U.S. Code > Title 38 Veterans' Benefits > PART III—READJUSTMENT AND RELATED BENEFITS (§§ 3001—4335) > CHAPTER 35—SURVIVORS AND DEPENDENTS EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE (§§ 3500—3566) > SUBCHAPTER II—ELIGIBILITY AND ENTITLEMENT (§§ 3510—3514) > § 3511. Duration of educational assistance

§ 3511. Duration of educational assistance

(a)
(1) Each eligible person, whether made eligible by one or more of the provisions of section 3501 (a)(1) of this title, shall be entitled to educational assistance under this chapter for an aggregate period not in excess of 45 months (or to the equivalent thereof in part-time training).
(2)
(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter or chapter 36 of this title, any payment of an educational assistance allowance described in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph shall not—
(i) be charged against the entitlement of any individual under this chapter; or
(ii) be counted toward the aggregate period for which section 3695 of this title limits an individual’s receipt of assistance.
(B) The payment of the educational assistance allowance referred to in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph is the payment of such an allowance to an individual for pursuit of a course or courses under this chapter if the Secretary finds that the individual—
(i) had to discontinue such course pursuit as a result of being ordered to serve on active duty under section 688, 12301 (a), 12301 (d), 12301 (g), 12302, or 12304 of title 10 or of being involuntarily ordered to full-time National Guard duty under section 502 (f) of title 32; and
(ii) failed to receive credit or training time toward completion of the individual’s approved educational, professional, or vocational objective as a result of having to discontinue, as described in clause (i) of this subparagraph, his or her course pursuit.
(C) The period for which, by reason of this subsection, an educational assistance allowance is not charged against entitlement or counted toward the applicable aggregate period under section 3695 of this title shall not exceed the portion of the period of enrollment in the course or courses for which the individual failed to receive credit or with respect to which the individual lost training time, as determined under subparagraph (B)(ii) of this paragraph.
(b) If any eligible person pursuing a program of education, or of special restorative training, under this chapter ceases to be an “eligible person” because—
(1) the parent or spouse from whom eligibility is derived is found no longer to have a “total disability permanent in nature”, as defined in section 3501 (a)(8) of this title,
(2) the parent or spouse from whom eligibility is derived based upon section 3501 (a)(1)(C) of this title is no longer listed in one of the categories specified therein,
(3) the spouse, as an eligible person under subparagraph (D) or (E) of section 3501 (a)(1) of this title, is divorced, without fault on such person’s part, from the person upon whose disability such person’s eligibility is based, or
(4) the parent or spouse from whom such eligibility is derived based upon subparagraph (E) of section 3501 (a)(1) of this title no longer meets a requirement under clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of that subparagraph,
then such eligible person (if such person has sufficient remaining entitlement) may, nevertheless, be afforded educational assistance under this chapter until the end of the quarter or semester for which enrolled if the educational institution in which such person is enrolled is operated on a quarter or semester system, or if the educational institution is not so operated until the end of the course, or until 12 weeks have expired, whichever first occurs.