Navigating VA Educational Benefits

Navigating your VA educational benefits can be an overwhelming task. Keeping track of your remaining eligibility, benefit level, and which educational option is best for you can be overwhelming. Code Platoon assists many students in making their VA educational benefits work for them, allowing them to attend Code Platoon and providing a clear path to a software development career. 

While VET TEC may seem like the most obvious way to attend Code Platoon and utilize your VA educational benefits, VET TEC is currently constrained by its limited budget. As of November 3, 2020, VET TEC has exhausted its funding for the 2021 fiscal year. Additional funding for the program is not currently expected to be replenished until October 1, 2021. Any Veteran currently holding a CoE indicating approval from VET TEC will not be able to start a VET TEC approved program until October 1, 2021. This can be frustrating to Veterans interested in pursuing a software development career as a VET TEC student, as many coding bootcamps are only approved to accept VET TEC, and not GI Bill or Voc Rehab approved. 

Code Platoon has a deeply established relationship with the VA and is approved for funding options beyond VET TEC. Code Platoon is approved to accept Post 9/11 (Chapter 33) GI Bill, Vocational Rehabilitation (now called Veteran Readiness and Employment Services), and Chapter 35, in addition to VET TEC. The Code Platoon team works tirelessly with incoming students to understand what benefits they have available and which option is the best fit for them. For those students who may not have VA educational benefits available to them, Code Platoon offers generous scholarships. Full and partial scholarships are available to Veterans, military spouses, including affinity scholarships for Black, Hispanic, women, and transgender students. The mission of Code Platoon has always been to make a career in software development attainable and achievable for all Veterans and spouses. 

Do you have questions about your VA educational benefits and how you can use them with Code Platoon? Can we help you compare your available VA educational benefits and our available scholarships? Email Greg Drobny, Student, and Community Outreach Coordinator, at greg@codeplatoon.org. 

Alicia Boddy is Code Platoon’s Chief Operations and Development Officer. Alicia oversees Code Platoon’s day-to-day activities, including fundraising, grant writing, board development, and strategic planning. Alicia also serves as our VA certifying official, helping students navigate their benefits with the Department of Veteran Affairs. Alicia loves living in Chicago with her husband, Jeff, and three kids. You can often find them exploring the city, eating Lou Malnati’s pizza, and cheering on the Cubs, Blackhawks, and Buckeyes!