Section 305 of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017, also known as the “Colmery Act,” requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in consultation with the State Approving Agencies (SAAs), to develop and administer required training for School Certifying Officials (SCOs) at Covered Educational Institutions effective August 1, 2018.
A “Covered Educational Institution” is an educational institution that has enrolled 20 or more individuals during a calendar year, using VA educational assistance under Title 38, United States Code. This includes main, branch and extension campuses approved by the SAA. Verify your school is on the Covered Educational Institutions list. Questions regarding covered educational institutions should directed to the ELR of jurisdiction.
1. Log Into the SCO Training Portal
2. Existing SCOs – Enter your Email Address and Facility Code. Update your profile as needed.
3. New SCOs – Create A New User Account
4. Take the training based on your facility type
5. Need Additional Information:
a. Online Instructions
b. Training FAQs
6. Need Technical Support using the Portal? – Contact VBA Support Team
Existing SCOs at Covered Educational Institutions that enrolled twenty (20) or more individuals using educational assistance under title 38, United States Code are required to complete VA specified training applicable to their facility type.
An existing SCO is an individual who began work prior to the beginning of the annual training cycle (October 1st) and has access to VA systems for the purposes of certifying student enrollments.
Existing SCOs:
SCO Type | Number of Modules |
---|---|
Existing SCO Institution of Higher Learning (IHL) |
4 |
Existing SCO Non College Degree (NCD) |
4 |
Existing SCO Institution of Higher Learning (IHL) with Non College Degree Program (NCD) |
4 |
Existing SCO Institution of Higher Learning (IHL) with Flight |
4 |
Existing SCO On The Job Training (OJT) |
1 |
Existing SCO Apprenticeship Program |
1 |
Existing SCO Vocational Flight |
1 |
Existing SCO High School Program |
1 |
Existing SCO Residency Program |
1 |
New SCOs at educational institutions that enrolled one or more individual(s) using educational assistance under title 38, United States Code are required to complete VA specified training applicable to their facility type.
A new SCO is an individual who began work as a SCO on or after the beginning of the annual training cycle (October 1, 2020).
New School Certifying Officials:
Complete the training according to their facility type:
● New SCO Institution of Higher Learning IHL and NCD Facilities Course
● New SCO Non College Degree Program: IHL and NCD Facilities Course
● New SCO Institution of Higher Learning (IHL) with Non College Degree (NCD) programs: IHL and NCD Facilities Course
● New SCO Institution of Higher Learning with Flight: IHL and NCD Facilities Course
● New SCO On The Job Training (OJT): On-the- Job Training/ Apprenticeship Programs
● New SCO Apprenticeship Programs: On-the-Job Training/Apprenticeship Programs
● New SCO Vocational Flight: Vocational Flight Course
● New SCO Residency: High Schools and Residency Program
● New SCO High School: High Schools and Residency Program
A Read-only SCO is an individual at an educational institution with permission to access enrollment information, request information, and submit inquiries to VA to assist an authorized SCO with obtaining accurate information to certify student’s enrollment. The educational institution must provide the ELR with the name(s) of the Read-Only SCOs on the VA Form 22-8794 before their information is entered in WEAMS.
Read-Only SCOs:
Transferring SCOs who successfully completed the annual training and transfer to another institution of the same facility type before the end of the training cycle are not required to retake the training.
Contact us if you are experiencing technical issues with accessing the training modules.