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VA » Veterans Benefits Administration » Education and Training. » School Certifying Official (SCO) Training

Education and Training.

School Certifying Official (SCO) Training

This webpage is the primary resource for guidance on required training for New and Existing SCOs.

SCO Training Overview
New SCO Training
Existing SCO Training
Additional Information

SCO Training Overview

Section 305 of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017, also known as the “Colmery Act,” required the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in consultation with the State Approving Agencies (SAAs), to develop and administer required training for SCOs at covered educational institutions effective August 1, 2018.

A “covered educational institution” is an educational institution that has enrolled 20 or more individuals using educational assistance under Title 38, United States Code, during the previous calendar year. SCOs can verify whether their school is a covered educational institution by reviewing the Covered Educational Institutions list.

In addition to Existing SCOs at covered educational institutions, all New SCOs must complete required online training based on their facility or program type to gain access to certify enrollments to VA.

SCOs may begin online training and track their completion status by selecting the "SCO Online Training Portal Click Here" button below:

Select this button to access the SCO Online Training Portal.

New SCO Training

All New SCOs, except those for High School Diploma programs, must complete required training based on their facility or program type to receive the New SCO Training Certification and gain access to certify enrollments to VA.

To access the required training, New SCOs must navigate to the SCO Online Training Portal. New users must create a New User Account.

Upon successful completion of the required training, New SCOs will receive the New SCO Training Certificate. They must submit this certificate to VA, with a completed VA Form 22-8794, Designation of School Certifying Officials, via the Education File Upload Portal. Once VA has processed these documents, New SCOs will be notified when access has been granted to VA systems and they can begin to certify enrollments.

Once New SCOs have completed the required training, they have fulfilled the training requirement for the fiscal year and will be required to take Existing SCO training during the next Existing SCO Training Cycle beginning October 1.

If the New SCO facility/program type is:	Select this module:
Institution of Higher Learning (IHL) IHL with Non-college Degree (NCD) programs IHL with Flight programs	New SCO Training – Institutions of Higher Learning
NCD Facility	New SCO Training – Non-college Degree Facilities
On-the-Job Training (OJT) programs	New SCO Training – OJT & Apprenticeship Programs
Apprenticeship programs	New SCO Training – OJT & Apprenticeship Programs
Vocational Flight programs	New SCO Training – Vocational Flight Programs
Residency Programs	New SCO Training – Residency Programs

Existing SCO Training

Required Training Modules for Existing SCOs

Existing SCOs at covered educational institutions must complete a certain number of training modules/training events based on their facility or program type, annually, to maintain their access to certify enrollments to VA.

Existing SCOs should reference this chart when determining the number of training modules/training events to complete:

If the Existing SCO facility/program type is:	Complete this number of modules/trainings:
Institution of Higher Learning (IHL)	4
Non-college Degree (NCD) Facility	4
IHL with NCD programs	4
IHL with Flight programs	4
On-the-Job Training (OJT) programs	1
Apprenticeship programs	1
Vocational Flight programs	1
Residency Programs	1

Existing SCO Training Cycle & Countdown

The Existing SCO Training Cycle operates on a yearly cycle.

October 1 Training Window Opens Updated requirements effective June 1 to August 31 Training Reminders sent at 90, 60, 30, and 15 days August 31 Training Window Closes Requirements must be met by this date September 1-30 Training Cycle Reset No training for Existing SCOs during this time

My countdown Countdown

Reminder: The SCO Training Portal runs on Eastern Standard Time (EST). The training window for Existing SCOs will close at 11:59 pm, EST on August 31.

Acceptable Training Modalities

Existing SCOs can fulfill their requirements through self-paced training located in the SCO Online Training Portal (asynchronous) or through live instructor-led training (synchronous) such as Office Hours, conference attendance, or other NTT-S hosted webinars.

Training credit is automatically given when an Existing SCO completes self-paced, asynchronous training in the SCO Online Training Portal. To receive training credit for synchronous training, Existing SCOs must sign-in to the SCO Online Training Portal and follow the instructions to self-certify.

Non-compliance

The National Training Team – Schools (NTT-S) tracks training compliance. NTT-S generates training compliance reports at the end of the training cycle. NTT-S notifies Approvals, Compliance, and Liaison (AC&L) of covered educational institutions with non-compliant Existing SCOs.

When an Existing SCO at a covered educational institution fails to complete the required training by the end of the training cycle, AC&L may remove the SCO’s access to certify enrollments to VA. If the Existing SCO’s access is removed, the SCO will be notified and instructed to take New SCO training based on their facility or program type to regain access. AC&L may take further action and refer the non-compliant covered educational institution and Existing SCO to the State Approving Agency (SAA).

The SAA must take appropriate action on all referrals received due to non-compliance with the Colmery Act training requirements. Appropriate action could include suspension or withdrawal of approval.