Benefits for Your Dependents (Education + Health You Might Be Missing)
If you are rated 100% permanent and total, your kids can get college paid for and your spouse and children can get health coverage, and a huge number of eligible families never sign up because nobody told them it existed.
The simple version
Two big benefits ride along with a permanent and total (P&T) rating, and they are for your family, not you. The first is education money: your spouse and children can get up to 36 months of GI Bill style education benefits through a program called DEA (Chapter 35) to help pay for college, trade school, apprenticeships, and certifications. The second is health coverage: your spouse and dependent children can get CHAMPVA, a VA health insurance program that covers most medical care and prescriptions, as long as they are not eligible for TRICARE. Both come from the same fact (you are rated P&T), both are separate applications, and both are commonly missed. Here is exactly how to claim each.
Do this today
1. Confirm you are rated permanent and total, and pull the proof (about 5 minutes).
Both benefits key off a permanent and total (P&T) service-connected rating. Go to va.gov/records/download-va-letters and sign in (ID.me, Login.gov, DS Logon, or My HealtheVet all work). Open the "Benefit summary and service verification letter," and on the checkbox screen make sure combined service-connected rating, service-connected disability status, and permanent and total (P&T) are all checked. Save that PDF. If P&T does not appear on the letter, you may not be coded P&T yet even at 100%, and that is a rating question, so take it to a free VSO (see "Go deeper"), not to any of these applications.
2. Apply for your dependents' education benefit (DEA, Chapter 35) online (about 20 minutes).
Go to va.gov/family-and-caregiver-benefits/education-and-careers/dependents-education-assistance/ and click "Find your education benefits form." The form is VA Form 22-5490 (Dependents' Application for VA Education Benefits), and you can file it online. Your spouse or child applies in their own name, not you. A spouse can apply now; a child generally applies once they turn 18 or finish high school (a parent can start it for a younger child). Have ready: your VA file number or Social Security number, the school or training program name, and the applicant's bank info for direct deposit. This benefit is up to 36 months.
3. Apply for your family's health coverage (CHAMPVA) with VA Form 10-10d (about 20 minutes).
Go to va.gov/family-and-caregiver-benefits/health-and-disability/champva/ and click "Apply for CHAMPVA benefits." You can now apply online, or file VA Form 10-10d (Application for CHAMPVA Benefits) by mail or fax. Attach, depending on your family: marriage certificate (for a spouse), each child's birth certificate or adoption papers, and copies of any other health insurance and Medicare cards (front and back). If you mail it, the CHAMPVA intake address is on the form (VHA Office of Community Care, CHAMPVA Eligibility, PO Box 137, Spring City, PA 19475). Questions on eligibility or status go to the CHAMPVA Help Line at 1-800-733-8387.
4. Check whether the Fry Scholarship fits your family instead of DEA (about 10 minutes).
There is a second, often better education benefit called the Marine Gunnery Sergeant John David Fry Scholarship (Post-9/11, Chapter 33). It is not for the P&T-while-living case, it is for the child or surviving spouse of a service member who died in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001. If that is your family's situation, Fry usually pays more (tuition plus a housing allowance and a book stipend). It uses the same VA Form 22-5490, and the form lets you pick the program. Read va.gov/family-and-caregiver-benefits/education-and-careers/fry-scholarship/ and, because a dependent generally cannot use both DEA and Fry for the same period, call the Education Call Center at 1-888-442-4551 before choosing.
5. Confirm each one actually went through.
For education, watch for the VA's Certificate of Eligibility letter to the applicant (that is the green light the school needs). For CHAMPVA, a complete application can take about six weeks to produce a member card, and up to several months if the VA has to verify information. If you do not hear back in those windows, call the number for that program and ask exactly what is missing.
The catch
These are your dependents' benefits, and the eligibility fine print is real. A dependent generally cannot double-dip by using DEA and the Fry Scholarship for the same time period, so pick the right one before anyone enrolls. Children age out, and the exact age and time limits changed on August 1, 2023 (families who became eligible on or after that date generally have no time limit, older cases often do), so do not sit on it. And CHAMPVA only works if the dependent is not eligible for TRICARE, so a family already covered by TRICARE is on a different track. When your situation does not obviously match the plain rule, use the program's official VA.gov page and phone line to confirm your specific version rather than guessing.
Go deeper
Get the full walkthrough, the DEA-versus-Fry decision help, and the CHAMPVA document checklist, free: /p/dependents-benefits
If the real question is about your rating (whether you are or should be coded permanent and total, which is what unlocks all of this), that is claims work, and you should never pay for it. A free accredited VSO (DAV, VFW, American Legion, or your county VSO, found through VA.gov) helps at no cost. If a money decision comes out of this, like how to fund the rest of a kid's education, take that to a fee-only fiduciary, not a salesperson.
Education, not advice. Claims go to a free accredited VSO. Not affiliated with the VA or any government agency.