Congratulations on your admission to the University of Maine. The VETS office would like to thank you for your military service. We are honored to be able to assist and support you as you pursue your education here at UMaine.

Volunteer group at the Maine Veterans Home in Bangor

As a newly admitted student you will be invited to attend a UMaine Summer Orientation session, and we encourage you to do so. These sessions are designed to introduce you to the services, and resources that are available to you as a UMaine student. However, we recognizes that your other commitments and life roles may make an over night stay difficult. Therefore we have designed an alternate summer orientation session for non traditional students (which includes veterans).   The alternate schedule is coordinated by the Commuter and Non Traditional Student Programs (CNTSP) and the VETS office and details of this can be found at the CNTSP website. There will also be a Non-Traditional and Veteran Welcome Day which is a great opportunity to meet peers and do final preparations for the school year.

As a new student veteran you’ll want be sure to review our VETS checklist below. Also please check out the checklist for new commuters and non-traditional students.

Checklist for New or Returning Student Veterans

  1. Get your COE(Certificate of Eligibility) or NOBE(Notice of Basic Eligibility) from the VA by going on the GI Bill website and clicking on “Apply for Benefits”(obtaining your COE/NOBE may take a while, continue with following steps if you have completed the online portion).
  2. Transferring Students, will have to fill out another form on Vets.gov, a 22-1995.
  3. Sign up for classes (for help doing this contact the Admissions Office).

      After Acceptance to UMaine:

  1. Pass in your COE/NOBE to the UMaine VETS office (you MUST do this in order to be certified to receive veterans benefits).
  2. EVERY SEMESTER: Submit a Request for VA Educational Benefits form. This form is available on our website and should be completed as soon as you have finalized your classes for the term.
  3. Log onto Mainstreet and fill out your “Anticipated Resources” to avoid being charged a late fee from the Bursars office.
  4. IMPORTANT (For Ch. 30, 1606, & 1607) at the end of every month you must log onto WAVE (Web Automated Verification of Enrollment) to let the VA know you are still attending the University of Maine. Go to the GI Bill website and click on “Verify Attendance”.
  5. If you have any changes to your COE, Class Schedule, or academic standing you MUST let the VETS office know immediately.

*Failure to follow these steps may result in debt to the Department of Veterans Affairs and/or delay of payments