Student Veterans Abroad
Student veterans can often apply VA Benefits to funding for education abroad experiences and are encouraged to apply! There are some limitations to what VA education benefits will cover when it comes to study abroad expenses, so student veterans should start planning as early as possible for education abroad and work closely with the Education Abroad Office as well as veterans services.
The three basic rules (as stipulated by the Department of Veterans Affairs) for applying for VA education benefits to study abroad are:
- Students must be enrolled in courses that will apply to their degree program.
- The programs at the “host” institution in the foreign country must be approved.
- VA cannot pay any fees specific to studying abroad unless the student is required to study abroad as part of their degree program.
Even though there is a restriction on paying “study abroad “fees,” the VA defines ways to reimburse study abroad tuition costs, particularly when you are paying tuition to your home school (in this case, PCC), as you would on a PCC-administered program.