Other News
Florida Agency
Gets New Head
Diane W. Carr was recently appointed by Governor Jeb Bush as secretary of the
Florida
Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Her background includes
serving as assistant general counsel to the lobbying group Associated Industries
and as general counsel to the Florida Retail Foundation. Carr is the agency's
third leader in four years.
NCBE Tests
Acupuncture
The National Board of Chiropractic Examiners (NCBE) March 2003 written
examinations contains a new optional section on acupuncture. NCBE's test
committee members met in December 2002 to select questions for the new section
from among items submitted by acupuncture faculty and other field experts as
well as state licensing boards. For more information, visit NCBE's
Web site. The NCBE examination is part of the program that permits eligible
veterans to be reimbursed for licensing and certification tests (see story
below).
The Department of Veterans Affairs Testing Benefit
Good news for military veterans and
active duty members who need to receive a license or certification to get, keep,
or advance in a job. They may
qualify for a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefit that covers the cost
of a test for a license or certification. The
Licensing and Certification (L&C) benefit reimburses eligible veterans and
active duty members up to $2,000 per test.
Having a license or certification is increasingly important for
employment in today’s business and government environment.
The
number of tests isn’t limited, as long as the veteran has enough remaining
months of education benefits to cover the cost of the test.
The benefit will cover retakes if a test is failed the first time around;
however, it doesn’t cover retakes of a test the veteran already passed.
The list of approved tests is on VA’s Web
site.
At that site anyone interested can also find other information on the
L&C benefit, including how to apply.
To qualify, a veteran or active
duty member must be eligible for benefits
through the Montgomery GI Bill – Active Duty (MGIB – AD), or the Veterans
Educational Assistance Program (VEAP). Unfortunately
the L&C benefit isn’t available for the MGIB – Selected Reserves (MGIB
– SR). Veterans’ dependents
(spouse and children) who are eligible for Dependents’ Educational Assistance
(DEA) can receive the L&C benefit. To
find out if you might be eligible under any of these programs, check on the GI
Bill educational benefits.
VA
will reduce the veteran’s total months of entitlement to education benefits
each time he or she uses the L&C benefit.
The entitlement charge is determined by dividing the amount paid by the
veteran’s basic monthly benefit rate for full-time training.
For example, if a test costs $1800, and the veteran’s full-time rate is
$900, VA will charge 2 months of entitlement.