Veteran Services is dedicated to providing a welcoming environment for veterans, reservists and their dependents. We provide assistance in obtaining the educational benefits to which they are entitled. Veteran Services is responsible for submitting entitlement requests for new and continuing students to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, answering questions from veteran students or dependents concerning educational benefits, and providing resources and programs to assist veterans in navigating their transition to civilian and student life.
This site was developed in an effort to facilitate your understanding of the process required to use your veterans' educational benefits at UC Merced.
The key to using veterans' benefits at UC Merced is communicating with the Veteran Certifying Official. If you don't find the information you need or have further questions, please contact the Veteran Services at veteranservices@ucmerced.edu or 209-228-7641.
Beginning January 2026, the Veteran Services Office will offer walk-in support at the Students First Center for students who wish to speak with the UC Merced VA Certifying Official regarding questions about their VA education benefits.
Walk-in hours are:
Location: Students First Center, Administration Building
If you are unable to attend during walk-in hours and would like to schedule an in-person appointment, please email veteranservices@ucmerced.edu.
Chapter 35 beneficiaries: Review and, if needed, update your mobile phone number, email address, and mailing address in your VA.gov profile by December 31, 2025.
Chapter 35 beneficiaries: At the end of January 2026, Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (Chapter 35) beneficiaries will be required to verify their enrollment each month to receive their benefit payments. Please note that a beneficiary must verify their enrollment for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to begin processing the monthly benefit. Once verified, payment processing can take five to seven calendar days.
VA has automatically verified all Chapter 35 enrollments for December 2025. December payments are expected to be processed by the end of the first week of January.
To verify enrollment, the following options are available:
