The
Bureau of State Approving Agency for Veterans Training has
approved many of the certificate training programs offered
at TECO. Visit one of the VA Certifying Officials located
in the Financial Aid Office to apply for or re-activate your
VA educational entitlements. All required application forms
are available in the Financial Aid Office. Upon completion
of the necessary forms, the student must bring them to the
VA Certifying Official with certified copies of the
veteran's DD214.
The documentation is then
forwarded to the Department of Veteran's Affairs (DVA) for
processing. Upon completion of the first day of class,
the enrollment certification is reported by the VA
Certifying Official to the DVA for processing. Allow a
minimum of 4-8 weeks to activate benefits. The
DVA will send the benefit check directly to the entitled
individual. The student must pay all fees upon
registration. The student is eligible for educational
benefits for the length of the program as approved by the
DVA. The student must check with the school's VA
Certifying Official to verify the DVA approval of his/her
program length. All veterans receiving educational
benefits while attending TECO is subject to the policies and
procedures of the school. The following regulations
apply:
Standards of Progress and
Attendance
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All students receiving
Veterans' Educational benefits must maintain
satisfactory academic progress in accordance with the
regularly prescribed standards and practices of TECO.
If the student is not making satisfactory academic
progress according to those standards and practices,
educational benefits will be discontinued for the
students. Veteran and non-veteran students alike will
be referred back to Student Services for counseling to a
program that may offer the possibility of success.
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Attendance reports must be
submitted monthly to the schools' VA Certifying
Official.
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Students must attend
classes regularly; all absences will be recorded and
maintained by the school. Veterans are allowed three
(3) unexcused absences and three (3) excused absences
within a calendar month. DVA will be notified when
seven (7) absences and/or four (4) unexcused absences
have been recorded within a calendar month and VA
benefits will be terminated. All absences are
considered unexcused unless otherwise documented. These
criteria are considered excused absences: illness of
self, illness or dearth of immediate family member, jury
duty or active military service. Documentation
supporting absences must be given to the VA Certifying
Official immediately upon student returning to
school.
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Satisfactory attendance is
defined as compliance with existing school attendance
policy and the VA attendance policy. One may be
stricter than the other. It is the students'
responsibility to adhere to BOTH, in order to
continue the educational program and receive monetary VA
benefits.
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Satisfactory academic
progress is defined as mastery of at least 75 percent of
assigned program competencies for the particular
evaluation period and an overall performance rating of
average or above. Academic progress will be reviewed by
a VA Certifying Official at the end of each nine week
marking period or term.
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Two unsatisfactory progress
reports will result in termination of Veterans'
Educational benefits for program enrolled.
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The DVA will be notified by
the school's VA Certifying Official if the veteran does
not maintain satisfactory academic progress or
satisfactory attendance