How to Review VA Form 22-1998 and Submit Enrollment Certifications

VA Form 22-1998, known as the WEAMS Report, is a facility approval document the Department of Veterans Affairs generates and sends to your school whenever your information is updated in the Web Enabled Approval Management System. It lists your facility code, the programs the VA has on file as approved at your institution, and the details of each program. You do not fill it out or submit it. Your job is to review each new copy for accuracy and to use the facility code it contains when you certify student enrollments.

What VA Form 22-1998 Is (and Is Not)

The most common mix-up: VA Form 22-1998 is not the enrollment certification schools submit to trigger GI Bill payments. That form is VA Form 22-1999. The 22-1998 travels from the VA to you, not the other way around. It confirms which programs the State Approving Agency (SAA) has approved and the VA has accepted at your facility, and it carries the facility code you will need on every certification you submit.

You receive an updated report each time your facility information changes in WEAMS. When you first establish a VA-approved program, the initial 22-1998 arrives with your facility code once the SAA approves the program and the VA accepts it.¹

What the WEAMS Report Contains

The report pulls together the data the VA maintains about your facility:

Facility code — the unique identifier you enter on every enrollment certification submitted through Enrollment Manager.
Approved programs — each program the SAA has approved and the VA has accepted, listed by name.
Program details — hours, credit structures, and other specifications for each approved program, with effective dates and processing notes when updates are applied.
Facility information — your institution’s name, address, and other identifying data on file with the VA.

When your catalog changes or you add or remove programs, those updates move through the SAA and eventually show up on a revised 22-1998. A processing note on the form might read something like “PROCD 2026 CATALOG ADDED/DELETED PRGMS AND CHANGE PROGRAM HOURS,” with an effective date attached.

Reviewing the Report Against Your Catalog

Every time an updated 22-1998 arrives, compare it line by line against your current program catalog. The VA is explicit: the programs listed on the report must match what the SAA has approved. If an approved program is missing, or program hours or names do not match your catalog, contact your SAA directly to resolve the discrepancy.¹

Errors here cause downstream problems. If a program is not listed on your 22-1998, you cannot certify students for that program, and any certifications you submit for unapproved programs will be rejected or create overpayment situations. If program hours are wrong, your training-time calculations will be off, and that affects how much students get paid.

Common Issues to Watch For

Pay close attention to programs you have recently added or discontinued. If you submitted catalog changes to the SAA months ago and they still are not reflected on your WEAMS Report, follow up. Verify that program names match exactly, because a slight difference between your catalog name and the WEAMS listing can cause processing confusion when you certify students.

For clock-hour programs, double-check the hours listed on the report. The VA uses these hours to determine full-time equivalency. Classroom-predominant programs use an 18-clock-hour baseline for full-time status, while shop-practice programs use 22 clock hours. If the wrong measurement appears on your report, every student you certify in that program could receive incorrect payments.²

Program Details to Confirm

For institutions of higher learning using semester or quarter systems, credit-hour thresholds drive training-time determinations:

Full-time: 12 or more credit hours
Three-quarter time: 9–11 credit hours
Half-time: 6–8 credit hours
Less than half-time: 1–5 credit hours

Graduate programs work differently. The school itself determines what constitutes full-time enrollment. For non-college-degree clock-hour programs, the full-time threshold depends on whether classroom instruction or shop practice predominates, and the applicable measurement appears on your WEAMS Report.² Confirm the report reflects the right structure for each program before you use it to certify anyone.

Using the Facility Code on Enrollment Certifications

The facility code on your 22-1998 is the identifier tying every enrollment certification back to your approved institution. When you submit VA Form 22-1999 through Enrollment Manager, you enter this facility code. Without the correct code, the certification cannot be processed.

Since early 2023, all enrollment certifications go through Enrollment Manager, which replaced VA-ONCE. Existing VA-ONCE credentials carry over.³ The 22-1999 itself collects the student’s name, VA file number or Social Security number, current address, type of training, program name, course dates, credit or clock hours, and tuition and fee charges. For Yellow Ribbon participants, the form includes a field for the institution’s contribution amount.⁴

The program name you certify has to match the program name shown on your 22-1998. That match is why the review step matters: if the name on your catalog drifted from the name in WEAMS, catch it before you start certifying students, not after payments are held up.

Two-Step Certification

The VA recommends a two-step approach. Submit an initial certification with tuition and fees set to $0 so the VA can begin processing the student’s monthly housing allowance and book stipend. After the drop/add period ends, submit an amended certification with the actual tuition and fee amounts. Even if the tuition and fees have not changed from the initial certification, you still have to submit that amendment. It is a statutory requirement.⁵

When you submit multiple actions on the same enrollment in Enrollment Manager, wait for each one to reach “Processed” or “Under Review” status before submitting the next.³

Keeping the Report on File

Federal regulations require schools to retain VA student records, including enrollment certifications and supporting documentation, for at least three years following the end of each enrollment period. Electronic storage is allowed, but the electronic versions must be easily accessible at the institution. The VA or the Government Accountability Office can extend the retention period by sending written notice at least 30 days before the three years expire.⁶

Keep your WEAMS Reports alongside those records. Each 22-1998 documents which programs were VA-approved during a given period, and that gives you a clean audit trail showing that the programs you certified matched the ones the VA had accepted at the time.

1
Veterans Benefits Administration. Veterans Apprenticeship and Labor Opportunity Reform Act (VALOR)
2
Veterans Benefits Administration. Full-time Equivalency (FTE) – Education and Training
3
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Enrollment Manager is Open
4
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Form 22-1999 – Enrollment Certification
5
Veterans Benefits Administration. Certification Basics – Education and Training
6
eCFR. 38 CFR 21.4209 – Examination of Records