Certificate of Eligibility/COE or NOBE

Veterans or dependents applying for VA educational benefits for the first time must :

Go to the GI Bill website to obtain a Certificate of Eligibility, COE  or Notification Of Basic Eligibility, NOBE

NOTE: Initial enrollment  for educational benefits may take up to 15 weeks to process by the Veteran’s Administration. Subsequent enrollments are processed automatically provided you are  certified  by the VETS office as registered for classes, with the exception of Summer Session ( see Summer Session Certification).

Once you have applied and  have been accepted  at the University of Maine, to access your educational benefits to attend UMaine,  veterans or dependents must :

  1. Submit you Certificate of Eligibility, COE or Notice of Basic Eligibility, NOBE to the UMaine VETS office
  2. All Chapters must complete a CERTIFICATION REQUEST FORM to VETS office as soon as they are registered for each coming semester.

Note: All linked documents are in Microsoft Word format.

It is the responsibility of the student to  submit a Request for VA Educational Benefits  to the V.E.T.S.  office as soon as you are registered for classes,  if you would like to receive benefits for any semester including summer session .

Summer Session Certification

Veteran students who enroll in summer session courses must be certified by the VETS Office before payment of benefits can be authorized. Continuous payment of benefits is authorized providing the student maintains the required credit load. Regular semester full credit loads are modified for summer certification.  Summer session classes at UMaine can vary in scheduling. Check with the V.E.T.S.  office before enrolling for summer classes to determine your rate of entitlement.

Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (CHAMPVA)

It is the responsibility of the student to request verification of enrollment each semester.  Students must be certified with CHAMPVA every semester to receive this benefit.  The Office of Student Records, at the University of Maine can provide verification of enrollment . You must  specifically request that the verification of enrollment letter  include your Social Security number if needed.