<h3 class="EP8xU" style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">Recently talking with my vocational case manager (chapter 31) much for my surprise I was told that the benefits from chapter 31 that I was receiving in function of my disability was taking out benefits from my Gi Bill. My understand and any normal person understanding is that "Gi Bill" and "Vocational Rehab" are completely different things with completely different reasons and motivations to begin with: the "GI Bill" is mine and I have absolute control over it, I paid for it; the "Vocational Rehab" is an attempt of the VA to help me obtain a job since I am disabled and service connected (which is considered a handicap as far as job goes).

If by any change the VA was going to use my "GI Bill" benefits to pay for its "chapter 31" I should be notified of that when I signed for the "Chapter 31". Not only should I be notified but I should also give my permission and consent so that the VA could use my "GI Bill" to pay for another VA's program that is under VA's control and entirely unrelated to my "GI Bill". I never in any shape, way, or form relinquished my "GI Bill" benefits so that the VA's could pay for its "chapter 31". If I had a choice I would always choose my "GI Bill". The situation in which VA simply took my "GI Bill" without my consent, permission, or authorization is completely and absolute insane.

</h3>

I hate to tell you but once you use the VocRehab Chapter 31 you cannot use your GI Bill again. The reason for this is as they explained it to me, both programs come from the same pot of money. They should have explained this better and you might be able to go to a supervisor but they will probably say the direct deposit form you completed with your name on it is proof that you were told (even if you were not) The problem is if you have post 911 entitlement that means your GI Bill would stand to be pretty large come August, and the VA does not like to pay the larger sum. It stands to reason that they will try there best to keep you on Chapter 31. Good luck!

The GI Bill, VRE, etc..... are all educational programs owned by the VA.

It is either one or the other cause you can not be paid for two seperate educational programs. Now if the GI Bill's were owned by the services and were seperate from the VA you would be in better shape. However, the services are simply brokers for the VA educational programs and are simply trying to assist service members in planning for civilian life after their service. All of the programs have the same intent of helping you obtain employment/career status after your service life.

Can you use Voc Rehab twice?

I understand the idea that they are educational programs. But they are different programs with different motivations and reasons. So if they take from each other in any way it should be clearly stated, especially considering that they are completely unrelated: "Gi Bill" is my thing, I paid for it, I own it; "Chapter 31" is something that the VA provides me because the military is responsible for my disability. I have total controls over my "GI Bill" and the New GI Bill has much better benefits. Above all since the "GI Bill" belongs to me if they were going to take out from it for anything else I should not only be notified but I should also authorized such use (which I would never do). There was not way that I could know by change alone that a completely unrelated thing such as "Chapter 31" would take from my "GI Bill" without even ask for my permission to do so.

Thanks! There were no way, back then (about 4 years ago), for me to know about such commonality of sources by chance alone, especially considering that they are absolutely unrelated. So it stands for a reason that the VA should clearly ask for my permission and authorization to take benefits out of my "GI Bill".

But after further research I found out the "Chapter 31" and "GI Bill" combined provide 48 months of benefits. So right now I am enrolled in the "Chap. 31", I have used 38 months already of the "Chapter 31" thusI still have 10 months remaining. I could, for instance drop from the "Chapter 31" and change from the old to new "GI Bill" (Chapter 33) in August but I would only have 10 months of new "GI Bill". Anyway I will try to have the full New GI Bill benefits, but I don't have much hope

I believe that you can reapply if for some reason you dropped from the program (chapter 31). But if you used up all the months of entitlements that you are entitled for by the "chapter 31" (48 months), most likely it not make much sense to reapply since there would be no entitlements remaining. But I am not sure, there may be exceptions, etc.

I went through Voc Rehab 6 or so years ago, I got a job working in the field I was trained in. But after 6 years or so of working in the field I was trained in I can no longer do my job, someone suggested applying for Voc Rehab again. I have looked all over and I haven't been able to find anything about using it twice, I haven't even been able to find "you only have 48 months" anywhere.

Thanks

The way my Voc Rehab counselor explained it to me is that the voc rehab program doesn't take money from the GI bill but it takes TIME away from it. So it shortens the amount of time that you have left to use it if you haven't. The benefit to using your GI bill instead of voc rehab for college is that it pays more for living allowance.