Contacts & Information

General questions - email: [email protected]

General Information - Veterans' Benefits, Reserves, National Guard, Dependents of Veterans, Returning from Duty, Leaving for Duty, ROTC

Columbia University Milvets

All Milvets Executive Board Members have access to the following emails:

     [email protected]

     [email protected]

Dean David Keefe (Advisor): [email protected] 

VA Certifying Official

Columbia University School of General Studies
Office of Admissions and Educational Financing
408 Lewisohn Hall, MC 4101
2970 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
Fax: (212) 854-6316
[email protected]

Certification Requirement

In addition to completing the online application, EACH SEMESTER students must complete the Veterans Request for Certification in order to receive VA benefits for that semester.

New students should submit their VA Certificate of Eligibility to [email protected] or fax it to the General Studies Office of Educational Financing at 212-854-6316.

University Military and Veteran Affairs Website

Veterans Affairs Regional Office
U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs
Regional Office
P.O. Box 4616
Buffalo, New York 14140
Phone: (888) 442-4551

Veterans Affairs Vocational Rehabilitation
U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs
Regional Office
245 West Houston Street
New York, NY 10014
Phone: (800) 827-1000; (212) 807-7229
Fax: (212) 807-4024

Benefits Certification

Post-9/11 GI Bill
Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients must request certification for their benefits for the fall 2019 semester on the GS website. After your certification is submitted to the VA, you will receive a confirmation email. If you need to make a change to your enrollment after submitting your initial request for certification, please submit a new certification request and contact the GS Office of Educational Financing.

The 2019-20 cap on Post 9/11 tuition and fees payments has been raised to $24,476.79.  The maximum Yellow Ribbon payment for GS student remains $20,000 ($10,000 from GS matched by $10,000 from the VA).

Vocational Rehab (Chapter 31)
Students using Vocational Rehab benefits should not submit a request for certification on the GS website. Your benefits will not be pre-certified until you provide the Office of Educational Financing with your completed 28-1905 VA form and your class schedule for the fall 2019 semester. Once you have finalized your class schedule for the fall 2019 semester, please email a copy to [email protected]. It must include course number and title for each class.

All questions pertaining to your BAH/MHA must be addressed with your vocational rehab counselor. Remember to provide your counselor with any pending/required documents such as a copies of your transcript(s) for the spring 2019 and summer 2019.

Please submit your 28-1905 Form and course schedule for the fall 2019 term no later than August 26th, 2019.  If your 28-1905 for fall 2019 has already been submitted, we need only a copy of your fall 2019 course schedule.

Contacting GS School Certifying Officials

We do our best to address problems as quickly as possible, but if you don’t receive a response soon enough and cannot find the information that you need using the links offered below, please call our front desk to set up an appointment at 212-854-5410.

 

Basic Questions Regarding VA Benefits

Contact the Educational Hotline at 1-888-442-4551 or online at https://iris.custhelp.com/app/ask. You should expect a response to a question submitted online within 24 to 48 hours.

 All questions pertaining to Vocational Rehab Benefits must be first addressed to your vocational rehab counselor.

 Questions about federal financial aid may be emailed to [email protected].

 

Federal Pell Grant Eligibility

If you do not currently qualify for a Federal Pell Grant for the 2019-20 academic year, please contact us to discuss the possibility of completing a 2019-2020 Change Of Income Form. Before you submit a Change Of Income Form you must have already submitted the 2019-2020 FAFSA and your Planned Enrollment Form.

Deadline: Mid-October 2019

 

·Supplemental forms that must be submitted along with the Expected Year Income Form include:

o   Copy of DD-214 (unless we already have a copy on file from a previous year)

o   Documentation of disability income and/or any other type of income listed on page 2 of the Expected Year Income Form

o   A signed and dated letter explaining how you expect your financial circumstances for the period specified on the Expected Year Income Form to differ from your 2017 calendar year financial circumstances

o   Documentation of any divorce or legal separation mentioned on the Change of Income Form or in accompanying supporting materials

Note: Students in the Postbac Premed Program are ineligible for the Pell Grant

Federal Financial Aid

If you are interested in applying for Federal Financial Aid, please log into the Columbia online financial aid system to be sure that no required documents are missing, for example, the Planned Enrollment Form, 2019-2020 FAFSA, and the GS scholarship application(scholarship application is only for those who qualify for less than 100% percent of Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits).

If you are selected for a process called verification, you will, also, need to submit additional documentation such as your 2017 federal income tax transcript and a completed verification worksheet.