First, when new employees go to the Academy, they already know their destination facility. They should contact their facility and advise the facility that they would like to access their GI Bill benefit. The facility Certifying Official can fill out the enrollment forms (22-1999 & 22-8864) and submit them electronically to the VA. They then generate the employee's training agreement and fax this to the Academy to obtain the employee's signature. The student must fill out either the VA Form 1990 or VA Form 1995 and submit this to the VA regional office that oversees the state in which their training facility will be located. Even if you do not have a facility assigned and are just an ATC applicant and anticipate using your GI Bill for OJT, go ahead and either fill out one of these two forms, it can take up over two months for the VA to give you the certificate of eligibility that you need. This is the very first step to take. This is what determines if you personally are eligible for VA education benefits and must be completed by you and you alone, not your training facility. A veteran that has never used the VA education benefits should fill out VA Form 1990. A veteran that has used the VA education benefits and is now changing his place of training or program need to fill out the VA Form 1995. This should complete the enrollment process while they are still at the Academy.

Here are the following forms:



For employees whose managers are telling them that they can't access the Certifying Official Training, here is the location. The Manager can access this through the FAA intranet on the Academy website. It is located on the FAA ATN Broadcast site:

FAA ATN Site (Must be on FAA Computer)

(If a particular manager is having trouble accessing the video training they can check with their Regional Certifying Official.)

The next step is for the newly trained "Certifying Officials" to fill out VA Form 22-8794 (Designation of Certifying Officials). This form is signed by the facility manager and submitted to Austin Lewis with a copy going to their Regional VA Certifying Coordinator.



They (facility manager or certifying official) then contact their Regional Certifying Coordinator to get the Facility Certification Code. This code is required to be submitted on each individuals paperwork in order for it to be processed by the VA.

Note:

You may contact your NATCA RVP directly to receive assistance if your facility can't sign you up at the Academy or can't obtain your certification code. The RVP will be able to assist you.

The Final Process

After the VA has verified that the trainee is eligible for benefits, the first benefit check will be mailed together with an award notice and certification of training form (VA Form 22-6553d, Monthly Certification of On-The-Job and Apprenticeship Training). The FAA facility and the trainee will report the hours the trainee worked during the period shown on the form. The form must not be dated or signed until the end of the period shown on the form. The form must be returned before the trainee's next check may be released. Full instructions for completing the form are found on the form itself. The information you report on the form must be accurate and supported by the facilities records since an improper payment based upon an incorrect certification may be held as a liability against the training facility establishment.

The trainee must work at least 120 hours each month to receive a full training allowance. If the trainee does not work at least 120 hours, benefits will be reduced in proportion to the number of hours less than 120 actually worked.

If the trainee terminates training in the approved program or is paid the journeyman or final objective wage, he/she is no longer entitled to training allowance. The training facility must report the effective date of termination or wage increase on the certification form. (General wage increases given to all employees should be reported to the State Approving Agency). If the training program is terminated and the trainee does not present the form, the facility needs to furnish the date he/she last worked and the number of hours worked during the last month of employment.


Other good links concerning the GI Bill:

Printable version of the instructions above

GI Bill Fact Sheet

GI Bill Rates for OJT

GI Bill Benefits Info

Veterans Online Application (VONAPP) Website (fill your documents out online)

The New GI Bill Benefits (Goes into effect August 2009)