ll cover later. Don’t work this way, but this is just something to keep in mind. Generally, the rule of thumb is if you served more than three years, not including basic training in your, um, a IT or whatever your branches, um, advanced training was, you’d be eligible for 100% of your benefit.

This is a really important number to keep in mind, um, because everything is contingent on your percentage, including your tuition, your housing, your book stipend, and all of that good stuff that we’ll cover in these next slides. When picking a school, it’s important to, you know, uh, keep in mind if you’re going to a private school, uh, the payments are different than [00:08:00] going to a state school such as UMass Bridgewater State, Salem State, what have you, or community college.

The VA will only pay up to $25,000 per year to a private school, which, uh, you know, could often turn veterans off from going to a school like Suffolk University, Northeastern, uh, Worcester, um, you know, some of the, uh, bigger schools out that way. Um, there are ways to fund that and go to these schools if that’s where you would like to go.

However, it does require some leg work. So something to keep in mind when planning for your finances and using your, um, you know, planning to use your benefit.

So now we’re gonna go into the books and supply stipends. Um, we’re gonna have an example after we go over this. If you are eligible for 100% of your post nine 11 GI Bill, you are eligible for up to $1,000 per year in your yearly book stipend, which comes out to approximately $42 per credit hour. It’s important to note that eligibility percentage that we talked about earlier, if you had an, you know, 80% eligibility [00:09:00] level.

Thousand dollars would actually be $800. So it’s important to keep that number in mind if you’re not 100% because all of your, your book stipend, your housing, your tuition will be, um, that percentage of the, uh, of what the actual cost is. So let’s go into a quick example. Let’s say, uh, in the fall semester, you know, you’re, you just got outta the military in July and you’re starting at UMass Boston.

Uh, in the fall, let’s say you take 12 credit hours. The way that we find how much book stipend you’re gonna get, you take that 12 hours times the 41 66 and it comes out to approximately $500. Note that, um, after that $500 payment, you still have half of it left. For students who only go to school in the fall, in the spring, this usually isn’t a problem.

Um, you get 500 before the fall starts and 500 before the spring starts, and that would take up your $1,000 stipend. However, a lot of veterans like to go to school, um, year round. There’s multiple reasons for it. Um, you know, [00:10:00] maybe you did five years in the military and you feel like, oh, I wanna finish my degree a little bit faster.

’cause I feel like I’m a little bit, uh, behind on life ’cause I joined the military, you know, um, or often too, uh, veterans are reliant on that housing allowance that helps them pay rent so they wanna go to school year round. Um, this is something that I did when I used my GI bill for sure. ’cause I needed that rent money.

However, it’s important to plan ahead. Um, with your book stipend because if you use some in the winter, you’re gonna see in the summer, you’re not gonna have any, uh, funds left. So let’s, uh, keep going through, through this example. In the winter, you went to, uh, you took one class that was three credit hours, times that rate.

It’s gonna be approximately $125. Note that you have 375 remaining in the spring. You take 12 credit hours again, and, you know, normally you would get that $500 payment that you got in the fall. However, remember that you only had 375 remaining, so that’s the maximum amount of money you’re gonna get in the spring.

And then in the summer, any classes you take, you unfortunately will not [00:11:00] get any book and supply statement. Just stuff to keep in mind when planning your finances, when using your VA education benefits. So we’re gonna quickly go over the monthly housing allowance. Um, training time is pretty much how they determine.

What your monthly housing allowance is gonna be. Generally, uh, at most schools, anything 12 credits or more is considered 100% training time. And as you can see here, I won’t breach through each row, but as you take less and less credits, your training time decreases and therefore your housing allowance will decrease.

Um, training time is always rounded to the nearest 10% and the rate is always paid at the, uh, E five with dependence rate at the main campus zip code. Um, and that rate is, you know, regardless of what your rank was when you separated from the military, if you know you were an E one and you separated with a service connected disability, you will get the E five rate.

Same thing for someone who was an E eight when they separated. It’s across the board for all of our, so now we’re gonna go into a quick housing allowance [00:12:00] example. For school, we’re gonna use the example. Um, let’s say this veteran’s going to UMass Boston for the school. As we showed in the last slide, the max housing allowance benefit is just over $3,000.

This veteran, we’re gonna say that they served 30 months on active duty, which would entitle ’em to 90% of their VA education benefit. And let’s just say to make it, uh, you know, make this calculation a little different, uh, difficult. We’ll say they took three classes at uh, nine total credits. That’s gonna be 75% enrollment.

So how are we gonna calculate this after we round that enrollment level to the nearest 10th? You’re gonna take that housing allowance, multiply it by your eligibility level, and multiply it by your enrollment, and you could see how that $3,000 housing allowance quickly went down to $2,177. Um, you know, that’s still a nice, uh, reward for using your GI bill and getting, you know, paid to go to school.

However, this [00:13:00] is just stuff we like to let all veterans we work with know, because, um, often, you know, there’s a lot of uncertainty on how it works and we see veterans think I’m always gonna get that full housing allowance no matter how long I served, no matter how many classes I’ve taken. So this is all stuff, um, that, you know, for your individual situation, veterans Upward Bound can definitely help you, uh, understand.

Housing allowance rates for online learning. It’s an across the, uh, board rate. Uh, it doesn’t matter if you live in Boston, you live in Ohio, Arkansas, Los Angeles, it’s gonna be $916 and 50 cents, um, per month. Uh, additionally, I like to let students know if you have the ability to go to one in-person class, um, you’re actually eligible for that full housing allowance rate that we talked about on the previous slide.

Um, often that looks like, you know, a veteran going to a Tuesday night class and then taking the remaining three classes online. Um, it is a significant, uh, increase in the amount of money that the VA will pay you, and it does a lot, um, for you [00:14:00] financially, so you can really focus on your studies while you’re going to school quickly.

I also need to note that, um, there’s a lot of confusion as well about how does online learning with covid, essentially, if your courses are meant to be in person. But they were forced online due to the pandemic. You’ll continue to receive the full housing ons rate. However, if your courses, you know, are meant to be online, um, you’re still gonna get this rate.

There’s kind of no way around that with the va. So now we’re gonna move on to the other common GI Bill. The Montgomery GI Bill. Um, many of you are probably familiar with this as it is the GI bill that you very likely opted to pay in. Uh, $100 pay deductions for the first 12 months of your contract. Um, keep in mind this one does have a 10 year expiration timeframe, and this GI bill is actually gonna be phasing out in 2030 because, um, since the creation of the post nine 11 GI bill, um, the Montgomery really does, in most cases, pales in comparison.[00:15:00]

Here’s the service requirements. If you remember from the post nine 11 service requirements we talked about, it was really tiered from, you know, 190, 80, all the way down to, to 10. Um, but unlike post nine 11, Montgomery only has two eligibility groups. You either serve three or more years or fewer of them for years.

And as such, um, here’s the payment rates based on your time and service. I like to say here that um, don’t focus too much on the numbers, try to remember more of the concepts and how the GI Bill works. Um, ’cause you know, these numbers are kind of arbitrary until it comes to understanding what your exact situation is.

So, um, actually before I move on here, but chapter 30, if you notice with post nine 11, we talked about housing tuition. Book stipend. With the Montgomery GI Bill, there’s only one payment, one stipend. Um, with this monthly rate, you are expected to pay your school, um, and with anything else that you have left, you could pay for books and rent.

So this is where a [00:16:00] big difference between these GI bills comes in. The last VA education benefit we are gonna discuss before doing A quick example is Veterans Readiness and Employment, which was just rebranded. Uh, it was formally known as voc rehab. So you’ll probably hear me continue to refer to it as voc rehab, uh, out of habit, just because it’s, you know, it’s, it’s been called voc rehab for so long.

There are some requirements for it. You must have an other than dishonorable discharge, you know, like most other VA uh programs. You have to have a 10% service connected disability or higher, and you must be able to display to the VA that you have a significant employment handicap with VR and E. All of your books, fees, supplies, and tuition are fully covered.

Um, and there is some basic eligibility as you can see. Um, 12 years from the day that you are discharged from active duty is your, uh, you know, your basic eligibility. But also that can be reset. If you got a service connected disability three years after you separated, then that 12 years would reset again.[00:17:00]

We need to, um, be upfront about v and e. The VA will pay for you to go to college with this program. However, v and e is different from the two GI bills we spoke about. ’cause the GI bills are an entitlement. Those are what you earned by virtue of signing that contract and joining the military. V and e is an, uh, an employment program that you have to be approved for.

And in order to be approved, you actually go on, you know, an interview and you have to, you know, let them know why, you know. The disabilities that you received during your service prevent you from, uh, you know, getting a gainful employment. Here’s the monthly rates, uh, for those who are using vr me to go to an educational institution based on training time and how many dependents you have.

And again, uh, the numbers, you know, for our purposes aren’t too important. I just like to put it up there to show you how it works. You know, VR and e throws in a new variable with they’re actually paid for your dependence as opposed to the GI bills. Um, additionally, uh, this is a pretty [00:18:00] common scenario for veterans who are eligible for the post nine 11 GI bill.

Um, they opt to use the VRE instead. Um, the reason for that is if you remember back, um, we talked about the housing allowance with the post nine 11 GI bill. If you want, if you do qualify for, uh, post nine 11 and vr e you can opt to use vr e but still get paid at the post nine 11 rate, which is a, it’s a pretty nice perk of the program.

Then again, uh, just to hammer it home at the bottom, remember that while VR e will pay your tuition or they may pay your tuition depending on if you’re approved, um, it is an employment program at its core and it is not an entitlement like the GI Bill. This isn’t trying to scare you away or anything like that, but it is a program for specific people.

So I’m gonna pause right here and just see if we have any questions, uh, because the first section can be a little, a little dense with the numbers and whatnot.

So I don’t see any questions. Um, but maybe that’s because you, you were so clear [00:19:00] and all those charts. But I’ll just again, encourage everyone to ask as you go along and, and we’ll make sure we get to them. Thanks. Excellent. So now that we just covered, um, how those three programs work, um, I feel it’s, it feels kind of meaningless to just go over these numbers.

So I think what really helps is to put all three of them side by side in two different scenarios so that you could see how they work. Um, ’cause you know, there’s a good chance that someone in the audience actually qualifies for all three of them. Um, I was a veteran who when I separated, did qualify for all three and it was really, um.

Very confusing when I first separated. Like, which one do I use and which one’s gonna help me out the most? So I’m gonna try and solve that, um, that problem right now. So here’s this, uh, the, this example veteran’s situation. We’re gonna say they’re gonna UMass Boston, they’re gonna go to school full time.

They’re a hundred percent eligible for their GI bill ’cause they served more than three years. And they’re gonna, they’re just gonna do the traditional fall and spring semesters, so approximately eight [00:20:00] months. And for voc rehab or VNE purposes, they have no dependents. So for post nine 11, that entire $14,000 in some change of tuition, um, is paid directly to the school.

The veteran’s gonna get a thousand dollars per year in book stipend and for their housing allowance. Remember, they’re gonna school eight months, they’re eligible for the full 3020 $4. If you add all that up, the annual value is just short of $40,000. Keep in mind that 25,000 of it and some change is gonna be paid to you.

And that’s the housing allowance, which is the, you know, 30, 24 times eight plus a thousand dollars. ’cause under post nine 11, the VA pays your school directly. I’m gonna move on to the Montgomery Java for tuition and books. Remember that I said, um, the VA does not pay that for you. Instead, you get the one Montgomery GI Bill payment and in this veteran’s situation, they’re entitled to the, uh, max rate of $2,122 times the eight months.

And [00:21:00] that annual value is gonna be just shy of $17,000. And all of that is paid to you. However, keep in mind, you as the veteran have to pay your tuition under this, uh, GI bill. And lastly, for v and e, again, the VA’s gonna pay that full tuition. The VA’s gonna pay for all of your books. So regardless of whether, you know, you got $300 worth of books, or you’re doing maybe a STEM degree and you got a lot of lab fees and all that, they’ll pay the whole thing.

Um, and the vr e stipend is $653. Um, was the max for this individual times the eight months. And we add all that up. It’s gonna be, uh, $20,644 plus whatever. Um, the, the amount of books, books and supplies and whatnot. Keep in mind that in this scenario, uh, 5,231 is paid to the veteran, and that’s just the v and e stipend because the VA pays us full directly.

So let’s put all of these side by side, uh, for post nine 11 because the tuition is already paid. That $25,000 you get [00:22:00] paid throughout the year, it’s gonna be yours to pay for rent books and what, uh, any other living expenses you have. The Montgomery GI Bill. Remember out of that, uh, just shy of $17,000 that you are paid.

You still have to pay the tuition of $14,613. So you were left with $2,363. Um, overall and for voc rehab, um, total value, again, uh, just shy of 40,000, the VA’s gonna pay the tuition and then that, uh, 20,644 is paid to the vet, and that’s what it’s gonna lead them. The reason that I like to bring this up is you can see there’s a very, very, very large discrepancy between.

Specifically the post nine 11 in Montgomery that I like to point out. ’cause right now, if you’re a veteran recently separated within the past 10, 15 years, you probably qualify for both. And, um, you know, like I said, it’s an irrevocable decision. So if you are a veteran who wants to go to school full time, you gotta use post nine 11, especially in a high cost of living area like Boston.

The housing allowance [00:23:00] alone is, um, you know, worth it. And it, I, you know, I can attest to the fact that. It really put my mind at ease, me and my wife, you know, ’cause financially we were secure ’cause I was able to make the rent happen and I was able to just focus on school With the Montgomery. Ja, it’ll be a lot tougher because I don’t know about you guys, but $2,300, that’s probably, it’s close to one month rent than the city.

So, um, it’s, they pay out completely differently and that’s why your individual situation is so important to understand. However, I don’t wanna make you think that the Montgomery GI Bill is, uh, never that, there’s never a situation to use it. So we’re gonna go through a different scenario. We’re gonna switch it up and we’re gonna go to Quincy College where they charge 2 36 per credit.

We’re only gonna go part-time. So we’re gonna take three credits in the fall and, um, three in the spring, which, um, puts you at 25% enrollment level, the veteran’s eligibility level. It’s 36 months. They serve more than three years, again, fall and spring semester. [00:24:00] And for voc rehab, we’re gonna have, um, two dependents just to make it a little different for post nine 11.

Um, we take that 2 36 per credit, multiply it by three credits in the fall, and the three in the spring, it comes out to 1,416. Um, due to Quincy, Quincy College for books, since they’re only enrolled at that 25%, they’re only gonna get $250 per year. So if we add this together, oh, excuse me too. The housing allowance.

Um, if you remember back on the housing allowance slide, once you go to school less than halftime, you don’t get housing allowance at all under post nine 11. So the annual value changes a lot under post nine 11 in this scenario where the veteran’s only entitled to, uh, 1666 and remember that post nine 11 pays the tuition to the school, so only two 50 is paid to the veteran for the Montgomery Jail bill.

Again, there’s no tuition and book payment. Um, the only thing you’re entitled to is this five 30.5 based on their eligibility and their enrollment level, and that’s gonna bring us to an [00:25:00] annual value of $4,244. And all of that’s paid to the veteran. And keep in mind, you have to pay the school and for voc rehab, again, the tuition is paid, all of your books are paid.

And here’s the stipend based on the chart. We looked at a few slides back, and the total value of this one per year would be 3,331. Plus books of which 1915 is paid to you. ’cause the tuition is paid again to Quincy College. So when we put all these side by side, the situation changes a little bit.

Montgomery GI Bill in this scenario is a better option for you. Uh, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll mention it a little bit later, but generally veterans who are going to school full-time in Boston post nine 11 is better veterans who want to go, you know, part-time maybe ’cause they work full-time or they just can’t commit to a, a full-time schedule.

They’re gonna go part-time. Montgomery may be better. However, those are just rules of thumb. And if you are, um, have any questions about what’s the best one for you, reach out to Veterans Upward Bound. We are more than happy to work [00:26:00] with you. You know, if you bring your DD two 14 and your COE, uh, we can tell you which one is best for you so that you’re in the best situation.

And again, I, I actually just kind of said this, you know, generally Boston’s wishing to get the four year degree in Boston, get a better benefit from post nine 11. High cost of living area really beefs up the power of the post nine 11 GI Bill. However, you know, if you live in a very low cost of living area, which I don’t think anywhere in New England would qualify as far as the way the VA pays, Montgomery could be better.

But again, it’s all individual to you. And like I just said, we can help you use the appropriate benefit. So I’m gonna pause again and I’m gonna see, I see we have a question, so let’s see if we can answer that. We do so. Okay. Um, this person asks, I read an article on military times briefly, and I would like to clarify if you bought into the Montgomery MGIB, can you use it after you completely exhaust your post nine 11 GI Bill?[00:27:00]

Yes. So, um, I think it was a few years back. The, there was some wording when they made the post nine 11 GI Bill that actually left I guess a loophole. So to say that the VA is now forced to honor. If you exhaust your 36 months of Montgomery, you are entitled to use 12 months of post nine 11. You just have to contact the VA to do so.

Um, and that actually brings up a good point as well. Um, the va, regardless of what program you use, the max that they will pay throughout your life in education benefits is 48 months. So. If you’re in this scenario, a veteran who exhausted the Montgomery GI Bill, those 36 months, you can apply to get an extra 12 months of post nine 11 GI Bill.

This is also something to keep in mind for if you were a veteran who exhausted your Montgomery GI Bill or your post nine 11, um, but you wanted to apply for v and e, you could do that. It would just be important to keep in mind that the VA counselor you work with if you were approved, would also let you know you have 12 months maximum, because again, they do have a pretty hard 48 month limit.

I hope [00:28:00] that answered your question. Great. Excellent. So, uh, keep in mind, well, uh, luckily for all of you guys, um, the rest of these sections are a lot shorter than those ones. So we’re gonna hop into the third section, which is other GI Bill benefits. There we go. So the Forever GI Bill was an amendment to just the post nine 11 GI bill that was signed in 2017.

Here are some major changes. Um. If you remember back on the post nine 11 GI Bill slide, there was that, uh, two different expiration dates. The Forever GI Bill, uh, got rid of the 15 year time limit only if you were discharged in 2013 or later. It also created the Vet Tech program, which is Veterans Education through Technology Education courses.

Which is a, uh, really cool program that, uh, allows vets who have some of their GI bill left, specifically the post nine 11 to do certificates in it and other in demand, um, degrees and not actually use up any of your benefit. [00:29:00] Additionally, it created the nine month STEM extension program, which I will talk about a little bit later on.

It also closed a loophole that allowed veterans to get paid, um, at a different location from where they were taking classes. And, um, it also allowed veterans who, uh, to get back entitlement for students whose school was closed. So if your school, if you went to a school, you know, back in 2012 or something, and all of a sudden the school closed and your transcripts are all rendered, um, you know, uh, useless.

So to say, you can get those months back that you use your GI bill, which is a really, uh, great thing that the VA did. Oh my goodness. There we go. So, um, before I talk about the slide, I wanna go back to. On the post nine 11 GI Bill, um, section, we talked about how much the VA will pay to a private school.

Remember that they would pay just north of $25,000 per year. This is where the yellow ribbon comes in. Um, the yellow Ribbon program is a really cool post nine 11 GI bill program that [00:30:00] can help you cover out of state, private, or graduate tuition that is in excess of that $25,000. There are some requirements.

Unfortunately, you have to be 100% post nine 11 eligible. So if you were 90 or anything lower, unfortunately you can’t use this. If you were a Purple Heart recipient after nine 11, you automatically qualified. Or if you served, uh, 60 continuous days after nine 11 and were discharged with a service connected disability, you’re good to go.

Keep in mind that this is something that you can’t go to, you know, a private school like Northeastern or Suffolk and say, I want to use the Yellow Ribbon program, and you assume it’s good to go. This is something that your school must already have an existing contract, uh, with, with the va. School’s gotta opt in.

Uh, they may not be, they cannot be over at their own cap that they set, and they must already be certified with the va. So we’re gonna run through a quick example. Um, this is actually, you know, since I work at Suffolk, I just figured, let’s use their numbers [00:31:00] right here. The tuition’s approximately $40,000 and let’s subtract that Max VA payment to a private school of $25,000 that’s gonna leave the veteran with just shy of $15,000.

I don’t know about you guys or anyone in the, in the crowd, but, um, you know, if I have my education paid for by the GI Bill, I’m not, I’m trying to not take on. Any, um, you know, student loans if I don’t have to. So with the Yellow Ribbon program, uh, the remaining tuition can be split by the VA and the school, if the school agrees.

So, in Suffolk University’s example, they actually agreed to split the, the full tuition liability with the va. So they say, all right, there’s 14,838 left. We, Suffolk University will pay 7,419, and the VA is obligated to pay the other half, and you’re left with $0 in tuition liability. Which all that adds up.

And you add all that interest compounding on itself over the years, that’s, it’s a lot of savings. So it’s an excellent program. However, keep in mind that each institution sets their [00:32:00] own limit on the amount of students there, um, that they’ll allow to participate and the amount that they’ll pay to each student.

So a quick example, um, there is a school in Boston, um, that is a yellow ribbon school. However, they will only fund five veterans, and they don’t really advertise it too well. So. Um, unfortunately some veterans go enroll there and then, uh, all the yellow ribbon slots are taken up and now they have a tuition bill or they gotta withdraw.

So it’s just something that, um, if you want to use this program, confirm with the school that you want to go to, that they participate, and, and that they’ll actually cover your full tuition. We’re gonna go to a second example. It’s gonna be the same tuition, same max VA pavement, and the same veteran tuition liability as before.

However this school says, yeah, we participate in the Yellow Ribbon program, but we’re gonna pay 5,000 per veteran. Um, ’cause of that the VA will match and pay 5,000 and the veteran is left with just shy of $5,000. Um, this is still, you know, I’d rather have $5,000 per year than that $15,000 in, uh, [00:33:00] loans or scholarships that I gotta do.

Um, but it’s just stuff to keep in mind because while schools may say we’re military friendly, um, we participate in the yellow ribbon, you really gotta make sure that. You gotta be aware of how they pay out and how many veterans they’ll pay for. Alright, so I’m gonna stop again real quick and see if we have any questions.

I don’t think I see anything in the q and a. So we’ll just hop into, uh, section four. We’re gonna go into non-VA. Oh, I just saw actually. Yep. Do you have to reapply every year for the yellow ribbon or does it continue for the entire four years? So that actually depends on the school. I could tell you. Um.

You know, since I work at Suffolk University, I know if you’re a veteran who they fund 125 veterans. So, um, if you’re accepted into T Yellow Ribbon, which most veterans are ’cause they don’t have that many veterans, um, you’re pretty much, you get priority every year, every semester. Some schools specifically like the one I mentioned that only funds five, [00:34:00] that’s something that becomes a lot more competitive.

So, you know, it’s something that again, when you’re reaching out to the schools you’re applying to that are yellow ribbon schools wanna make sure. You know, get, um, verbal or get an email from ’em that says, Hey, you know, we, once you get yellow ribbon, you don’t have to reapply every year. ’cause it’s not something you wanna get yourself in that situation.

In your junior or senior year, you’re almost done. And, um, all of a sudden now you’re not getting the yellow ribbon, someone else is. And now you’re faced with a decision, do I transfer or, you know, do I take out loans? So, um, just something to be vigilant about. All right, so now we’re gonna move on to section four, which is non-VA veterans education benefits, specifically National Guard and state benefits.

So for the National Guard Tuition Waiver, it’s pretty straightforward program. Um, it’s the Mass National Guard Educational Assistance Program, and you can get a 100% tuition in fee waiver. If you meet the, uh, eligibility requirements on the screen, you’re gonna be actively serving the guard. You can only go to a mass state [00:35:00] school or community college, which I don’t mean to say only, but you are limited in the schools that you go to.

Um, you have to have less than 130 semester credit hours. So if you were someone who’s been to school a bunch of times, and unfortunately all your transcripts are gonna add up to a lot of credits, uh, you may be declared ineligible for the program, and additionally, you have to, um, maintain your GPA in accordance with the university standards of the school you’re going to.

Um. I can actually paste the site in afterwards, but if anyone is actually on the guard and they’re, they don’t know how to use this, feel free to reach out and we’ll make sure that you’re, uh, good to go. ’cause we do work relatively closely with, um, some of the National Guard units in the area. So, um, the Massachusetts Veterans and State Tuition Waiver is a waiver.

Tuition, uh, waves tuition for eligible veterans. Again, at state schools and community colleges, there’s only two eligibility requirements. You have to have an honorable discharge, like most veterans benefits. Um, and you have to serve more than 180 days. This is a really straightforward, uh, form. I [00:36:00] actually just past pasted the, um, the top of the form here.

Um, it’s, you pretty much just search mass veterans instate tuition waiver as a form. Um, the only thing is, it’s something that, you know, I, you know, if you come work with us, I can give you the background on it, but it is something that you apply, uh, for with your school financial aid office and veteran rep.

So, uh, we can, you know, give you some information on it. But it is something when it comes down to it. You and the school that you’ve been accepted to, uh, work with the state on. So earlier I mentioned the STEM extension for the post nine 11 GI O. This extension, uh, extends some extra benefits to students in these in-demand STEM degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math.

And there’s a few other ones. Um, the reason for this is that, uh, veterans were finding that these fields usually require more credit hours than a lot of other degrees. And they were actually running out of their benefit. And, you know, at the end of their GI bill, um, they were having to take out student loans that they didn’t anticipate having to take out.[00:37:00]

So the STEM extension reduces the out-of-pocket, uh, costs for students who are specifically training in these STEM degrees. Um, there are some requirements. As with any VA program, you must be obviously, uh, pursuing a specified degree. You have to be within 60 and 90 credits towards your degree. Which is a little bit tricky because a lot of times people may not think to use this extension until maybe they’re in their second or last, uh, semester.

So they may, um, you know, be over those 90 credits. So if you are gonna, you know, go into a science technology, engineering math degree, keep this in mind. Now, additionally, you have to be within 180 days of post nine 11 benefit exhaustion. So it kind of adds another variable that sometimes makes it difficult to use.

Um, and additionally, your degree must require at least one 20 credits. Additionally, uh, you cannot use this with yellow ribbon, which is unfortunate. ’cause often, you know, you see veterans going to, you know, maybe Northeastern for some sort of engineering degree. They got the yellow ribbon and [00:38:00] they got no tuition.

Um, and then at the end of their degree, they’re using the STEM extension. Now they can’t use yellow ribbon. So, um, it’s a little bit unfortunate, but on the other hand, it is still affording you, um, a lot of extra tuition dollars for an extra nine months. I am gonna briefly talk about the VA work study program.

Um, I can attest to the greatness of this program. When I separated from the Army in 2018, I actually enrolled at Suffolk University and started working for Veterans Upward Bound as a VA work study. Um, it opened so many doors for me and ended up, you know, getting me a full-time job once I graduated. Um, it’s a great program that helps you, as you can see here.

It helps you earn while you learn. Um, for eligibility, you can be using the chapter 30 mon, uh, Montgomery GI Bill, chapter 33, post nine 11, or vr e you just have to be enrolled in three quarters. Um, you have to have three quarters or more enrollment, which is usually nine credits at most institutions. You get paid at the higher of federal or state minimum wage.

[00:39:00] So in mass, uh, you’ll get paid 1350 per hour. You can work up to 25 hours per week. And the greatest benefit is that all this money is actually untaxed income. So, um. It’s money that, you know, um, if you’re using your GI bill and you’re getting that $3,000 per month and you’re doing VA work study and getting this, um, that’s all untaxed income.

So it, it’s a great benefit that you should take advantage of while you’re in school. You can work at VA facilities, uh, veteran resources at institutions. Um, there’s other places you can work at, but uh, they’re not too common. Here’s just a quick example. If we do some quick multiplication, you can earn up to approximately $5,000 per semester.

This is huge for those, you know, using, um, just, you know, say you’re using VA education benefits and you don’t have a part-time job, you’re just really relying on that housing allowance and that book stipend to get you by this money, um, can go a really, really long way in the semesters on, um, excuse me, in the months that you’re not enrolled in school.

So let’s say you wanted to go to school all the way [00:40:00] through the summer, um, but you don’t have enough classes left on your degree, so you have to take four, you know, three, four months off. This is money that could, you know, help you pay rent, um, you know, pay for your groceries and whatnot, um, while you’re waiting to start school again.

It’s an absolutely excellent program, really easy work, and um, it really opens up a lot of doors for veterans. So I’m gonna pause again before we talk about fafsa. See we have another question. Yeah. So we have a very specific question, but a, a good one. So I’ll go slowly. I am studying mathematics at UMass Amherst under the post nine 11 GI Bill.

My last semester is fall of 2022. I plan on applying for graduate school at UMass Spring of 2023. If I apply for the STEM extension, will it carry over into my first semester of graduate school? Also, I bought into the MGIB. Can I top it off to 48 months of benefits if I use the STEM extension and the MGIB [00:41:00] that would add up to 36 months post nine 11 plus nine months, ST STEM extension plus three months.

MGIB equals 48 months. Okay, so I’m gonna start at the top here with, um, you’re planning on applying for graduate school at UMass Amherst into Spring 2023. If you are, unfortunately, a stem ex STEM extension is designed to help you finish your bachelor’s. Um, ’cause if you remember what I said about, um, veterans were finding that that bachelor’s degree in STEM or mathematics, uh, was going beyond the 120 credits beyond the 36 months.

So, um, unfortunately you cannot use it for. Graduate school and, um, I’m actually gonna see if I can open that back up. Yep. Okay. So also I bought it to the Montgomery GI Bill. Can I top it off to the 48 months of benefits if I use a STEM extension in the Montgomery GI Bill? Well, as I, you know, as I just said, unfortunately you can’t use a STEM extension for grad school.

Um, and yeah, unfortunately that’s, um. [00:42:00] Usually a no go. Um, but if you, um, Ian if you wanna reach out to me, send me an email afterwards, um, we can get, you know, a little more in depth on your situation just to make sure that, um, you know, you’re getting the most outta your benefit. And I could tell you definitely want to because, um, that’s a good strategic planning that we like to help veterans out with.

So I look forward to hearing from you after. Um, alright, so now we’re gonna hop into fafsa, which is the free application for federal student aid. Um, I like to bring this up ’cause a lot of veterans don’t believe that they need to apply for fafsa. Especially those who have, you know, VRD or 100% Montgomery or post seven 11 GI Bill.

Um, they think that FAFSA is just student loans and it’s, you know, could be further from the case. So we’re gonna get into why. So for FAFSA benefits, you can get federal loans grants such as the very popular and well-known Pell grant and can also apply for federal work study. Like I said, you should apply to fast rate even if your tuition is 100% covered.[00:43:00]

The reason that I say that is, um, based on your tax bracket, what your taxable income is, you may be eligible for Pell Grants. What’s great about Pell Grants is, you know, they do not have to be repaid and this kind of goes, um, you know, it’s a similar, I’ll say a similar thing about it that I said about the VA work study money.

Um. This is money that could really help you out. If you’re, let’s say you’re in one of those STEM degrees that has really expensive lab fees or like, you know, equipment and whatnot, and that $1,000 book stipend doesn’t cover it. This Pell Grant can come in and kind of save the day there. Additionally, um, if you are not going to school, you know, mid May through August, this could be money that if you’re smart with it, you can put in your pocket, pay for your rent, and, you know, not have to worry about where’s my money coming from while I’m waiting to finish my degree.

The maximum amount you can get, uh, an upcoming fiscal year is, you know, 6,495. I would just caution that that doesn’t mean you’re gonna get that, you know, I don’t know who determines if what someone’s gonna determine what you can get paid based on your financial situation. But, um, you don’t [00:44:00] know until you try.

Um, when you apply for fafsa, you will get a full Student Aid package, um, and it may get intimidating ’cause you’ll see a bunch of student loans on there and you think, well, I don’t wanna take out any student loans. I don’t need to. I have my GI bill. You can, you get to accept and deny, um. Whatever grant or loan that you, um, are rewarded and that’s something veterans upper bound can help you apply for and work through.

And additionally, there are resources at whatever school you end up going to that can help you out as well. With that, we like to touch on subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Um, you know, in the event that you have to take out student loans, you know, there are a bunch of different situations where you may have to, maybe you only have 50% GI Bill, maybe you’re going, uh, you know, for a master’s degree or a PhD.

At some point, the VA education benefits are gonna run out. Um, and it’s important to know the difference between, you know, different types of loans before taking them out. Uh, for subsidized loans, the government will pay the interest, um, while you’re enrolled in school full time. Um, and the, you choose these first [00:45:00] because that interest isn’t gonna compound over four or five, six, however many years.

If, uh, it takes you to finish your degree. It’s unsubsidized loans, on the other hand, um, the interest starts accruing the day that it’s dispersed. So, um, you know, over time that interest really starts to add up. Um, and again, if you are someone who is going to take out, you know, student loans, veterans Upward Bound is more than happy to work with you and help you do so responsibly, so you’re not putting yourself in a, uh, a tough financial situation.

As I said, we can help you out with the FAFSA application. And specifically there are, uh, you know, there’s specific, um, you know, veteran aspects to it that people don’t really think of. Usually the confusion comes with their VA benefits. Do I report them? Do I not Generally, the rule of thumb is do not report any VA education benefits.

It’s not required by law to be reported as income. That includes the tuition payments to your school, your book stipend. VA work, study money, [00:46:00] um, or your housing loans. A lot of people can disqualify themselves from some helpful Pell grants if they put that $25,000 in, um, housing loans they may get throughout the year.

On the other hand, you do have to report every other VA benefit. Um, this changes all the time, I feel like, but I think right now it’s box 40 4G. Um, they ask you specifically for veterans non-education benefits and yes to all the veterans here. This does include. VA disability that you get for comp and pet.

A lot of people don’t put it on there. And I mean, I’m not gonna say you’re gonna get audited, but it’s the right thing to do. Report your VA disability. Um, don’t report your VA education benefits. That’s, that’s the good, uh, rule to just remember when filling out your fafsa, if you’re gonna do it on your own.

So I don’t see any questions. So we’re gonna hop into, uh, section six, which is veteran scholarships. So, um, when making the slide, it’s kind of [00:47:00] difficult because you either, you know, you put a massive list of scholarships or you just kind of do a quick overview. And unfortunately there’s so many different types of veteran specific scholarships that if we put them on here, we’d be here, you know, for three hours clicking through the slides.

There’s a wide range of scholarships, uh, for veterans and grant opportunities, um, and a lot of them are very specific to particular military branches and operations. Um, a common one we see a lot is, you know, army Corps of Engineers or, you know, Raytheon, one for, um, you know, missile defense or veterans who worked in missile uh, defense systems.

What I wanna say to, you know, all the veterans is if you’re looking for scholarships, whether it’s you’re a hundred percent eligible, but you’re looking to just maximize the amount of funds you can get, or if you’re someone who’s maybe 50% eligible and you’re gonna have to close the gap, somehow, reach out to us.

We can help you identify scholarships that you know, match your military experience. Um, we can also let you know all the deadlines and whatnot. A lot of ’em have, you know, odd deadlines that open up at, [00:48:00] uh, certain times of the year and then close before you even know it. So, um, if you’re someone who’s interested in applying for veteran specific scholarships, please reach out one of our counselors.

We’ll work with you to help you find scholarships that match, uh, you and your situation. So here’s our last section. It’s gonna be other tips and info.

When you go to school, um, most, uh, most four year, uh, institutions have an SVA, which is the Student Veterans of America. I could not recommend, you know, I can’t, you know, say how great the SVA is. They do so much on, on behalf of student veterans. Um, they were actually the organization that helped lobby Congress right after Covid to 19 to encourage them to continue paying in-person payments to veterans who are forced to work online.

Um, you know, due the pandemic, if they didn’t do this for veterans, veterans who are used to getting 3000 a month for housing and rent, were all of a sudden gonna start getting $915 a month. And it would’ve been [00:49:00] devastating. You know, a lot of people would’ve had to drop out and try and work it. It’s, uh, it would’ve been tough.

But the SVA is a great advocate, and if they’re on your campus, I highly encourage you to work with them. Keep in mind, this, uh, in-person payment that they fought for is actually an extended suit through December 31st, 2021. However, most schools are going to be, uh, back in person in the, um, in the fall. I believe beginning August 1st, 2021, there’s gonna be a dual certification of benefits for all programs.

I know right now some programs such as, uh, some, some of the Montgomery GI Bills, you actually have to certify your benefits. Um, with post nine 11, you dumped your school does it for you. Same thing for voc rehab or VME beginning in August, so anyone starting school in the fall, the veteran is also gonna have a hand in that.

Uh, like a lot of other things that the VA does. They announce that there’s gonna be, you know, this new program or this new procedure and they actually haven’t released where it’s gonna be done yet. I don’t believe so. Um, something to just keep in mind that you’ll probably be [00:50:00] getting an email from the VA telling you how to do your dual, your dual certification of benefits.

The last tip I wanna give veterans is, um, kind of a touchy subject often, um, but it concerns failing classes or withdrawing from classes. Generally, the VA will not bill you for a failed class if you attended, but they will bill you, bill you if you withdraw, because it will affect your enrollment level.

This is not to encourage any veterans to failed classes just to collect the housing on or anything like that, but what I would say is if you’re a veteran who say it’s, you know, April, at the end of your spring semester, you’re not doing too hot in a class. Um, and you’re thinking, I’m gonna fail, or, you know, I, I might be right on the edge of a D or F.

Um, so I’m gonna withdraw. Before you do that, talk to Veterans Upward Bound. Talk to your, um, you know, your veteran resources at your school before you do it. Reason I say that is if you go from 12 credits to nine and at the end of the semester the va, uh, your school has to tell the va you actually only completed nine credits.

The VA will [00:51:00] come and get a bill from you and. It’ll be a hefty bill. It’ll be, it’ll be stressful. And it’s, it’s, it’s gonna hurt your, uh, hurt, hurt your wallet to be honest. And, um, again, this is not to encourage anyone to just fail the class, but talk to the, you know, division of student success at your school.

Get the help you need. Um, make sure that you’re not affecting your VA enrollment. And also, you know, make sure that you’re getting the, you know, tutoring assistance that you need as well. So before I go to any questions, I’m actually gonna stop sharing my screen. I see we have a question, but before I answer that, there’s one more thing I wanna pull up that.

Um, it’s actually a program that just got recently re-approved and is not yet on our slideshow, and it’s a, an old program, uh, that has just recently been brought back. It’s v Wrapp veteran Rapid Retraining Assistance Program. I want you to just look at these eligibility requirements here. You gotta be between 22, not over than 66.

If you lost your job due to covid, you may be eligible. You can’t be a hundred percent totally and permanent. [00:52:00] Permanent, uh, disabled. And you can’t already be in a federal state job program and you can’t have any eligibility for post nine 11 in Montgomery. All that. If you fit, uh, you know, these scenarios and you, you meet all these qualifications, you can actually receive up to 12 months of post nine 11 rate.

So if you are someone who’s affected by, maybe you’re someone who’s here right now because, um, you lost your job and you’re looking to go back to school, um, you may be able to use this program to get up to 12 months of tuition and fees paid and get paid. The post nine 11 housing rate, it’s an excellent program.

Um, it is somewhat limited, as you can see. They say that they’ll fund it through 2022 right here. However, they will fund a certain amount of people. So, um, if you think you may qualify for this, reach out to Veterans Upward Bound. We can help you figure it out. It can help you apply. Make sure that you get that funding.

Um, so I’ll go back to our slideshow just to pull it up and then we can answer that last question.[00:53:00]

So you said to not report VA benefits on fafsa. So what? When do I communicate to a school that I’ll be using my post nine 11 GI Bill benefits And how do I do it? Also, when will I apply for any available yellow ribbon benefits after I’ve committed to a school? So for the first part, when you communicate to a school.

Um, most schools have on their application, they’ll ask one or two questions. Are you a veteran? Are you using Veterans Education benefits? Um, at most schools that will trigger them to reach out to you and say, Hey, please send me your COE or your certificate of eligibility if you’re u That’s for the GI bills.

If you’re using VE ev voc rehab, um, that will prompt them to reach out to the VA and have their counselor get in contact with the school. I. Um, FAFSA shouldn’t play no part. If your school is telling you that they need, um, anything, I’m not [00:54:00] saying that you know, they, they are telling you that, but if they do say you didn’t report on your fafsa, um, that’s not the correct thing.

They should be just working with you on that based on your application or you indicating to them by reaching out to the veteran resource officer at your school that you’re gonna use, uh, your post nine 11 jacket. As far as applying for Yellow Ribbon, most schools don’t have like an application, so to say, or some of them might, if it’s very competitive.

Um, I could tell you it varies from school to school. At Suffolk University, the moment you indicate you’re using veterans benefits and you give them your, uh, certificate of eligibility that says you’re 100% eligible, eligible for the post nine 11 GI Bill. ’cause remember, you have to have a hundred percent in order to qualify for all ribbon.

Um. They actually just apply it to your account, which actually when I went, that freaked me out ’cause I had to reach out and say, did I get my yellow ribbon? And they confirmed to me, yes, you got it. Some schools may have an application. So it’s one of those things where it really does vary from school to school.

So before you [00:55:00] commit, I would reach out to the school financial aid and veteran resource officer and ask them. I’m wanna come to the school and it’s very likely contingent on the Yellow Ribbon program because I don’t, I don’t have the money to pay for the rest of my tuition. Otherwise, am I, am I gonna qualify?

Am I gonna get a slot? It’s just something you wanna be on top of. And additionally, like I said prior, make sure that, um, it’s not something you gotta reapply for every year, or if it is, at least you’re aware of it. I hope that answered your question, Jeffrey. If it didn’t, please feel free to, uh, you know, reach out to me.

I’ll put my email in the chat at the end of the QA. That’s great. And Nick, there’s one, uh, another in the chat. I did not use any of my post nine 11 benefits. Can I pass them on to my children? Unfortunately, um, there is a way to pass it on to your children or any dependents you have, but unfortunately the VA has a very strict, uh, rule about only being able to begin the process while you’re active duty.

So if you did not do that in any [00:56:00] capacity while you’re active duty, unfortunately there’s no way to do it. Um. If you had done it, let’s say, you know, you started the process. Uh, I actually don’t know what the process is on active duty. ’cause I never had any dependents to pass it on to. Let’s say you, you did do that and say, you said, I’m gonna give one of my children 10% of my GI bill.

Um, once you separated, you could actually mess around with those numbers. Give it to a different dependent. Change the amount, but it has to be initiated prior to separating from the military, unfortunately. Which it, a lot of people unfortunately find themselves in the situation that I, you know, I, I wanted to do that, but it’s, it was too late.

So, uh, yeah, that’s, that’s how that works. Margaret. Thank you though. That’s great information. Yeah. Excellent. I’m gonna put my, um, email in the chat in case Should, should I put it in the chat or? Yeah. Lemme put that in there. Yeah, I think that’s good. And then people can download that. Sure. And I’ll put my phone number as well.

In case anyone like, yeah, if you, if any, you know, [00:57:00] veterans or anyone who works with veterans has any questions about anything we went over, um, you know, their situation, someone they’re working with, veterans Upward Bound is more than happy to, um, work with you to make sure that, you know, the veteran is using their, uh, benefits to the, uh, to the max, you know, using, getting the most out of it.

Oh, and Nick, I can’t thank you enough. Um, this has been great information and, and veterans Upward Bound. It’s such a great organization to be able to, to work with, with, um, all of these veterans to help. So, we’ll just see if there’s any, anyone else. I don’t wanna, sometimes when I go to close it down, I see one last question that someone thought about.

So I wanna give you that chance. But again, as Nick said, um, or, you know, for Mefa. If you don’t think of a question now and you think of one tomorrow or next week or next month, now you have this information, um, to be in touch with Nick or um, with MEFA. So I think, I think we’re good. [00:58:00] Nick, this was wonderful.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having us. Alright. And good luck everyone, and stay, stay in touch. Take care everybody. Thanks. Bye.