I'm an Advisor: How Do I Help?

As an advisor, students will often approach you for, well, advice. Make sure that you are able to direct our veteran and military-connected students to the variety of resources available to them. Reading this page will help you to stay up-to-date and assist each student with their individual needs. We are always willing to update our processes to better help you and the student, and this website should reflect those changes. 

The below page will walk a brand-new student through the certification process, and explain some of what they may need to know. It may be helpful for you to be aware of the process:

I'm a Student: What Do I Need to Know?

The most effective thing you can do for them in most cases is direct them to visit our office. We're more than happy to directly assist any student with their questions and concerns. If they're not the type to want an in-person visit, or they are unable to make the trip, you can also direct them to our inbox, veterans@olemiss.edu. 

For each term that a student wishes to use their VA education benefits, they must submit a Term Approval Form. This is our documented proof that the courses listed are approved (or not) as part of the student's degree plan. The VA will not pay for unnecessary courses (as tempting as underwater basket-weaving may be). As the advisor for your student, you are the most equipped to identify these unnecessary courses.

Our newest form is completed all within Box. No more broken PDFs and no more awkward printing and scanning. The student simply inputs your email and the form will automatically route to you when they've completed it. If you receive one of the old documents, please ask your student to use this link:

Term Approval Form

Once you have signed the document, it will automatically route directly to us. You don't have to email them to our office anymore. Both you and the student will, however, receive a link to a copy of any document you sign. In the event of some technological catastrophe that deletes our office's original copies from existence, you can submit additional completed documents here: 

Advisor Document Submission Portal

NOTE: If a student submits their own document using this link, we will know, and we cannot accept it. This protects you, the advisor, from forged signatures and falsified documents. 

You will probably receive a Change of Major Form at some point.This form serves as our office's documented justification in the event that the VA wants to check in on a particularly indecisive student. The VA must know that courses apply to a student's degree plan, so it makes sense that they need to be aware when that plan changes. This form also ensures that the student follows the correct academic process for changing their major and makes sure they make contact with you, their new advisor. 

Our newest form is completed all within Box. No more broken PDFs and no more awkward printing and scanning. The student simply inputs your email and the form will automatically route to you when they've completed it. If you receive one of the old documents, please ask your student to use this link:

Change of Major

Once you have signed the document, it will automatically route directly to us. You don't have to email them to our office anymore. Both you and the student will, however, receive a link to a copy of any document you sign. In the event of some technological catastrophe that deletes our office's original copies from existence, you can submit additional completed documents here: 

Advisor Document Submission Portal

NOTE: If a student submits their own document using this link, we will know, and we cannot accept it. This protects you, the advisor, from forged signatures and falsified documents. 

You may receive Term Approval Forms for a past semester or term. Often, this is because a student has received approval to use a benefit that was in review. Maybe the veteran has been in appeal to prove their disability and has just now received their certificate of eligibility for their education benefit. 

We just ask you to verify that the student took those courses, and that they were approved (or not) for their degree plan at the time. If you are not or were not the advisor for that program during the time the courses were taken, feel free to reach out to us and we can try to find the appropriate point of contact for the student. 

As always, if you are unsure of how to proceed, we are here to help.

If you feel that the process isn't working for you, or you notice that the forms have a broken checkbox, reach out to us! We're more than happy to make adjustments. If there's a problem, we want to hear about it. That being said, if we make an adjustment and you feel the positive impact, tell us about it! 

Any feedback, good or bad, please let us know at veterans@olemiss.edu. 

1. The student will input their email address and the address of their advisor into a Box Sign Request (linked above in their respective sections).

2. Once the student has completed the document and clicked "Sign & Finish", it will be automatically routed to the advisor's email that the student input.

3. You, as an advisor, will then review the form for accuracy and determine if the courses are required. (This is your opportunity to decline or reroute the form, if necessary.)

4. If you click "Sign & Finish", It will be routed to our office for processing. All parties involved (student, advisor and VMS) will receive a link to a temporary copy to be downloaded if they so choose.

You can decline the form from within Box Sign. Look in the top right corner for a "More Actions" menu that should allow you to do this. The student will need to send a newly completed TAF with the correct information. We recommend emailing the student immediately upon declining the document, as it may take our office some time to identify and address your declined document during peak processing. 

Note: There is an option to include the reasons for which you have declined the document. Unfortunately, this will notify VMS of those reasons and not the student. So, it's necessary that the advisor inform the student of the required corrections separate from the Box Sign system so that they may restart the form and have their benefits processed in a timely manner. 

If the student has input the wrong advisor's email, you can also reroute the form to another advisor. Look in the top right corner for a "More Actions" menu that should allow you to do this. If you receive a TAF for a different advisor, just reroute the form to the correct recipient. No need for the student to start over with a new form.