Disregard Recent VA Debt Notices

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November 22, 2010

The Department of Veterans Affairs has asked institutions to ignore letters that were sent out last week detailing refunds owed to VA. The notices were "released prior to completion of a full analysis of the overpayments to determine the appropriate source of collection," according to a November 19 letter from Keith Wilson, director, Education Service at VA.

Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, refunds of benefit overpayments are generally treated as a debt of the student veteran, although there are some circumstances such as a student who never attends classes, duplicate payments for tuition and fees, or the death of a student when the institution is responsible for repayment. Many of the notices that were received by colleges and universities last week erroneously claimed that the institutions owed money to VA, when the debts had either been paid or were owed by the veterans instead.