ODU offers several academic summer sessions of varying lengths. The session dates are available on the . Because ODU's summer academic sessions vary in length, the VA has determined the following undergraduate and graduate credit hour requirements that will determine your level of eligibility for BAH disbursement.
| Session | Number of weeks in session | Number of credit hours for 100% BAH | Minimum credit hours for BAH eligibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maymester | 3 | 3 | 2 |
|
1 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
|
2 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
|
3 |
12 |
8 |
5 |
| Session | Number of weeks in session | Number of credit hours for 100% BAH | Minimum credit hours for BAH eligibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maymester | 3 | 2 | 2 |
|
1 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
|
2 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
|
3 |
12 |
6 |
4 |
What About My BAH?
The ODU Veterans Affairs Certification Team does not determine the eligibility level or date of disbursement. We do not have information to answer specific BAH and book stipend-related questions.
For your convenience, we have posted the BAH guidelines provided by the VA below. The VA will be utilizing these guidelines to determine summer BAH eligibility.
How is BAH paid out for these summer sessions? How are overlapping sessions calculated? Contact the VA at 1-888-442-4551 to answer these questions.
The following is provided in the most general of terms.
Firstly, you must attend classes at a rate of pursuit of at least 51% (more than half-time) in order to be eligible for a housing stipend at all. The VA considers a number of factors when determining if someone is full-time, three-quarter-time, or half-time. Basically what we do is determine the number of credits that you have been certified as being enrolled for. Then, we determine the length of the term you are enrolled in. Finally, we have to verify if the training facility that you are enrolled in is a semester or quarter school. If the school is a semester school, we consider a standard term to be 15-19 weeks; if it is a quarter school, we consider a standard term to be 10-13 weeks. Any course outside of these standard lengths is adjusted to equivalent credit hours to determine training time.
For undergraduate programs which are standard semesters or quarters, in most cases, 12 credits or more is considered to be full time, 9, 10 or 11 credits are considered to be 3/4 time, 6, 7, 8 credits would be considered to be 1/2 time, 4 or 5 credits would be considered less than 1/2 time, and enrollment in 1 2 or 3 credits would be 1/4 time.
For non-standard terms or quarters, equivalent credit hours are used to determine your rate of pursuit. The formula is the following:
Credit hours you are attending times 18 weeks (semester) or 12 weeks (quarter). This result divided by the actual number of weeks in your term equals your equivalent credit hours. This divided by what your school considers full-time for your program equals your rate of pursuit.
CRH's attending x 18 or 12 weeks = X
X / # of weeks in your term = ECR
ECR / schools full-time measure = ROP
Once your eligibility for BAH is established, the BAH rate paid is based on the zip code of your school. Current rates can be found here. The rate is based on an E-5 grade with dependents. This rate will be prorated by your eligibility percentage if less than 100%. This rate is further prorated based on your rate of pursuit (training time). For example, if you attend class at 3/4 time the BAH rate will be prorated by .80% which is your training time rounded to the nearest tenth (rate of pursuit equal to .75% is rounded to .80%). Additionally, if you attend online classes only, you are only entitled to 50% of the national average which is currently $684.00 before all other proration factors are considered.
If all classes within a term do not start and begin on the same dates, this will affect your rate of pursuit for each time-frame within that term.
Please keep in mind that the resulting BAH rate is paid for each full month of attendance. You will receive a prorated payment for any partial month's attendance. As of August 1, 2011 breaks between terms are no longer paid.