The housing allowance is a monthly benefit paid to students enrolled at least half-time attending school under the Post 9-11 GI Bill; it is equal to the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) of an E-5 with dependents, and is based on the zip code of the school. Active duty members and spouses of active duty members using transferred entitlement cannot receive the BAH, but veterans, their spouses, and dependents can.
Payments
Payments are based on a 30-day period, and are issued via direct deposit by the VA at the beginning of each month for the attendance of training in the preceding month (e.g., payments for attendance in February would be issued in March).
Payments for partial months—typically a semester’s beginning/ending months—are prorated based on the number of days in attendance during that month of enrollment (e.g., a semester start date in mid-January would yield a partial month’s payment that would be issued in February).
Benefits for attendance at less than full-time status are prorated to the nearest multiple of ten (e.g., if full-time status is 12 credits and the student is enrolled in 8 credits, the student will receive 70% of the housing allowance—calculated as 8 ÷ 12 = .66, which rounds to 70%).
The monthly housing allowance payment rate for those enrolled solely in distance learning is half the national average of an E-5 with dependents.
Over-payments, those issued for the incorrect number of credit hours, are usually caused by a student reducing their total enrolled credit hours during the semester; as a result, the amount of the over-payment is deducted from upcoming benefit payments until the account is balanced.