{"id":29616,"date":"2021-11-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourpublicservice.org\/veterans-education-and-training-benefits\/"},"modified":"2022-11-15T10:26:29","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T15:26:29","slug":"veterans-education-and-training-benefits","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ourpublicservice.org\/our-solutions\/customer-experience\/y2021\/veterans-education-and-training-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans Education and Training Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n<\/i>Back to Customer Experience Profiles<\/span><\/a>\n\n\n\n
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Veterans Benefits Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Executive Summary<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data Highlights<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Customer Experience Insights<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Delivering Services Equitably<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading Customer Experience Practices<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Veterans Benefits Administration provides a wide array of services for veterans, including education and career training benefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veterans appreciate the agency\u2019s proactive communications\u2014especially during the uncertainty of the pandemic\u2014and the agency is now working to target its messages to meet customers\u2019 need for more personalized information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VBA is also beginning a modernization effort that will enable veterans to interact with the agency through additional channels, such as text and web chat, and get access to real-time information about their eligibility and benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Service Overview<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

VBA supports veterans in multiple ways, including through education and disability benefits, pensions and home loans. Each year, the agency provides education benefits to nearly a million veterans and service members, as well as their families, helping them find the right schools or training programs, pay education expenses and access career counseling.\u202f\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primary\u202fcustomers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veterans, service members and their families.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key education and training services (all data for fiscal year 2020)\u202f<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Information about eligibility for education and training benefits, the application process and status of payments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Processing of claims and applications for education and training benefits programs.\n
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    • 3.5 million education benefits claims processed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Payment of tuition and fees, monthly housing stipends, books and other related expenses.\n
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      • $11.5 billion in benefits paid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Assistance with finding schools where veterans can use their benefits.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Education and career counseling to support job searches, identify training programs and help veterans achieve their training and employment goals.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Coordination with school officials, so they understand the VBA benefits available and can answer the questions veterans frequently ask.\u202f<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        Service Snapshot (all data for fiscal year 2020)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        • 2 million calls<\/strong> answered by the VA Education Call Center.\n
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          • Average wait time: 2 minutes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • 6.7 million calls<\/strong> answered by the National Call Center, which handles other non-education benefit inquiries.\n
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            • Average wait time: ~3 minutes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • 56<\/strong> VBA regional offices.1<\/sup>\u202f<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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              Data Highlights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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              education benefit claims processed.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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              of veterans surveyed felt they were treated with courtesy and respect by VBA call center staff.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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              Customer Experience Insights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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              Improvement from last year<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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              Room for improvement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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              Veterans would like more personalized information about their education benefits. <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t
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              VBA conducts nationwide email campaigns and other outreach to provide veterans with information about applying for and using education benefits. Veterans have shared that these communications are particularly helpful during times of change, such as the coronavirus pandemic, when many veterans may have similar questions, according to VBA officials. However, through their customer research, VBA officials have heard from veterans that the amount of information provided can be overwhelming and that veterans would like to receive fewer, more personalized messages. In response to this feedback, VBA has consolidated some of the messaging it sends to customers and begun sending more targeted messaging to specific groups of customers based on their particular situation\u2014such as applying for benefits or if an individual is about to graduate from college\u2014and what information would be most relevant and useful at that time.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n\t

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              Authenticated accounts will enable veterans to access real-time information about their eligibility and benefits. <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t
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              VBA\u2019s customer research has shown that veterans would like more online self-service opportunities to manage and receive their education benefits, as well as the ability to communicate with VBA through additional digital channels. The agency is currently working on a large-scale modernization effort, called the Digital GI Bill, to improve how education benefits are delivered and provide veterans with a better experience. The modernized online platform developed as part of this effort will use the secure, authenticated account process already in place on VA.gov, and will provide veterans with the ability to call, email, text and chat with the agency to get real-time answers to questions about eligibility and benefits. The account will also enable veterans to easily and immediately access their own records without having to wait for VBA to provide them. For example, as part of this new platform, veterans will be able to access digital copies of certificates of eligibility or denial letters the day decisions are made, rather than needing to wait for a copy to be mailed to them. As it implements this initiative, VBA is using human-centered design to ensure that the final product meets veterans\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n\t

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              Veterans appreciate the professionalism of VBA call center staff but would like more clarity about next steps.<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t
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              VBA\u2019s National Call Center answers questions about all types of VBA benefits, including training and disability benefits. Callers in fiscal 2021 rated the call center\u2019s staff highly but indicated that they did not always get all the information they were looking for during a call.<\/p>\n

              To improve veterans\u2019 call center experience, the agency has expanded its ability to quickly resolve common issues on their first call. Veterans seeking certain information corrections or changes can now have their records updated instantaneously when calling the agency.<\/p>\n[chart]\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n