HOW TO MAKE YOUR OFFICE JUST A LITTLE MORE AWESOME!

WHAT ARE THE PSU VETS MADE OF? Currently… 1011 Students with benefits 2 Certifying Officials 1 Veterans Accountant

OUR CERTIFYING OFFICIAL ARE THE ROCK TO OUR ROLL Jake MayburyAngie Hartlove

WHO WANTS TO STARE AT LEDGERS ALL DAY?! THIS LADY! VICKI DOES IT ALL 3 rd Party Billing for CH31 Reconciling Student Accounts Manages payments from VA Handles Debts to the VA Takes care of Tuition Assistance Is a wizard in the kitchen

WHAT’S YOUR POINT JAKE?

I AM GOING TO HIT THREE POINTS THAT MAKE OUR OFFICE BETTER. Work-Study VA Once Best Practices

WORK-STUDY!

HOW ARE WORK-STUDIES ARE ESSENTIAL Greet Veterans Accept paperwork Answer Questions Answer phones Make files Process paperwork Filing Run Transcripts DARS Clean Help orient new veteran students

WHY DO YOU NEED 10 WORK-STUDIES? Women’s Resource Center We use a dedicated work-study as a representative for women vets Degree Requirements Degree Requirements are an essential part of certification Student Veteran Association Work-studies help our student group to go above and beyond as well as get our new Veteran Resource Center started Other ways our work-studies help us out…

How do you do it? By keeping these things in mind. Refer to the “Help Us Help You” worksheet. Don’t let your student work before Phyllis signs. Keep your math in check. Use your assigned subject lines when ing Don’t fret…If you do it wrong they will tell you.

VA ONCE IS YOUR FRIEND!

LET’S START WITH THE ADMIN SECTION

SETTING USER ACCESS You can setup access to VA Once access for non-certifying officials. You can also set their privileges. Can Edit Can Delete View Only Only Certifying Officials can submit information to the VA. Benefits include but are not limited to… Being able to look up certification information Being able to edit student information Looking up benefit information in VA Data Screen Adopting students and “pre-certifying” students Running Reports

SENDING CONFIRMATION VA Once will automatically send an confirmation to the student when a certification is submitted. To turn on notifications – Click on “Admin” then click on “School” then click on the school’s name. Check the box for confirmation and click “save”.

RUNNING REPORTS AND USING FILTERS

REPORTS PAGE The reports page will show you what you have done on a weekly basis. You have the option to filter the report with several variables including certifying official, chapter, and type of certification.

USING FILTERS Using filters can help you target specific certifications. Filtering specific terms, chapters, and programs will get you the data that you need. This can come in handy when running transcripts or trying to find statistics.

*TIPS* Click “Show All” before trying to print the filtered table. Be sure to reset your results before moving on. Be patient while VA Once thinks. For you Excel savvy folks…VA Once is built off Excel. The table will copy and paste nicely into a spreadsheet.

A COUPLE MORE THINGS…

USEFUL TOOLS IN VA ONCE HISTORY SCREEN LOG SCREEN The History Screen will show everything done to a student’s account. This will automatically populate and cannot be edited. It will show both the certifying officials actions and the VA’s actions. Keep in mind that the VA can see the log and that log entries cannot be deleted. The Log Screen can be used to keep personal notes regarding the student. You can use this to remind you of special circumstances regarding the student. Keep in mind that the VA can see the log and that log entries cannot be deleted.

VA DATA SCREEN HELP TAB The VA Data Screen will show remaining entitlement and pay information for Chapters 30, 1606, and This is useful when students wish to switch to Chapter 33. The help tab changes depending on the screen selected. The Help tab will tell you what everything on the current screen means. If you are confused about a button or what the information displayed represents, refer to the help tab. The help tab changes depending on the screen selected.

LAST! BUT NOT LEAST

OUR SPREADSHEET “ARDVAS” Our spreadsheet (The Allen Roberts Database for Veteran Academic Success) was implemented by the One and Only Allen Roberts in 2010 and has since been molded into an invaluable wealth of data. Our spreadsheet keeps information on Certification, Benefit Information, Voc-Rehab Case Managers, Academic Progress, Demographics, and Service Information.

COLOR CODED FORMS Color coded forms alleviates frustration from form numbers. Instead of telling the student they need a , we can tell them to fill out a pink form. Having colored forms also makes it quick to find forms in the office.

ONLINE FORMS Having forms readily available online is convenient for new students and online students. Online forms also cut down on foot traffic in our office.

A COUPLE OTHER FORMS CHAPTER 33 FINANCIAL AGREEMENT FINANCIAL AID DISBURSEMENT REQUEST Our Financial Agreement explains to the student that we are not responsible for payment of their account. Any money not paid from the VA is the Student’s responsibility. As a courtesy to our students, we will release Financial Aid funds to the student with the promise that the VA will settle the Student’s account. This form ensures the student understands that non-payment will be their responsibility.

CERTIFYING TUITION AND FEES COURTESY OF JERRI ELLIS Portland State waits until the add/drop date has passed before reporting tuition and fees to the VA. We initially report credits to the VA to start the BAH for students and amend tuition and fees later in the term. This reduces money being sent back and forth between the school and the VA and reduces confusion with debts and payments.

REQUIRED ADVISING The PSU Veteran Certification Office requires all veterans to see their advisor prior to submitting their certification form. Doing so helps keep the student on track and ensure course applicability.

UNIFIED OFFICE In an effort to provide better and faster customer service, PSU Veterans Certification established a standard address and telephone number. This can be accessed by everyone in the office and the phone will ring at each individual workstation. We also established one general business card to hand out to students. Since we have implemented these simple changes we have shortened response times and reduced the amount of missed telephone calls.

THE END

QUESTIONS? Suggestions?