After you are found entitled to Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E, Chapter 31) benefits and your counselor asks you to research schools and submit options, some delay in their response is common. VR&E counselors typically manage large caseloads, and reviewing school choices involves checking several things on their end: whether the program is approved for VA benefits, whether it aligns with your approved vocational goal, whether the school is accredited, and how the proposed plan fits your Individualized Written Rehabilitation Plan (IWRP). This review can take days to a couple of weeks depending on the office's workload, so a few days of silence after submitting options is not unusual and does not necessarily mean anything has gone wrong.
That said, you are not required to simply wait indefinitely without follow-up. It is appropriate and expected for veterans to check in proactively. A reasonable approach is to send a polite follow-up email or call your counselor's office roughly one week after your initial submission if you have not heard back, briefly restating what you sent and asking for a status update or an estimated timeframe. If you do not get a response after a follow-up, you can contact the VR&E office directly, ask to speak with a supervisor, or use the VA's general helpline to request that someone check the status of your case. Keeping a written record of your submissions and follow-up attempts (dates, what was sent, any responses) is useful if delays continue and you need to escalate.
Official 2026 VA monthly compensation, including the 2.8% COLA increase.
Dependent add-ons start at a 30% rating. Child-only and dependent-parent rates: see the full 2026 pay chart.
| Rating | Monthly (2026, incl. 2.8% COLA) |
|---|---|
| 10% | $180.42 |
| 20% | $356.66 |
| 30% | $552.47 |
| 40% | $795.84 |
| 50% | $1,132.90 |
| 60% | $1,435.02 |
| 70% | $1,808.45 |
| 80% | $2,102.15 |
| 90% | $2,362.30 |
| 100% | $3,938.58 |
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Analyze my claim free →It's also worth remembering that no enrollment or school commitment should happen until your IWRP is finalized and your counselor has approved the specific program, since VR&E benefits and tuition payments are tied to that approved plan. Starting a program without that approval can create problems with the benefit covering the cost. If your goal is simply to keep the process moving, the most productive step is persistent, polite follow-up rather than silently waiting indefinitely, since counselors often reprioritize based on which veterans are actively engaging with them.
The concrete next step is to follow up directly with your VR&E counselor's office by phone or email referencing your submitted school options and asking for a status update or next steps, and if there is no response within a reasonable time, escalate to a supervisor at your regional VR&E office.
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