Chapter 35

Chapter 35 is the VA education benefit for a veteran's family. Its formal name is Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance, which the VA shortens to DEA, and it pays a monthly allowance to a spouse or child while they are in training. The number comes from chapter 35 of title 38 of the United States Code, and most people meet the number before they meet the name.

38 CFR 3.807(a) sets the routes in, and each of them rests on a discharge under conditions other than dishonorable or a death in service. From there the veteran must have a permanent total service-connected disability, or have had one at the date of death, or have died as a result of a service-connected disability. Two further routes cover a serving member listed as missing in action, captured in the line of duty, or forcibly detained, and one the VA has determined to have a total disability permanent in nature. Permanent and total is a two-part test, so a 100 percent evaluation scheduled for a future examination is total without being permanent on its face.

Entitlement runs 36 months for training that started on or after August 1, 2018, and 45 months for training that started before it, keyed to the date the training started rather than the date eligibility began. Full-time institutional training pays $1,574.00 per full month effective October 1, 2025, and every rate table in this program carries an effective date and gets replaced. Nothing here is automatic. Somebody has to apply, and an accredited VSO representative will file at no charge.