Congress: Let Chapter 35 Pay for Real College Programs for Disabled Veterans' Children
The Issue
My name is Tera Lisicky. I am a single mom in San Diego, and co-founder of Transcenders Inc., a nonprofit helping disabled youth transition to adulthood. This petition is about my son, Robert.
Robert is autistic, and he is a college student. He is enrolled in the Aspiring Scholars Program at California State University San Marcos, a four-year program for autistic students that the U.S. Department of Education recognizes as a Comprehensive Transition Program. He takes real classes, builds real skills, and is working toward employment and independence.
Robert earned VA Chapter 35 education benefits as the son of a Marine who served from 2001 to 2025 and retired with a 100% disability rating. I completed that application myself. Chapter 35 exists for exactly this: education for the dependents of veterans who gave their health in service.
But Robert cannot use a dollar of it. Chapter 35 will not pay for his program because it does not grant a standard degree, and student loans will not cover it either. A federally recognized college program at a public university is treated as if it is not college at all. Over that technicality, the benefit his family earned sits unusable.
Robert is not alone. Across the country, thousands of disabled children of veterans are enrolled in Comprehensive Transition Programs and other inclusive college programs like his, locked out of the same earned benefits for the same reason.
We are asking Congress and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to act: make federally recognized Comprehensive Transition Programs eligible for VA Chapter 35 benefits. The programs are already recognized by the Department of Education. The students are already in college. The benefits were already earned.
Sign and share if you agree. And if your family has hit this same wall, tell your story when you sign. Decision makers need to see the families behind this policy.
Follow the campaign and learn more at Transcenders Inc (transcenders.app). Join our newsletter for updates, and we will tell you when decision makers respond.
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The Issue
My name is Tera Lisicky. I am a single mom in San Diego, and co-founder of Transcenders Inc., a nonprofit helping disabled youth transition to adulthood. This petition is about my son, Robert.
Robert is autistic, and he is a college student. He is enrolled in the Aspiring Scholars Program at California State University San Marcos, a four-year program for autistic students that the U.S. Department of Education recognizes as a Comprehensive Transition Program. He takes real classes, builds real skills, and is working toward employment and independence.
Robert earned VA Chapter 35 education benefits as the son of a Marine who served from 2001 to 2025 and retired with a 100% disability rating. I completed that application myself. Chapter 35 exists for exactly this: education for the dependents of veterans who gave their health in service.
But Robert cannot use a dollar of it. Chapter 35 will not pay for his program because it does not grant a standard degree, and student loans will not cover it either. A federally recognized college program at a public university is treated as if it is not college at all. Over that technicality, the benefit his family earned sits unusable.
Robert is not alone. Across the country, thousands of disabled children of veterans are enrolled in Comprehensive Transition Programs and other inclusive college programs like his, locked out of the same earned benefits for the same reason.
We are asking Congress and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to act: make federally recognized Comprehensive Transition Programs eligible for VA Chapter 35 benefits. The programs are already recognized by the Department of Education. The students are already in college. The benefits were already earned.
Sign and share if you agree. And if your family has hit this same wall, tell your story when you sign. Decision makers need to see the families behind this policy.
Follow the campaign and learn more at Transcenders Inc (transcenders.app). Join our newsletter for updates, and we will tell you when decision makers respond.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on October 23, 2026