I posted about this quite a while ago, but in the meantime missed an application deadline so had to wait an entire year to continue with this.
This is my experience with applying to and being accepted for the VA's VANEEP scholarship.
What is VANEEP?
VANEEP is a Department of Veteran's Affairs scholarship program intended to award employees a full ride scholarship in pursuit of a degree which is required for a first-time credential occupation (e.g., an initial BSN but not an MSN in leadership). The program operates under the auspices of the Employee Incentive Scholarship Program (EISP - VANEEP is just a certain flavor of the EISP).
https://www.vacareers.va.gov/Content/Documents/Print/VANEEP_VA_Careers_Page.pdf
What are the benefits?
VANEEP provides its recipients with a scholarship for the chosen degree; additionally the employee remains employed by their VA facility and retains their full-time status and salary. VANEEP provides the employee's VA facility with a temporary replacement salary to replace the recipient's position while they are in school.
What are the requirements?
The application itself is lengthy and requires multiple individual documents detailing the sought degree, why the scholarship is deserved, the exact dollar amount the scholarship must cover per fiscal year, the exact number of units, and essentially every single detail about the degree, classes, and finances involved. The documents are cross referenced and must all sync exactly down to the dollar.
The applicant must have been employed by the VA in any capacity for one year prior to the application submission.
Recipients are required to enter into a legal contract with the federal government with harsh penalties for failing to meet academic criteria. If the contract is broken, the recipient owes back to the government all expenses paid out with interest, multiplied by three. Yes that is correct.
Recipients must maintain a certain GPA overall, must not fail any classes, and must maintain regular contact with the facility's scholarship coordinator.
Recipients are required to return to their post for work during academic breaks, and during any period of cancelled classes longer than one day.
Recipients are required to report sick days to the scholarship coordinator and are required to submit sick leave requests to cover the absence.
Recipients are required to maintain their government email communications and TMS modules. Yep, you cannot escape TMS!
Recipients must complete their degree within a specified time frame (for my facility: 2 years).
Recipients will work for the VA in their new role after graduation and licensure/certification for 3 years. The recipient may work at any VA facility - transfers are allowed but with certain communication and paperwork requirements.
The recipient is not allowed to incur any other federal obligations during the three year payback period.
What is the timeline?
VANEEP application deadlines are twice per year, in March for classes starting after the spring, and in October for classes starting after the fall. The application can be made at any time during the degree path as long as all requirements are met (i.e., you can apply for VANEEP after you've already started the degree).
The application's ultimate approval and subsequent funding often does not come through until after classes have started, but conditional approval usually comes through right before classes start.
The application cannot be submitted until the applicant has a letter of unconditional acceptance by the school.
Here is my experience:
I already have a BS in general biology, 3.5 GPA overall.
July 2018 - applied for a local university's accelerated 14-month BSN; program starts once per year May 28th.
November 2018 - interviewed for a slot in the program.
Late January 2019 - Received a conditional letter of acceptance, pending my passing of a pre-req which I was, at the time, enrolled in; began the VANEEP application.
- Had to communicate with the school's academic adviser to have her fill out a VANEEP form indicating that my acceptance was unconditional despite that I was still taking a pre-req, so I could submit my VANEEP application. The adviser obliged.
- Had to estimate a lot of numbers regarding class dates and tuition costs because the school had not posted the future figures yet. Used past semesters as a guide.
March 2019 - submitted the nearly complete VANEEP application to my scholarship coordinator at the VA. The application was missing one thing, a mentor, which was held up because of a computer glitch with the mentor application. The scholarship coordinator accepted the application, the mentor came through right before the coordinator was required to submit the paperwork to the scholarship committee.
Early April 2019 - The VANEEP committee convened and pushed my application up the chain of command and was accepted by the facility director. The application was then submitted to national for consideration.
Late April 2019 - Received an email from the scholarship coordinator that national conditionally accepted my application, signed the legal contract for funding. The application was only pending a signature from the VA's Undersecretary of Health. This was not a guarantee, but there was no precedent for an applicant being rejected at this point.
May 2019 - Went to class orientation. Had my supervisor take me off of the unit schedule starting the weekend before classes start. Still no word on the final approval.
Mid May 2019 - Received my first tuition bill of $2,300, no word on final scholarship approval yet. Contacted the school's cashier's office and requested an extension due to my pending scholarship.
May 28th - First day of classes. Stopped by work on my lunch break from classes (the university is across the street from my VA), got an email from the coordinator that all approvals were done and that I would receive funding. At this point the coordinator begins communicating directly with the university's billing rep so I never see a bill.
Overall, I had to determine whether or not I would still go through with school if I did not get the scholarship; thankfully I got it. I've heard of others claiming that their VA told them that they did not have funding for the program, but this is confusing to me because the funding dollars do not come from individual VA facilities, it comes from a national organization called PG&E. This is with whom you sign the legal contract for funding.
The application is loooooong and very detailed. If anything is off, misspelled, or does not perfectly match all other documents, the scholarship coordinator will reject it and tell you to fix what's wrong. It can be daunting if you've never completed an application of this magnitude before.
Is it worth it?
Without question, yes. All of the work and uncertainty associated with the application process is well worth getting a degree and employment. The payback period is acceptable to me because I would continue to work for the VA whether or not I chose to become an RN.
Additionally, I will only use 14 month's worth of the funding, meaning I will have 10 months left over. I will be allowed to use that 10 moths toward a more advanced degree after my payback period, though I will have to remain working. That means I can get a good chunk of a DNP or MSN paid for.
The academic requirements are somewhat rigorous, but they are on par with the nursing school's own requirements for passing, so no big deal there.
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There is a lot of mystery surrounding the application and process of submission, because all of the forms are on the VA's sharepoint intranet site which is not accessible from the public internet, and because VANEEP scholarship coordinators are not easily reachable and don't always have the answers your looking for. Luckily my coordinator is on top of things. If you have any questions please post or pm me, I'll do my best to check back here.
