The Unexpected Perks of Using Voc Rehab

Most veterans have heard of Vocational Rehabilitation, the alternative to using the GI Bill to cover tuition and book costs when headed back to school. What they don’t realize are all the little perks that come with it and will make a big difference in their higher education experience.  Below are five perks to using Voc Rehab that are little known, but add up to big rewards. 

Pocket Extra Money

With Voc Rehab, you can keep all the scholarships  that are not related to financial need. This means that any merit scholarship or fellowship you receive are yours to pocket. I actually ended up making money while going to grad school and technically got paid to earn my degree.  It doesn’t get better than that.   

Additional Supplies

Voc Rehab is meant to put those with disabilities on equal footing with their non-disabled classmates which means that they will cover the cost of any supplies necessary to do that.  I received a brand new Apple laptop, a 3 in 1 color printer/scanner/copier, noise canceling headphones, an iPad, as well as color coded organizational supplies to help with my concentration issues.  

Extra Credits

Voc Rehab covers the full and complete cost of tuition no matter how expensive it is. Put another way, they will cover as many credits as you want to take.  I was able to take an additional four classes, thanks to Voc rehab and got to take full advantage of my degree program. It was great to not have my learning limited due to financial restrictions.  

Dental coverage

One of the little known perks of Voc rehab is that it provides dental coverage. The regulation is vaguely worded as providing coverage for any dental issue that will help “achieve the goals of the veteran’s vocational rehabilitation program”) so it’s up to individual providers to determine what falls within that realm.  In my case, I had an emergency root canal and it was meant receiving an emergency root canal.

Two months extra BAH-Per Voc rehab policy, students continue to receive BAH payments for two months after they graduate in order to help alleviate the transition back into the civilian world. I went to grad school in Boston which had a fairly high cost of living so it ended up being a fairly large chunk of change.