GI Bill Reimbursement for Licensing and Certification Exams

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pays you back for the fee you paid to take a licensing or certification test. Registration and administrative fees count. The result does not matter. VA reimburses you if:

• you did not score high enough to get the license or certification, or
• you take the same test more than once, or
• you retake a test to keep a license or to get recertified.

There is no limit on the number of tests. The only limits are the entitlement you have left and the time limit on your benefit.

VA does not pay for the license or certificate document itself. If a state board charges a separate fee to issue your license after you pass, that fee is yours.

Prep courses are covered too, but only under the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Chapter 35, and only when the course prepares you for a VA-approved test. VA prorates the entitlement charge by the actual course fee. You apply with a different form, VA Form 22-10272, covered in the steps below.

4 programs reimburse test fees:

• Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33), covered in the Post-9/11 GI Bill guide
• Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty (Chapter 30, MGIB-AD), covered in the Montgomery GI Bill overview
• Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve (Chapter 1606, MGIB-SR)
• Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (Chapter 35, DEA), covered in the Chapter 35 benefits guide

So yes, a spouse or child using Chapter 35 can get test fees reimbursed. Family members using transferred Post-9/11 benefits can too, since they are using Chapter 33.

Veteran Readiness and Employment (Chapter 31, VR&E) is not on this list. It works differently and is covered in its own section below. If you have no entitlement left in any of the 4 programs, VA has nothing to charge and cannot reimburse you. The remaining-benefits checker shows what you have.

Under 38 CFR 21.9667, the Post-9/11 GI Bill pays the least of 3 amounts: the fee the testing organization charged, $2,000, or your remaining whole months of entitlement times the monthly rate. For most tests you get the whole fee back.

Source: https://www.va.gov/education/about-gi-bill-benefits/how-to-use-benefits/test-fees/, effective September 2026 (cap set in 38 CFR 21.9667).

A test that costs more than $2,000 is still approvable. You get $2,000 and pay the rest.

This is the part most people get wrong. Reimbursement does not cost a full month of entitlement. VA charges entitlement in proportion to the money it paid you. Each program divides the payment by its own monthly rate.

Source: https://www.va.gov/education/benefit-rates/post-9-11-gi-bill-rates/ (effective August 1, 2026); https://www.va.gov/education/benefit-rates/montgomery-active-duty-rates/, https://www.va.gov/education/benefit-rates/chapter-35-rates/ and https://www.va.gov/education/benefit-rates/montgomery-selected-reserve-rates/ (effective October 1, 2025).

For the Post-9/11 GI Bill, 38 CFR 21.9561(f) says the result is multiplied by 30 and rounded to the nearest whole day, with a minimum charge of 1 day. Worked examples at the 2026-27 rate:

• A $300 exam: $300 ÷ $2,578.64 = 0.116 months × 30 = about 3 days.
• A $700 exam: $700 ÷ $2,578.64 = 0.271 months × 30 = about 8 days.
• The full $2,000 cap: $2,000 ÷ $2,578.64 = 0.776 months × 30 = about 23 days.

Under Chapter 35 the same $300 test is about 0.19 months, since the monthly rate is lower. Under MGIB-AD it is about 0.12 months.

Watch out: The Montgomery GI Bill Selected Reserve monthly rate is only $493, so a $2,000 test costs about 4 months of MGIB-SR entitlement. If you also qualify for another program, compare before you file. The GI Bill programs comparison shows the differences.

VA only reimburses tests that a State Approving Agency (SAA) or VA has approved. Under 38 U.S.C. 3689, a test can be approved if a federal, state or local law requires it to enter, keep or advance in a job, or if industry standards generally accept it as showing the needed skills. Tests offered by a state itself count as approved.

To check yours, use the licenses, certifications and prep courses search inside the GI Bill Comparison Tool. Search by the test name or the organization that gives it. If the test is not listed, it may still be approvable. The testing organization can ask its SAA for approval, and the reimbursement can be paid once it is on the list.

1. Take the test and keep the receipt. Reimbursement is after the fact. VA does not prepay testing organizations.
2. Gather 2 documents: a copy of the receipt showing the fee, and your test results or a copy of the license or certification you earned.
3. Fill out VA Form 22-0803, Request for Reimbursement of Licensing or Certification Test Fees. You can complete it online at VA.gov, or download the PDF.
4. Submit the PDF version by uploading it to QuickSubmit through AccessVA, or mail it to your regional processing office. VA's test-fees page has a link to find the address.
5. For a prep course, use VA Form 22-10272 instead, with the receipt and proof of enrollment from the school.
6. Watch for the payment and the entitlement charge. Your remaining months will drop by the prorated amount, not by a full month.

If VA pays less than you expected, read the letter. The usual reasons are a test that is not on the approved list, a receipt that does not show the fee, or no entitlement left.

National tests are admissions and credit exams, not licensing exams, and they use a separate form: VA Form 22-0810. The same 4 programs cover them. VA lists these tests:

• College admissions: SAT, ACT, TOEFL
• College credit: AP, CLEP, DSST
• Graduate admissions: GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MAT
• Pre-health: DAT, MCAT, OAT

2 differences from licensing tests matter. National tests have no $2,000 cap; VA pays the test cost plus registration and administrative fees. And VA will not pay for pretests, expedited score delivery or optional materials. Entitlement is charged on the same per-dollar basis as licensing tests, and you can take a test more than once. Submit VA Form 22-0810 the same way: through QuickSubmit or by mail, with the receipt and your results.

This is a sample of the kinds of tests veterans use the benefit for. Check each one in the Comparison Tool before you count on it.

• Transportation: the commercial driver's license (CDL) skills test and endorsements
• Information technology: CompTIA (A+, Network+, Security+), Cisco, cloud vendor and cybersecurity certifications
• Project management: PMP and CAPM
• Health care: NCLEX for nursing, EMT and paramedic certification, medical coding exams
• Real estate and finance: state real estate salesperson and broker exams, insurance licensing, securities exams
• Trades: state electrician, plumbing and HVAC licensing exams, welding certifications

If you also need the training that leads to the exam, that is a separate benefit. The certification programs guide covers GI Bill-approved training programs, and the career training programs guide is the hub for the whole cluster.

Veteran Readiness and Employment (Chapter 31, VR&E) is for veterans with a service-connected disability rating of at least 10%. It is not a reimbursement program. A VR&E counselor writes a plan for an employment goal, and VA pays for the training in that plan, including programs at vocational and technical schools and job training. If a license or certification is a required step in your plan, ask your counselor whether VR&E will cover the test fee as part of the plan.

VR&E can make sense if you have no GI Bill entitlement left, or if you want to save your GI Bill months for something else. There is no time limit on VR&E eligibility if you were discharged on or after January 1, 2013. You apply with VA Form 28-1900. The VR&E program guide and the site's GI Bill vs. VR&E comparison walk through the choice.

Many states waive or reduce licensing-board fees for veterans, and most now have laws that let boards count military training and experience toward a civilian license. These are state rules, not VA rules, so they stack with GI Bill reimbursement: VA pays back the exam fee, and the state may waive the license fee VA does not cover. Check your state's licensing board and veterans agency.