(a) Requirements for pursuit. A program of education may be pursued partly in residence and partly by correspondence for the attainment of a predetermined and identified objective under the following conditions:

(1) The correspondence and residence portions are pursued sequentially; that is, not concurrently.

(2) It is the practice of the institution to permit a student to pursue a part of his or her course by correspondence in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the attainment of the specified objective.

(3) The total credit established by correspondence does not exceed the maximum for which the institution will grant credit toward the specified objective.

(4) The educational institution offering the course is accredited by an agency recognized by the Secretary of Education; and

(5) The State approving agency has approved the correspondence-residence course and has verified compliance with the requirement of 38 U.S.C. 3672(e) and §21.4256(a) that at least 50 percent of those pursuing the correspondence-residence course require six months or more to complete it.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 3672(e))

(The information collection requirements in this section have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 2900-0575)

(b) Payment for pursuit of a correspondence-residence program. The rate of educational assistance payable to a spouse or surviving spouse under 38 U.S.C. Chapter 35 for the residence portion of a correspondence-residence course or program shall be computed as set forth in §§21.3131(a) and 21.4270.

(1) The charges for that portion of the course or program pursued exclusively by correspondence will be in accordance with §21.3131(a) with 1 month entitlement charged for each $404 of cost reimbursed.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 3534)

(2) The charges for the residence portion of the program must be separate from those for the correspondence portion.

[38 FR 7394, Mar. 21, 1973, as amended at 39 FR 45237, Dec. 31, 1974; 43 FR 35308, Aug. 9, 1978; 50 FR 19936, May 13, 1985; 61 FR 29296, June 10, 1996; 62 FR 63850, Dec. 3, 1997]