Aside from the 43-day record government shutdown, the VA’s ongoing implementation and technology issues have continued to impact military-affiliated learners, especially the most frequently used Post-9/11 GI Bill, Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E), and Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance (DEA) programs.
On November 7, 2025, ACE's Division of Government Relations and National Engagement prepared an issue brief covering how military-affiliated learners are impacted by VA GI Bill payment delays.
To quickly summarize, the issue brief highlighted capacity challenges, lack of communication transparency, and technology concerns. Congressman Derrick Van Orden, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Chairman, addressed a letter to ACE President Ted Mitchell on November 20, 2025, confirming delayed payments for “tens of thousands of students” using the DEA due to their antiquated Benefits Delivery Network. In this letter, data reconciliation and resolution of the technological update were noted as a priority.
Table of VA Served Population and Benefit Payments 2024
| Education Benefit | VA Beneficiaries Served | FY24 Payment Estimates |
| VR&E (Chapter 31) | 144,249 | $2.1 Billion |
| Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) | 573,732 | $9.7 Billion |
| DEA (Chapter 35) | 262,792 | $2 Billion |
Support to DEA Learners
According to Van Orden’s letter to ACE, the Subcommittee recommended that member higher education institutions provide a grace period to DEA students impacted by the delay, specifically since payments are issued directly to the individuals instead of the institution.
However, the Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018 legally mandates colleges and universities to provide a grace period up to 90 days to military-affiliated learners using the Post-9/11 GI Bill, VR&E, and DEA programs. It prohibits colleges and universities from holding students back and enforces publicly available policy information in order to participate in VA programs.
Per the letter, colleges and universities can reach out to Mr. Chase Bergerson, Staff Director for the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, via email at Chase.Bergerson@mail.house.gov if they are aware of students utilizing VA education benefits and not receiving their benefits on time.
VA Backlog Update
The VA released on November 18, 2025, “VA reduces backlog of Veterans waiting for VA Benefits by 57% shares that approximately 3 million compensation and pension benefits pending more than 125 days have been significantly reduced this year. It boasts improved accuracy and better efficiency. No new VA News updates regarding specific educational benefits are available currently. According to the VA site, “Education data for the reports from October 6, 2025, through November 29, 2025, are currently unavailable and will be published as soon as they are complete.”
The recent government shutdown certainly stalled VA capacity, service communication (including the GI Bill hotline), and technical modernization efforts. The VA site refers readers to the Veterans Benefits Administration’s (VBA) Strategic Plan for more information on how it plans to eliminate the claims backlog. VA updates regarding key issues identified by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) High-Risk Improvement Plans are lengthy (322 pages).
Their 2024 Annual Performance Report discussed its preparation for the Digital GI Bill Release 6 and communications plan to transition payment processing for Post-9/11 GI Bill beneficiaries. VBA 218 - Average days to complete original education claims remained consistent at 23.9 days in the past few years. VBA 219 - Average days to complete supplemental education claims increased from 8.92 in 2022 to 10.1 days in 2024. VBA 912 - Average days to complete education program approvals decreased significantly from 36.8 in 2022 to 4.6 days in 2024 (the report stated that this measure was to be discontinued in FY 2025).
The report highlights various outcomes and the following among its key education accomplishments:
- VA is modernizing the GI Bill’s IT platform to deliver benefits faster, provide better customer service, and strengthen compliance and oversight activities through the Digital GI Bill (DGIB) modernization effort. The integrated DGIB team focuses on automation and has made significant strides in driving automation improvements.
- For all education claims in FY 2024, VBA automated 17% of original claims and 51% of supplemental claims. For Chapter 33 claims specifically, the automation rates were 31% for original claims and 64% for supplemental claims.
- VA’s Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) program exceeded the target of 91% for positive outcome accuracy with a score of 97%.
- VA served 17,948 students attending historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), with total benefit payments of over $145 million, which includes housing and books payments of $35 million.
- The education claim quality accuracy significantly surpassed the target, achieving a remarkable accuracy score of 98%, well above the set benchmark of 95%.
- Note: While the VA met its VBA 845 - Education claim quality measure overall under Strategic Objective 4.4 VA will improve governance, management practices, and make evidence-based decisions to ensure quality outcomes and experiences and efficient use of resources, it decreased from 99 percent in 2022 to 97.9 percent in 2024.
As restoration and improvements are underway, beneficiaries can check on high-level status updates by utilizing the Veterans Benefits Administration Reports, subscribing to the VA Monthly Newsletter or reaching out to PAI.VBACO@VA.GOV.
