| Compton: Vet’s daughter applying for school tuition fee waiver By George Compton Q. My daughter will graduate from high school in June and she will need to use the California Fee Waiver to attend college. How and when can she apply for the waiver? A. This office will send you an application for the fee waiver. The application requires basic information about you and your daughter. We need the data on you to verify that you have a service-connected disability. Once she starts college we will automatically send her an application for each year. We will need a copy of your daughter’s birth certificate to verify your relationship. If she is a stepdaughter we will also need a copy of your marriage certificate. There is an income limit for the student. For the school year starting in the fall of 2009, the adjusted gross income limit is $11,201. There is no waiver on income; even one dollar over the limit will prohibit a fee waiver. If the student earned a little more than the limit, they should place the amount above that limit in a traditional IRA to lower their adjusted gross income. We will need a copy of your daughter’s tax return to compare her adjusted gross income with the income limit. If your daughter did not work and does not file for 2008, then we will need verification that she did not file. The easiest way to get that verification is to go to the IRS Web site (http://www.irs.gov/) and download Form 4506-T, provide the required data and send it to the IRS. Last year the IRS did not get the verification letters out until July, so be patient. We cannot process the waiver until all documentation is provided. Because of the volume of applications, please allow us two weeks for processing. Last year over 500 students took advantage of this program. Q. With the 9/11 GI Bill, tuition will be paid on a state-by-state basis. Do you have data on California? A. The bill will pay $254 per credit hour with a maximum of $4,806 per term for colleges in California. The limit for other states can be found on the VA Web site. — George Compton, a retired Army colonel, is the veterans service officer for the County of Ventura, Human Services Agency. Send your questions to Veterans Service Office, 1701 Pacific Ave., Suite 110, Oxnard, CA 93033, phone number 385-6366, fax 385-6371, or e-mail george.compton@ventura.org. —— MilitaryConnection.com is a portal of all things military. We have thousands of pages and hundreds of databases of valuable information and resources. There is something for everyone. All of this is provided free to users. Additionally, we feature all types of Columns like this one to keep you informed. We will post your press releases, special events, newsletters, professional conferences and seminars, reunions, job fairs, and videos to help organizations get out the word. One of the areas of our focus is connecting candidates from the military community with outstanding government and civilian employers. We are well aware that candidates from the military community across the board have a work ethic second to none. They make highly valued employees. MilitaryConnection.com has a multitude of employment resources including a Directory of over 30,000 employers, Job Tips, Columns, our Job Board, Virtual Job Fair and much more. We understand the importance of education. Please check out our new Scholarship Directory featuring thousands of scholarships. When the next tour is back home, it’s on MilitaryConnection.com. |