Category: News and Updates

• Phone: 206-543-6122
  • Monday – Friday 1pm – 4pm
• Email: veteran@uw.edu
• In-person advising
  • Monday – Friday: 10am – 12pm & 1pm – 4pm

Welcome New Students!

Autumn quarter is the start of the 2025-2026 school year, and we couldn’t be happier to welcome all of the new and returning students to the UW! With all of the hustle and bustle of registering for classes, finding your dorm, and getting all of your books and supplies, we want to make sure to answer any questions you have about your VA benefits.

For new students using benefits for the first time, here are the steps for your veteran education benefits:

Apply for benefits: To use your VA Education Benefits you need to apply for your benefits with the VA. Please see this website for instructions and a link to the online application.

Once the VA has processed your application, they will send you a Certification of Eligibility (COE). We do not need a copy of your COE.

Using your benefits at UW: Every quarter you wish to use your benefits, you need to submit the Enrollment Certification Request form to our office. We use an online process to complete these forms, and as the form needs to be signed by your academic adviser, please make sure you have met with your adviser before you start the form. You will be asked to enter your adviser’s contact information when starting the form.

For students in any of the below programs, or for students utilizing Chapter 31 (VR&E), please reach out to us as these instructions may differ.

• Certificate Programs through Professional & Continuing Education
• RIDE Dental Program
• WWAMI Program

As an undergraduate student, if you have not declared your major yet, or if you don’t have an assigned adviser, you should see Undergraduate Advising. You can use their drop-in advising to meet with an adviser before you complete the form.

For students with declared majors, or graduate students, please see an academic adviser with your department.

We cannot certify your enrollment to the VA without this form, so make sure to complete it before each quarter you wish to use your benefits. Please see our FAQ page for more details regarding the process.

You can submit your form after you have registered for your classes. If you change your schedule, please submit an updated form to reflect your current schedule. If you are thinking about dropping a class, please reach out to us.

You need your UW NetID to access the forms. If you do not have a UW NetID, please use the PDF version of the form. You can find the Enrollment Certification Request forms on the Forms section of our website.

You can check the status of your forms here. If the form is signed by your adviser, it will state Completed. If the form is not yet signed by your adviser it will state In Progress. Once your enrollment is certified you will receive an automated email from the VA.

If you are utilizing a benefit that pays tuition and fees, please make sure to check out how we report your tuition & fees to the VA.

If you have any questions about your VA benefits, please reach out to us. Check out our contact page for the office advising hours and different ways to reach our School Certifying Officials.

Welcome to the University of Washington, go Huskies!

If you have applied for financial aid, you can access your College Financing Plan via MyUW.

If you have not applied for financial aid, or for if you want your VA education benefits reflected on your College Financing Plan please complete this form. Once you have completed the form we will be able to create a College Financing Plan which includes the benefits you indicated on the form.

If you have any questions please reach out to us.

Starting Winter quarter 2022 students using Post 9/11 benefits (Chapter 33) have to verify their enrollment with the VA each month in order to receive their Monthly Housing Allowance. This is in addition to submitting the every quarter you wish to use your benefits.

If you fail to verify enrollment for two consecutive months, your MHA/kicker payments will be placed on hold. In order to have your payments released, you will need to call the VA to verify your enrollment. When you call the VA to release your payments, you may also enroll in text message verification at that time.

How do I verify my enrollment with the VA?

Chapter 33 – Post 9/11 benefits can verify their enrollment via text or phone call.

Via Text Message:

• Opt in: Students with a U.S. mobile phone number can use text messages as a simple, quick option for verifying monthly enrollment. As your enrollment approaches, you will receive the following opt-in text: “Post-9/11 GI Bill® housing and kicker payments now require monthly enrollment verification. Would you like to submit yours via text? Please reply YES or NO.” Reply “YES” to opt in. The text message link will expire 14 days after receipt, so please respond within that time frame.
• Verify: After opting in, you can verify your enrollment every month simply by responding to the following text message from VA: “Did you remain enrolled in your courses in MON YYYY as certified? Please reply YES or NO. If you have dropped all your courses, you must reply NO.” Reply “YES” to verify enrollment for the previous month.

The VA will never ask for your personal information, such as social security number or bank account information, via text.

After April 28, we will be switching to a new number to send out our monthly enrollment verification texts. Post-9/11 GI Bill students opted into text verification will receive enrollment verification texts from the following short-code, 44354.  

The process remains the same for students and they will still receive an enrollment verification text on the last day of the month stating, “Did you remain enrolled in your courses in April 2022 as certified? Please reply Yes or No. If you have dropped any of your courses, you must reply No.” 

Note: This short code number is only for verifying enrollment. Students will not be able to contact a VA representative by texting or calling the number that messages them.  

Please reach out to the Education Call Center (ECC) at 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551) to update your contact information if you have not received a text message to opt-in. This will ensure that you receive the latest email updates on monthly enrollment verification and are able to opt-in to enrollment verification by text message.

Via Phone Call:

If you are unable to verify via text or email, you will need to contact the VA at 1-888-GIBILL-1 (1-888-442-4551) and ask a representative to verify your enrollment. NOTE: VA wait times may be high due to the number of students verifying enrollment each month. If you’re not sure if the VA has your phone number and/or email on file, you can also contact the VA to update your contact information and ensure you can verify via text or email.

Please see more details on the VA’s website.