Post-9/11 GI Bill MHA Rates: Tier, Location, and Adjustments

Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, MHA rates equal the Department of Defense’s Basic Allowance for Housing for an E-5 with dependents in your campus zip code, then adjusted by two things: the percentage tier you earned through your length of service, and how many credits you carry compared to full time. Full-time in-person students at the 100% tier receive the full local BAH figure. Everyone else receives a fraction of it.¹

Three variables drive the number on your check: your service tier, your campus location (or a flat national rate if you study only online or abroad), and your rate of pursuit. Each one is a multiplier, and they stack.

Your Service Tier Sets the Percentage

Time on active duty after September 10, 2001 fixes the percentage of the full housing rate you’re entitled to. The tier stays with you for the life of your benefit.

100% — at least 36 months of aggregate active-duty service, or discharge for a service-connected disability after at least 30 continuous days
90% — at least 30 but fewer than 36 months
80% — at least 24 but fewer than 30 months
70% — at least 18 but fewer than 24 months
60% — at least 12 but fewer than 18 months
50% — at least 6 but fewer than 12 months
40% — at least 90 days but fewer than 6 months

If you qualify at the 80% tier, every MHA payment you receive is 80% of what a 100% beneficiary would get in the same circumstances.²

Location and Credit Load Do the Rest of the Math

For in-person students, the VA looks up the DoD’s BAH rate for an E-5 with dependents in the zip code of the campus where you take the majority of your credits. It is not your home address, and it is not the school’s flagship campus if you attend a satellite location.² That figure is your starting point.

Then the VA scales the rate by your “rate of pursuit,” which is your enrolled credits divided by what your school calls full time, rounded to the nearest 10%. If full time is 12 credits and you carry 9, that’s 75%, which rounds to 80%.¹

You must be enrolled at more than half time to receive any MHA. At exactly half time (6 out of 12 credits, rounding to 50%), you get nothing. You need at least 7 credits in a 12-credit-equals-full-time program to trigger a housing payment.²

The tier and rate of pursuit both apply. At the 80% tier with a 70% rate of pursuit, your payment is 80% × 70% of the full local BAH, or 56% of what a full-time 100% beneficiary in that zip code would receive.

Online-Only and Foreign School Rates

If every one of your classes is online, location does not matter. The VA pays a flat national figure set at half the average BAH for an E-5 with dependents. From August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2026, the maximum online-only MHA is $1,169 per month at the 100% tier.¹ For students in high-cost cities, that is often far less than they would receive at a nearby brick-and-mortar campus.

Adding even one qualifying in-person course to an otherwise online schedule flips your entire MHA calculation to the location-based rate for that campus zip code.

Students at foreign institutions receive a flat rate set at the full national average BAH, not half. For August 2025 through July 2026, the maximum is $2,338 per month at the 100% tier, and it does not vary by country or city.¹ Both the online and foreign figures are still reduced by your tier percentage and your rate of pursuit.²

When Rates Change, and When They’re Locked

The DoD updates BAH every January 1.³ The VA does not apply the new figures to MHA until August 1 of that same year, so the current cycle uses 2025 BAH data and runs August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2026.¹ That lag gives you a stable number for the full academic year.

If the BAH figure for your zip code falls, rate protection may keep you at your original amount. For enrollment beginning on or after August 1, 2018, the VA locks in your MHA rate as long as you remain continuously enrolled, meaning no gap of six months or more in housing payments. The lock breaks if you change the physical location where you take the majority of your classes, or if you have a payment gap of six months or longer for a reason other than active-duty service.⁴

Partial Months and No Break Pay

MHA arrives at the end of each month for that month’s enrollment.¹ Months at the start and end of a term are prorated on a 30-day basis. If your full monthly rate is $800 and classes begin August 19, you receive $320 for the 12 covered days of August.⁵

There is no MHA between semesters, quarters, or terms. Congress ended break pay in 2011, so winter break and the summer months (unless you enroll in summer classes) come with no housing check.⁶ Budget across the calendar accordingly.

Situations That Reduce the Rate to Zero

Some circumstances shut off MHA entirely, no matter how the math would otherwise work out:

You are on active duty. The military already provides housing or a housing allowance, so no MHA is paid.
You are a spouse using benefits transferred from a service member who is still on active duty. Once the sponsor separates, MHA becomes available. A dependent child using transferred benefits faces no such bar and can receive MHA while the sponsor is still serving.⁷⁸
Your rate of pursuit is 50% or less after rounding.
You skip end-of-month enrollment verification for two consecutive months, which pauses payments until you catch up.⁹

Dropping a class mid-term can also claw back MHA you have already received. If the VA doesn’t accept your reason as a mitigating circumstance, it will bill you for the housing paid from the first day of the term, though a one-time lifetime exclusion of up to 6 credit hours protects your first withdrawal.¹⁰ Debts referred to collections don’t go away by being ignored, so document any withdrawal and submit it to the VA promptly.

1
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) Rates
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 3313 – Educational Assistance: Amount; Payment
3
Defense Travel Management Office. Basic Allowance for Housing
4
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. School Certifying Official Handbook
5
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. GI Bill and Other VA Education Benefit Payments FAQs
6
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Will I Get Monthly Housing Allowance (MHA) During School Breaks?
7
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Transferred Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefit Rates
8
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Transfer Your Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits
9
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. GI Bill Enrollment Verification FAQs
10
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. How Your Reason for Withdrawing From a Class Affects Your VA Debt