Work · Printed + live
Veteran Benefits Kit
Pay planner, benefit finder and front-desk map for ODU veteran students, built alongside campus benefits staff. Every figure is cited to VA or ODU.
Problem
A veteran student at Old Dominion University who asks “what will VA pay me this semester?” usually gets one of two answers: a static rate table that doesn’t account for their sessions and credits, or “ask the certifying office.” The office gets the same handful of questions every term, at the front desk, one person at a time.
Constraints
- Nothing a student enters is saved or sent anywhere. The pages run in the browser and forget everything when closed.
- Every number carries its source and its date. VA rates change on fixed dates, so a figure without an expiry is a figure that will eventually be wrong.
- It is not a VA decision, and says so. The kit points to the right step and the right person. The certifying office’s certification and VA’s award decide the actual case.
- It has to work on paper. Students are often handed a printed sheet or a QR code at the desk, so every page prints cleanly and every printed address stays permanent.
Solution
Four parts behind one front door:
- Start here: a few questions, then the next step and exactly who to contact.
- Semester Pay Planner: sessions, classes and credits in, the monthly rate VA would pay for each stretch of the term out, with every rule one tap away.
- Which Benefit Am I On: find your benefit and compare the programs side by side.
- Front-Desk Map: for staff, fourteen common situations, each with one check, the branch, the hand-over and the source.
Plus printable scan sheets for students and an office scan card.
Responsibilities
Sole designer, developer and researcher. Read the regulations and VA and ODU sources, wrote every page, and worked alongside campus benefits staff on what the front desk actually hears.
Technology
Static HTML, CSS and plain JavaScript on GitHub Pages. No backend and no tracking. Each page has an automated checker that must pass before it can be republished, and each page also passed an independent review before going live.
Status
Live and printed. Revision 25 of the front door was prepared on 2026-10-15. The kit now sits inside a larger Veteran Resources hub covering claims, careers, health, home loans and transition.