Citation Nr: 19124673 Decision Date: 04/03/19 Archive Date: 04/02/19 DOCKET NO. 15-07 238 DATE: April 3, 2019 REMANDED Whether the overpayment of 38 U.S.C. Chapter 33 (Post-9/11 GI Bill) educational assistance benefits was properly created is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard from February 2010 to June 2014 with additional periods of service in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from October 2014 and November 2014 decision letters of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Debt Management Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, which found that debts had been created due to an overpayment of educational assistance benefits. Jurisdiction of the case is now before the RO in Buffalo, New York. The issue of entitlement to a waiver of recovery of overpayment was claimed by the Veteran in February 2015, and subsequently denied in a June 2015 decision by the Committee on Waivers and Compromises. In September 2015, the Veteran filed an appeal, which was denied in a subsequent statement of the case (SOC). However, the Veteran did not perfect her appeal; therefore, the issue of entitlement to a waiver of recovery of overpayment is not before the Board. The Veteran testified before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge at a June 2015 Central Office hearing. A transcript of this hearing is of record. In August 2018, the Board remanded the issue on appeal for additional development. As discussed below, there has not been substantial compliance with the August 2018 remand instructions, so the matter must be remanded. See Stegall v. West, 11 Vet. App. 268 (1998); D’Aries v. Peake, 22 Vet. App. 97, 105 (2008). 1. Whether the overpayment of 38 U.S.C. Chapter 33 (Post-9/11 GI Bill) educational assistance benefits was properly created is remanded. Based on the below, the Board finds that there has not been substantial compliance with the August 2018 remand instructions. In its August 2018 remand, the Board found that the Veteran’s claims file was incomplete. Specifically, the Board noted that the claims file contained three demand letters from the VA Debt Management Center in October 2014 and November 2014 indicating that the Veteran was overpaid in the amounts of $870, $10,650, and $125 for a housing allowance, tuition and fees, and books and supplies, respectively. However, the Board found that the claims file did not contain any record reflecting that these payments had been made to the Veteran or to Marymount University, on her behalf. Following the August 2018 Board remand, additional documentation was associated with the Veteran’s claims file. The only payment record in the claims file is a December 2018 Historical Payment History Inquiry reflecting one payment made to Marymount University in the amount of $13,845 in August 2014 and three payments made to the Veteran in the amounts of $625, $435, and $2,175 in August 2014 and October 2014. No further information was provided regarding the purpose of the individual payments. Most notably, the available evidence shows that the VA issued three demand letters to the Veteran in October and November 2014 for overpayments in the amounts of $870, $10,650, and $125 for a housing allowance, tuition and fees, and books and supplies, respectively. However, the record does not contain any documentation notifying the Veteran of the total amount of overpayment and resultant debt or how such debt was calculated. Given that the August 2014 VA award letter indicates that for the academic term beginning on August 1, 2014 and ending on December 8, 2014, VA apparently paid $13,845 in tuition and fees to Marymount University on the behalf of the Veteran and paid the Veteran $2,175 a month for housing and $625 for books and supplies, the record does not currently contain information regarding how VA calculated the overpayment in the amounts of $10,650 (tuition and fees), $870 (housing allowance), and $125 (books and supplies). Nor is there any explanation for how the December 2014 SOC arrived at the total debt in the amount of $11,520.00, which differs from the total debt represented by the three demand letters ($11,645.00). A remand is required to obtain a detailed, yet straightforward, accounting showing how the total overpayment debt (to include listing all monies paid to or on behalf of the Veteran and the dates on which those payments were made, as well as how VA arrived at the payments) was calculated, must therefore be prepared, sent to the Veteran, and associated with the record. Finally, since the December 2014 SOC, additional VA-generated evidence has been received. Accordingly, a remand is required for issuance of a supplemental statement of the case that reflects consideration of all evidence associated with the record since the December 2014 SOC. See 38 C.F.R. §§ 19.31, 19.37(a). The matter is REMANDED for the following actions: 1. Obtain a clear accounting as to how the Veteran’s total overpayment of Chapter 33 educational assistance benefits for the academic term beginning on August 1, 2014 and ending on December 8, 2014 was calculated. All amounts paid for tuition and fees, a housing allowance, and books and supplies, to include the dates on which those payments were made, must be listed. Then, provide a detailed, yet straightforward, accounting showing how the total overpayment debt was calculated, to include how it arrived at payments for any partial months of schooling. 2. Readjudicate the claim with consideration of the additional evidence associated with the claims file since the issuance of the December 2014 SOC. M. HYLAND Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD Journet Shaw