Missoula College Now Eligible For Veterans Retraining Program

MISSOULA ?

The Veterans Retraining Assistance Program, which offers up to 12 months of training assistance to unemployed veterans, now is available at Missoula College of The University of Montana.

VRAP is part of the federal VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011. Veterans Affairs gave approval for Missoula College to use the program on Dec. 17. Veterans must be enrolled full-time in an approved program of education offered by a community (two-year) college or technical school to use the program.

?Eligible veterans who already are enrolled will be identified, and their payments will be processed by the end of the week ? including any retroactive payments,? said Ron Muffick, director of student financial services with Montana?s Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.

UM officials recently learned a handful of Missoula-area veterans had qualified for VRAP but were unable to use the funding to attend Missoula College.

?It was a matter of filling out the right paperwork as soon as we learned there was a problem,? UM President Royce Engstrom said. ?I?m glad we have this bureaucratic issue solved. We want to do everything in our power to assist our veterans with their education and civilian lives.?

To be eligible for VRAP, veterans must:

• be at least 35 years old.
• be unemployed on the date of application.
• have received an other-than-dishonorable discharge.
• not be eligible for other VA education benefit programs.
• not receive VA compensation because of unemployability.
• not be enrolled in any federal or state job-training program.

For more information visit the UM Veterans Education and Transition Services website at https://life.umt.edu/apps/vets/certify/ or the VRAP site at http://benefits.va.gov/vow/education.htm. Missoula College admissions counselor Kyle Pucko is available to assist qualifying veterans by emailing kyle.pucko@mso.umt.edu.

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Source: http://news.umt.edu/2012/12/121812vets.aspx

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