Veterans Affairs banner with U.S. FlagVeterans Affairs banner with U.S. Flag

Office of Budget

Fiscal Year 2004 Performance and Accountability Report
Published November 15, 2004

Back to Table of Contents

Objective 2.2

FY 2004 Obligation ($ in Millions) % of Total VA Resources
Strategic Goal 2: Ensure a smooth transition for veterans from active military service to civilian life. $3,281 4.7%
Objective Performance Results
2.2 Provide timely and accurate decisions on education claims and continue payments at appropriate levels to enhance veterans' and servicemembers' ability to achieve educational and career goals.
  • Processed original education claims in 26 days (goal was 24 days)
  • Processed supplemental education claims in 13 days (goal was 12 days)
  • Maintained a payment accuracy rate of 94 percent (goal was 94 percent)
$2,246 3.2%

Performance

VA continued to move forward in its efforts to meet Objective 2.2. While the Department barely missed meeting its performance goals for the timeliness with which claims for education benefits were processed in FY 2004, the performance levels were comparable to those recorded last fiscal year and were still much improved over the timeliness figures from 2 years ago. VA processed claims for education benefits in an extremely accurate fashion, achieving a payment accuracy rate of 94 percent. These performance levels were achieved despite an ongoing increase in the number of education program participants. VA worked with the Administration and Congress to significantly increase monthly benefits for veterans and dependents training under the Montgomery GI Bill. This resulted in an increase in monthly benefits for veterans and dependents under this education program from $672 per month in October 2001 to $1,004 per month in October 2004. This rise of nearly 50 percent in the level of education benefits during the last 3 years has helped ensure that more veterans and servicemembers had the level of financial assistance necessary to assist in achieving their educational and career goals. In addition, the most recent survey data (from FY 2003) revealed that an extremely large share (89 percent) of those filing claims for education benefits were very or somewhat satisfied with the way VA handled their education claims. This continues an improvement trend since 1998 when 78 percent were very or somewhat satisfied.

Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) Evaluation

During the development of the FY 2005 budget, the Administration conducted a PART evaluation of the education program that relates to the accomplishment of Objective 2.2. This assessment reviewed the combined effectiveness of the legislative and executive branches in designing and implementing the many aspects of the education program. The PART evaluation for this program resulted in a rating of "Results Not Demonstrated." The primary reason for this rating was the finding that the Department needed to develop better outcome-oriented goals and performance measures.

Major Management Challenges

Neither VA's Office of Inspector General nor the Government Accountability Office identified any major management challenges related to Objective 2.2.

Program Evaluations

In 2000 the Department published the results of an independent program evaluation of VA's education programs. The principal finding of this evaluation was that the Department's primary education programs for veterans and reservists showed some success in meeting the intended purposes of the legislation establishing these programs, and that they returned over $2 to the economy for every $1 in taxpayer money funding the 2-year and 4-year degree programs. Compared to those who have not taken advantage of the education program, the men and women who furthered their education with government support have lower unemployment, have increased career and education goals, and enjoy an earnings advantage. In addition, one-half of the users of the education programs believe they could not have pursued their education without the education benefits provided by the Department's programs. This independent evaluation also recommended that the level of VA education program benefits be raised, which the Department has successfully achieved through close collaboration with the Administration and Congress.

New Policies and Procedures

In support of Objective 2.2, VA embarked on an aggressive outreach program to ensure that all potential beneficiaries receive timely information about the VA education programs available to them. This action is in direct response to one of the recommendations from the program evaluation completed in 2000 which stated that VA should improve its communication of information to beneficiaries and must ensure that this communication is correct, consistent, and coordinated across departments of the federal government. As part of this effort, VA is now mailing informational brochures to active duty military personnel providing them a description of VA education benefits. These brochures enhance servicemembers' awareness and understanding of these benefits.

Objective 2.2 - Key Performance Goal: Process original and supplemental education claims in 24 and 12 days, respectively.

Average Days to Complete Original and Supplemental Education Claims
Original Supplemental
2000 36 22
2001 50 24
2002 34 16
2003 23 12
2004 Actual 26 13
2004 Plan 24 12
2005 Plan 25 13
Strategic Target 10 7

Description, Importance, and Results

Prompt decisions on education claims assist individuals in securing the financial means to accomplish chosen educational pursuits.

Higher program usage coupled with lower staffing levels early in the fiscal year hindered our ability to meet this goal. With some hiring in the latter part of the year, improvements in timeliness began to occur. We expect this trend to continue as we strive toward next year's goal.

Management and Policy Issues

Overall processing timeliness is affected by the quality of the enrollment and certification information received from school officials. To improve overall processing time, VA developed an electronic education certification program (VACERT) that allows schools to send enrollment certifications to VA electronically. At this time, over half of all schools use VACERT. VAONCE, an Internet application, will replace VACERT, making the application more attractive to schools. This system was deployed on a limited basis in FY 2003, and will continue to be expanded and improved in FY 2005. In addition, we continued to offer training to school officials in FY 2004 and will continue the training in FY 2005.

Additional ongoing efforts to improve performance include:

  • Improvements to the Electronic Certification Automated Processing (ECAP) system.
  • Judicious use of seasonal employees and overtime to reduce pending workload during peak enrollment periods.
  • On-site visits at each regional processing office, in conjunction with regular quality assurance reviews, to monitor compliance and operational performance.

Data Quality

Please refer to the Key Measures Data Table.