TRIO Veterans Upward Bound NW Ohio

06/15/2026

We're glad to introduce Dr. Heather Vincil as the new Assistant Director of TRIO Veterans Upward Bound at Owens Community College.

Heather is a U.S. Army veteran who served eight years, including a deployment to Iraq and an assignment with the Army G-2 (Intelligence) at the Pentagon from 2014 to 2016. She holds a Doctor of Behavioral Health from Arizona State University and a Master of Science in Psychology from Grand Canyon University.

Her work in the veteran community runs deep. She serves as Director of Operations for Task Force 20, as a mentor and treatment team member for the Lucas County Veterans Treatment Court, and as a board member for NAMI Greater Toledo. Across all of it, her focus is the same: connecting veterans with the resources and support that improve their lives.

That's exactly the kind of leadership our participants across Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan deserve. VUB helps veterans prepare for college through free academic refreshers, FAFSA and GI Bill navigation, and transcript evaluation, with no cost to the veteran.

Veterans in our 16-county region, or anyone who knows one, can start here: https://lwkhgc.short.gy/VetTRIO

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

06/14/2026

Flag Day doesn't get the attention Memorial Day or Veterans Day does, but it's worth a minute.

June 14, 1777. That's the day the Continental Congress settled on what the flag would actually look like. We were still in the middle of the Revolution. Nothing was decided yet, but they took the time to agree on the thing they were all fighting under.

You carried it. You folded it. You saluted it more times than you can count. You know what it stands for in a way most people never will.

If you've been thinking about going back to school, we help veterans across 16 counties in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan get ready for it. Refresher courses, FAFSA and GI Bill help, transcript evaluation. All free.

Know a Vet? Tell a Vet.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

06/09/2026

Summer Pell is the financial aid most veterans never even file for.

Here's the short version. The Pell Grant isn't a loan. It's a grant. You don't pay it back. And because of a rule called year-round Pell, if you qualify and you've used your fall and spring award, you can pick up additional Pell money for a summer term too.

The catch is you have to file a FAFSA to get any of it. A lot of veterans skip the FAFSA because they figure the GI Bill already covers school. But the GI Bill and the FAFSA are two separate things, and in a lot of cases they stack. One pays for the seat. The other can put money in your pocket for the stuff the GI Bill doesn't touch.

A third of student veterans never file a FAFSA. That's thousands of dollars left sitting on the table every year.

We help veterans through the whole FAFSA process for free. Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, including Hillsdale, Lenawee, and Monroe counties on the Michigan side. You don't have to enroll at Owens to work with us. We prep you for whatever accredited college you're headed to.

Know a Vet? Tell a Vet.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

06/08/2026

You already did the hard part.

Your time in the service was worth more than a paycheck and a DD-214. A lot of veterans don't realize their military training can count for real college credit, sometimes 12 to 30 of them, before they ever walk into a classroom.

That's where Veterans Upward Bound comes in. We help you figure out what your service already earned you, knock the rust off the basics like math and writing, and walk you through the benefits paperwork most guys leave money on the table with. The GI Bill and FAFSA are two separate things, and you can use both.

It's free. It's always been free. And we're not trying to recruit you to any one school, we get you ready for whatever college you decide on.

Open to veterans across 16 counties in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, including Hillsdale, Lenawee, and Monroe.

See if you qualify here: https://lwkhgc.short.gy/VetTRIO
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education
Know a Vet? Tell a Vet.

This years BIG Read explores indigenous peoples and more specifically violence and violence against indigenous women. We are going to get involved by calling for public attention to missing and murdered Indigenous women because as theNational Indigenous Womens Resource Centerstates, it is more than....

06/05/2026

Four ways to know if Veterans Upward Bound is for you.

Most veterans count themselves out before they ask. Here is the actual list. If any one of these is true, you qualify.

1) Your parents did not finish a 4-year degree. First-generation counts, and it is the one people miss most.
2) You meet federal income guidelines. The threshold is broader than veterans assume, and it adjusts for family size.
3) You have been away from school long enough that getting back in feels like a cold start.
4) You live in our 16-county area. That includes Michigan: Hillsdale, Lenawee, and Monroe counties count, not just the Ohio side.

It is free. It is real help. And it works for any college, not just Owens. We can help with FAFSA, brushing the rust off math and writing, and reading a military transcript for credit you already earned.

Know a Vet? Tell a Vet.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

06/04/2026

Veterans using GI Bill® benefits: don’t forget to verify your enrollment every month.

Monthly verification helps confirm that you’re still enrolled and keeps your payments on track. A quick check-in now can prevent delays later.

Verify through the VA system by the 1st of each month so your benefits continue without interruption.

Details and support are available through TRIO Veterans Upward Bound.

Need help understanding the process? Reach out to TRIO Veterans Upward Bound.

06/01/2026

When did you last verify your GI Bill enrollment?

Not the school certifying you at the start of the term. That's a different thing. This is the check-in the VA started requiring every single month as of January 1st.

Here's what most student veterans don't know yet. If you're on the Post-9/11 GI Bill getting a housing allowance, or you're a spouse or kid using Chapter 35, you're now in the group that has to verify monthly. You weren't before. You are now.

Miss two months in a row and the VA pauses your payments. Including the housing money. It doesn't restart on its own. You have to verify before it comes back, and for some folks that means a phone call to the Education Call Center to get the hold released.

For a lot of veterans the first sign anything's wrong is the rent money just not showing up.

So run the check on yourself right now:

1. Did you get a text from the VA at the end of last month asking you to confirm enrollment? Did you answer it?
2. If you don't have a U.S. cell on file, you're on email verification instead. Check that inbox.
3. No text and no email? Log into VA.gov and verify there. You can also use the Ask VA portal.
4. Already missed a month? Don't wait for the second one. Verify now.

Takes about 60 seconds. Save this so you've got the steps next time the end of the month sneaks up on you.

And if your payments already stopped and you're not sure why, that's exactly the kind of thing we help untangle. No cost. We work with veterans across 16 counties in NW Ohio and SE Michigan, including Hillsdale, Lenawee, and Monroe.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

Know a Vet? Tell a Vet.

05/28/2026

If you served long enough to qualify for the Montgomery GI Bill AND the Post-9/11 GI Bill, you have been told for years that you had to pick one.

That changed in 2025.

A federal court ruling (Perkins v. Collins) held that veterans who qualify under both programs can use up to 48 months of combined education benefits. The cap is statutory. Most veterans never knew this option existed.

The VA is right now reviewing eligibility for every veteran who has less than 3 months of education benefits remaining and is either currently enrolled or was enrolled in the last six months.

If that sounds like you, it is worth a conversation. We can walk through your DD-214, your Certificate of Eligibility, and what the ruling actually means for the months you may still have on the table.

Free. Real help. Any college, not just Owens.

We serve veterans across NW Ohio (Lucas, Wood, Hancock, Ottawa, Sandusky, Seneca, Erie, Williams, Fulton, Defiance, Henry, Paulding, Putnam) and SE Michigan (Hillsdale, Lenawee, Monroe). Yes, Michigan vets, you qualify too.

Know a Vet? Tell a Vet.

Link in the comments.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

05/27/2026

Heads up for any veteran who looked at the calendar and thought summer classes were already a lost cause.

Most area colleges started their summer terms in mid-May, but not every class runs the full 16 weeks. There are 8-week and shorter sessions with later start dates, so depending on the school, you can still jump into something this summer.

And if summer is too tight, fall is the next big enrollment window. That's about three months of runway, which is honestly the right amount of time to knock the rust off before you sit in a classroom again.

That's where TRIO Veterans Upward Bound comes in. We're housed at Owens in Perrysburg, but we're not just for Owens students. We prep veterans for whatever college they're aiming at, across 16 counties in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan. Free academic refresher in math, reading, and writing. FAFSA and GI Bill help. Military transcript (JST) review so you're not paying for credits you already earned. None of it costs you anything.

Know a Vet? Tell a Vet.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

05/25/2026

We work with the ones who came home.

Today we sit with the ones who didn't.

Every veteran we help has names they carry. Brothers, sisters, kids barely old enough to drive who never got to come back to their own kitchen tables. The people we serve are still serving those names.

If you've lost someone, we see you today. The grief doesn't show up on a calendar. It shows up in the quiet between cookouts.

This is Memorial Day. Say their names.