about MyCAA

I was approved for a MyCAA account, had no idea until yesterday that you can not use both that and the GI Bill at the same time (it's considered double dipping....but MyCAA doesnt ask if you're a vet or if you're drawing VA benefits) So, now the VA may pull my benefits for the fall if I can't fix this before school starts.......and CAA already paid the school. Grrrr.

Just wanted to make sure anyone who may be a vet and considering this knows before they end up in the same situation I'm in.

Wow Catherine what a bummer. You would think as least one of the applications would mention that fact so you couldn't end up in this situation. I hope you get it all resolved.

It says right on the CAA website that you can use both... and I checked with the VA rep at my school and was told that you can by them, too.

It's about a month after your post, so hopefully this represents a policy change and not an error.

quote:

Originally posted by MedEvacStar:
It says right on the CAA website that you can use both... and I checked with the VA rep at my school and was told that you can by them, too.

It's not

check out this post from a highly experienced VA repin the education forums. He spent a while working and verifying this a few weeks ago with top CAA and VA reps. IT IS NOT ALLOWED as it is concidered double DOD education benefits (just like you cant use TA and the GI Bill at the same time-it's a violation of federal law).

A lot of the lower CAA reps havent been briefed for some reason and insist you can, which is the issue we have, the CAA people will end up screwing vets caught in the crossfire. Call the VA national Office and they will say no, and since they're the ones who will pull your VA benefits or make you pay them back.......

I have no idea why your local VA rep at your school is saying you can, my guess would be he or she is in-experienced with the newly expanded CAA program.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catherine0830,

Thanks, I'll call VA. Might as well call CAA too, since it says plain in black and white on the website that you can use them in conjunction with each other, as one is a VA benefit for vets and the other is a DoD benefit for spouses. They're pretty clear about it.

If they affirm what you've said (which I don't doubt) I will demand they take it down.

Thanks.

Good luck. Retired's next email to them called the CAA out on what the website said and what I had been told and asked why they were doing that. As far as I know the CAA has not responded. Also has had higher ups he knows call the CAA people and call them out on it. To no avail.

I am composing an e-mail to my Senator (John Cornyn, stong advocate for veterans) as we speak. There's no way that you shouldn't be able to use both- they are completely unrelated.

Yes there is. You earn it under 2 different conditions, but under federal law it's still double dipping as they are both DOD funds used for education (just like TA and Gi Bill cant be used together). Only go around I can maybe see is if you only use the GI Bill to pay for those courses not covered by CAA kinda like top up, but they're not set up for that yet.

I really want someone to put pressure on the CAA people to fix themselves. At least ask a question on the application if you are drawing VA benefits.

I did talk to the CAA rep and of course she had no idea (not her fault, she didn't know that she didn't know. She assumed you could use both since that's their guidance.

The VA, of course, did not answer the phone and disconnected me after I spent five minutes going through the bloody prompts.

Since CAA is clueless and VA doesn't care if the vets reach them or not, I'll proceed with the letter to the Senator and see if he can do anything (at the very least about the instructions on the CAA website).

I'll let you know.

quote:

Originally posted by MedEvacStar:
I did talk to the CAA rep and of course she had no idea (not her fault, she didn't know that she didn't know. She assumed you could use both since that's their guidance.

The VA, of course, did not answer the phone and disconnected me after I spent five minutes going through the bloody prompts.

Since CAA is clueless and VA doesn't care if the vets reach them or not, I'll proceed with the letter to the Senator and see if he can do anything (at the very least about the instructions on the CAA website).

I'll let you know.

Our school has sent in another request that was forwarded to VA Central Office asking that they put out a VA Policy Letter explaining how using the MyCAA and VA Educ Benefits are a duplication of Federal Benefits and asking them to also involve the Dept of Education in the discussion.

We have received several confirmation emails verifing that VA's opinion is that this is a duplication of federal benefits - same as if an Active Duty Soldier were to try to use their Tuition Assistance (funded by DOD so it's a Federal Funded Education Benefits) and their GI Bill (Federaly Funded through DOD and VA).

The Problem lies with MyCAA - they are overwelmed with the number of Spouses using this program as it is their first year after the test program and their opinion is that MyCAA can be used with GI Bill because they don't understand how this can affect students and institution - BUT this is only their second year in business (one year test program) and they apparently don't under stand the Federal Laws. They are funded under Section 528, Title 10, USC. Title 10 is the federal law section governing all things military to include funding for VA education benefits and active duty Tuition Assistance.

The problem the Universities/Colleges are running into is to be accredited for students to use VA Education Benefits means accepting Federal Auditors from the VA coming in annually to make sure that everything is done legally. If the auditors come into our school, find that we are not checking things like duplication of federal benefits they can 1) unaccredit our school so that none of our students (1000 plus) could use VA Education Benefits and 2) fine our school the amount of monies paid to our students in VA Benefits - approx 10 million annually. They can go back 3 years on the audits.

The VA does care but the National Call Center is just overwhelmed with people calling them - they hired/trained additional personnel, added additional phone lines and still haven't been able to handle the volumn of calls. I call for my students every day - hit redail until I get put on hold, then wait 10 to 15 minutes until I get to talk to someone about several of my students problems.

quote:

Originally posted by catherine0830:
Good luck. Retired's next email to them called the CAA out on what the website said and what I had been told and asked why they were doing that. As far as I know the CAA has not responded. Also has had higher ups he knows call the CAA people and call them out on it. To no avail.

Catherine - they still haven't answered by second email - I've resent it again. fyi

Well, I did send the letter to Senator Cornyn, just to let someone with more punch than I have take a swing at this... it's not about the double-dipping (as I said to Catherine, I believe you guys). It's about the MyCAA website posting incorrect information that is really going to end up screwing with someone's finances.

I also just got off the phone of a supervisor of a supervisor of a... (you get the idea) at CAA. She told me that she is going to a meeting with the lady who started MyCAA and she will mention the incorrect info on the website to her. It is, of course, their mission over there to help military families, not cause hardship. She asssured me that it would be addressed.

As for the VA and waiting on hold... I tried that yesterday, hitting "redial" until I was put on hold... was on hold for 12.5 minutes and was summarily disconnected. My job is to be on the phone with patients, not on hold with VA...I had 4 voicemails when I got back to it. I simply can not afford that kind of time here at work. All e-mails to them have also been unanswered (although their standard is 5 days).

I give up. VA, I know, is overworked, but I have enough problems with healthcare there and reaching anyone to do with education, voc rehab, etc. that I feel that it's not even worth my time any more. I very simply have better things to do with my time than to fight for benefits that I was guaranteed upon both my separation and my disability rating.

Thank you both for your help- I'm glad I got the heads up before I actually registered for classes today!

-doc

...just another note. The lady from CAA that I talked to earlier just called me back and asked for a contact at the VA. I described to her the problems with getting through to them and told her at least the USC reference that was posted above. They're looking into it.

Thanks again!
-doc

yeah, not so much.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mrsjvb,