Navigating Your Benefits

How to Use Your VA Education Benefits

For instructions on how to file to use your GI BIll or other VA Chapter Benefits through the VA and USC, please read through our How to File page. In addition, please watch the video at the bottom of the Using Your Veteran Benefits at USC page. Scroll down to view the video.

Even if you are planning to use your VA Education Benefits, please also apply for Financial Aid at USC by submitting your FAFSA and CSS Profile each year before March 2*. Read through the Continuing Undergraduate Students Dates and Deadlines.
*After viewing your USC Financial Aid package, students are then able to choose if they’d like to use their GI Bill or other VA Chapter Benefits.

Undergraduate Yellow Ribbon Funding

Only veterans entitled to the 100% Post 9/11 benefit rate (based on service requirements) or their designated transferees may receive this funding. Active duty service members and their spouses are not eligible for this program (child transferees of active duty service members may be eligible if the service member is qualified at the 100% rate).

Continued Eligibility for Yellow Ribbon Benefit Recipients

• Remain in good academic standing with USC
• All VA certified courses must be degree applicable
• Remain eligible for Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits through the VA (you can check this through the VA’s eBenefits site)
• Submit the USC Application for Semester Entitlementform (ASE) each semester
  • The ASE form can only be submitted after you register for classes each term

USC supports our veterans and military community financially - largely through our commitment to awarding an unlimited number of Yellow Ribbon scholarships with an unlimited amount of money each year to eligible students on the undergraduate level. Through Yellow Ribbon funding, undergraduate student veterans, who enter USC with remaining GI Bill eligibility, can graduate from USC debt-free. The Yellow Ribbon program supplements the GI Bill at private institutions.

Please use the VA’s GI Bill Comparison Tool to see how USC’s Yellow Ribbon commitment compares to other schools. You can enter your level (undergraduate, graduate), your GI Bill percentage (Yellow Ribbon applies at the 100% level), and see what your net cost will be each year at USC.

We know that Financial Aid can be difficult to navigate, which is why we want to answer your questions. Please see the FAQ Section first.

• If you have unique questions about your GI Bill or VA Chapter benefits, please email the USC Veterans Certification Officeat vets@usc.edu or call (213) 740-4619.
• If you have general questions about financial aid, please call the Financial Aid office at 213-740-4444 or see if your question can be answered online at askUSC.

USC supports our veterans and military community financially - largely through our commitment to awarding an unlimited number of Yellow Ribbon scholarships with an unlimited amount of money each year to eligible students on the undergraduate level. Through Yellow Ribbon funding, undergraduate student veterans, who enter USC with remaining GI Bill eligibility, can graduate from USC debt-free. The Yellow Ribbon program supplements the GI Bill at private institutions.

Please use the VA’s GI Bill Comparison Tool to see how USC’s Yellow Ribbon commitment compares to other schools. You can enter your level (undergraduate, graduate), your GI Bill percentage (Yellow Ribbon applies at the 100% level), and see what your net cost will be each year at USC.

For more information, please contact the USC Veterans Certification Office.