Welcome to Carson-Newman University! We are excited to have you here. Applying for and receiving your VA educational benefits is a relatively simple process. Pease follow the steps below to begin using your benefits at Carson-Newman. If you need assistance at any point during the process, please reach out to the Office of Military and Veteran Services either by email or phone. We will be glad to help!
STEP 1: Apply for Benefits with the VA
If you have applied your education benefits and have already received your Certificate of Eligibility COE, skip to step 2. Whether you are a veteran, current service member or dependent, to use VA education benefits you will need to complete an application through the Veterans Affairs website. The application should only take 15-20 minutes to complete. We recommend that you have your bank routing and account numbers handy as you will be able to enroll in direct deposit as part of the application. You will not need to upload any documents during this process, but you will need to create an ID.me or LogIn.gov account (if you don’t already have one) to access the VA’s website.
Please click on the button below to start your application at the US Department of Veterans Affairs website:
In the section where the application asks for the school’s name and address, please use the following information:
Carson-Newman University
1646 Russell Avenue
Jefferson City, TN 37760
When you have finished the application, please save or print out the confirmation page with your name and confirmation and email a copy to militaryservices@smxjjl.com.
Your actual Certificate of Eligibility (COE) will take another four weeks or more to arrive in the mail.
You DO NOT have to wait to receive you Certificate of Eligibility before applying for admission to Carson-Newman University, talking to a faculty advisor, or choosing your classes.
STEP 2: Complete the C-N Military/Veteran Education Assistance Form
This is a one-time action to receive military education benefits at Carson-Newman University. Have your COE (if you have received it) and your or your sponsor’s DD-214 in pdf format ready to upload to the form. Click on the link below to begin.
On page 3 of the form, you will acknowledge your understanding of the university’s policies for receiving military/veteran education benefits while attending Carson-Newman University. These policies may be read and downloaded using the button below.
STEP 3: Submit Certification Request Form
EVERY SEMESTER, after you register for classes, you must complete the Certification Request Form in order for your VA education benefits to be processed. You will receive a confirmation e-mail after submission. It is important to submit this request in a timely manner to ensure that your benefits are not delayed. Registration at Carson-Newman takes place several weeks prior to the upcoming semester for which you are registering. Make it a practice to fill out the Certification Request Form at the same time you register for the next semester.
Once this form is received, your certifying official here at Carson-Newman will review your eligibility and ensure that the classes you’ve chosen are within VA guidelines. Please note that VA educational benefits will only cover courses required for your degree program.
You must report immediately, all changes to your enrollment to the Director of Military and Veterans Services via email. These changes include change in credits, course withdrawal, incomplete grades, and change of major and address. We are required to report these changes to the VA.
STEP 4: Once you have registered for classes
EVERY SEMESTER, after you register for classes, you must complete the Certification Request Form in order for your VA education benefits to be processed. You will receive a confirmation e-mail after submission. It is important to submit this request in a timely manner to ensure that your benefits are not delayed. Registration at Carson-Newman takes place several weeks prior to the upcoming semester for which you are registering. Make it a practice to fill out the Certification Request Form at the same time you register for the next semester.
Once this form is received, your certifying official here at Carson-Newman will review your eligibility and ensure that the classes you’ve chosen are within VA guidelines. Please note that VA educational benefits will only cover courses required for your degree program.
You must report immediately, all changes to your enrollment to the Director of Military and Veteran Services via email. These changes include change in credits, course withdrawal, incomplete grades, and change of major and address. We are required to report these changes to the VA.
STEP 5: Go To Class
We strongly recommend that you make every effort to not miss class. Please note that a failure for non-attendance must be reported to the VA and will result in a debt on your student account. If you feel as though you may be at risk to fail a course for academic reasons, please contact our office so that we may assist with resources here on campus.
Always notify the Office of Military and Veterans Services if you make any changes to your schedule or degree program, as we are required to report them to the VA.
NOTE: In order for payment to be processed, some chapters of the GI Bill® require monthly self-verification of enrollment on the last day of each month in which you are enrolled. (GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Instructions for this may be found in your Certificate of Eligibility and on the virtual Office of Military and Veterans Services on Carson-Newman’s learning management system, CANVAS.