I’ve seen a lot of discussion about ODU’s 8-week courses lately, and I just discovered another frustrating issue with this system.
I’m graduating in December and enrolled in 13 credits this semester. I receive Chapter 35 VA education benefits, and I specifically made sure I was taking at least 12 credits to maintain full-time enrollment.
However, I just received my VA award letter and found out that I’m only being paid at the 3/4-time rate for August, September, and most of October.
Here’s how ODU reported my enrollment:
9 credits from August 24 – December 11
1 credit from August 24 – October 16
3 credits from October 19 – December 11
According to the VA, I’m not considered full-time until October 19, despite being enrolled in 13 credits for the semester.
My September payment was $1,244 instead of the $1,621 full-time rate, a difference of $377. I’m also still waiting on my October payments.
I’m honestly pretty frustrated. I understand that the VA has its own rules for calculating enrollment, but I had no idea ODU’s 8-week course structure could affect my benefits this way. I specifically planned my schedule around maintaining full-time status, and I don’t recall receiving any warning that I might be classified otherwise.
I know a lot of students have already expressed frustration with the 8-week format, but I hadn’t considered how it might affect financial aid and VA benefits.
Has anyone else at ODU experienced this? Does anyone know whether the VA is calculating my enrollment correctly, or if this could be an issue with how ODU certified my credits?
I’m planning to reach out to the Military Connection Center, but I’d really appreciate any insight or advice from students who’ve dealt with something similar. I’m especially curious whether there’s any way to have my enrollment reviewed or corrected if it was reported incorrectly.

There are 2 modules due per week. I’m halfway through module 1 (actually going thru the material properly) I’m 6hrs in already. At this rate I’m expecting this to be more like 24 hrs of work for one class without counting homework time.

This is wild, a decade of college and I’ve never seen anything like this. This is more like 2 16 week classes shoved into 8 weeks.

After waiting and waiting with zero communication from financial aid, I called the cashiers office. He put me on hold for two minutes tops, then informed me my refund was processed and I’d have it within 48 hours. Hope this helps someone! 757-683-4910

I’m interested in doing the online civil engineering technology program, but I just wanted to ask how hard the course load is especially if I am working a full-time job and have a family? If anyone has been in a similar situation, how doable was it? And is there any advice you would give?

Just like the rest of you, I am not too fond of the forced 8-week curriculum online. After speaking with one of the professors, I was informed that I should expect to dedicate around 25 hours a week for General Physics 111 alone. I imagine the workload would be the same for Calculus 1.

Has anyone taken these classes in the 8-week format? If so, how was your experience? I'm already considering taking classes elsewhere to avoid the accelerated curriculum. Many thanks in advance

Morning Everyone! As if 9:26 am ET, I am still sitting at a negative balance in my account. Has another seen any zero outs yet?

Update around 4:03 pm ET, I zeroed out. I sent an email to the Cashier’s Office around 2:13 this afternoon. No answer back from them but I did zero out.

Hi everyone! Good afternoon. I want to preface this by saying that this is an invitation to a religious space(specifically Christian). I have a great deal of respect for those who are both theistic and atheistic.

With that being said, if you have been looking for a space to plug in for community, life, and just conversations around a figurative table, I invite you to consider Wesley ODU. It is located across from Broderick Dining Commons(across the street, not on the same side). If you have specific questions please feel free to ask, and I will do my best to answer. I will speak from a stance of LGBTQ+ community. Wesley is an affirming group. My partner and I go quite a bit, and it is not just inclusive, but affirming. If you are in the LGBTQ+ community, and are religious, and have ever experienced church hurt, you likely know exactly what I am talking about.

We meet on Monday, each week, starting at 7 pm, but some of us come in late because of evening classes. On Wednesdays, we have a worship night, followed by a service project for the week(usually done on site). An example would be preparing blankets for a local shelter, or preparing donation bins with non-perishable food items.

Through this group, I also met a DnD group that meets each week on site. If that is something you are interested in, please feel free to reach out. It is 5.5e.

So, if you have been looking for a campus ministry that is truly affirming, then just know we would love to have you. If you have any questions please let me know. Wesley's Instagram can be found on IG @ https://www.instagram.com/thewesleyodu/ .

I hope to see you there. All the best!

Hi! I’m looking for any one interested in booking a dental hygiene appointment! I’m a senior dental hygiene student at odu and recruiting patients has not been the easiest thing.

Here’s my availability so far:

OCTOBER

Wednesdays:
October 21, 9:00 am 
October 28, 9:00 am
October 28, 1:00 pm

NOVEMBER:

Wednesdays:
Nov 4, 9:00 am
Nov 4, 1:00 pm
Nov 11, 9:00 am
Nov 18, 9:00 am
Nov 18, 1:00 pm

Fridays:
Nov 6, 9:00 am
Nov 13, 9:00 am
Nov 20, 9:00 am

Please keep in mind that each appointment is 2 hours and 45 minutes and may take more than one appointment depending on your case!

Services provided

Assessments
Medical & dental history; blood pressure; head and neck exam; oral cancer screening; periodontal disease; radiographic examination (x-rays); oral and systemic risk assessment; and dental caries (cavities) risk assessment.

Treatments
Oral prophylaxis (preventive cleaning), periodontal therapy (deep cleaning), dental sealants, fluoride application, athletic mouth guards, desensitization, custom whitening trays, oral health education, laser assisted periodontal therapy (LAPT), silver diamine fluoride application for arresting early decay, and more

Has anyone actually received an email about their refund? Or waiting

The environment at ODU is highly toxic and there is a pervasive culture of fear here. I’m glad the Pilot is covering this.

https://www.pilotonline.com/2026/10/16/odu-divide-future/

Here's the link: https://www.pilotonline.com/2026/10/16/odu-divide-future/?lctg=2d927b5eacd0fb72c77db257ef525454&active=yesD&utm_cluster=TRIB&utm_profileID=6a797ee039f5c207665c484d

As of today @ 9:35 AM EST I am still negative. Mine is not much but I need to get my books shipped to me for classes on Monday, which I won’t even have by then because it’s so late.

I received a email from financial aid stating that student loans will be disbursed over the 8 weeks for ODU global students ? So does that mean they won’t zero the balance all at once ?

I was supposed to get disbursement on 10/12 but haven’t received anything. My first 8 weeks aid was awarded on time per the schedule. I’ve called the office twice and no one will give me a straight answer. I’ve also emailed my financial aid advisor twice to no avail. Is anyone else having this problem?

Does anyone have an idea when the GI Bill will be paying tuition for those doing the 2 8 week sessions? Or are they waiting till November like they typically do?

Hi I'm a part of the fall online semester course And I can't be the only one that's noticed that there's been a couple of assignments that make us use generative AI right? For the first 8 weeks I had a course that had a requirement to use Ai and I asked the teacher if I could do it through canva because it was an infographic and she straight out denied me and said that I have to use AI because we need to learn how to use it ethically and it was either do it with AI or fail.

Now I'm reading the syllabus from my new class in the upcoming 8 weeks and I see that generative AI is in the 70% category of my grade and it's so mind-boggling that these are 300 level classes and I have to either use generative AI or fail?? It's 90° in October and they want to fail me for not wanting to use Ai??

I'm gonna see if I can drop the class because this is ridiculous.

Hey everyone,

I am taking an online English course the second eight weeks. The professor of this course claims that ODU is requiring them to have an AI section in their module for ALL online courses. I did not have any AI modules in my courses last semester, so I am confused on that part.

Additionally, this is AN ENGLISH COMPOSITION CLASS. AI is required - as in I have to talk to an AI chat bot for multiple assignments.

The program they use is “Riff” - which uses generative AI.

What can I do about this??? This is crazy and I am beyond unhappy with this situation.

let's try keep everyone updated.

Hey Monarchs! Graduate from 2021 here, and I figured this might be a good spot to reach out to current students. My company is looking to bring in a marketing intern, focusing on social media, trends, graphic design (Canva, etc.), and more! Please feel free to send me a message or let me know if you're interested and I'd be happy to share more information! Thanks y'all!

This 2nd 8 weeks, I will be taking pre calculus, I was wondering if anyone who has already took let me know how the class and exams are going, I think for this class I’ll take my exams in person.

Hey Monarchs,

I’m an ODU graduate student working on my Master's Thesis in positive communication and chronic illness, and I really need your help! downtime

If you have a block of down-time today, tomorrow, whenever really, I would be incredibly grateful if you'd take my anonymous research survey.

About the Survey:

Time Estimation: Approximately 20 minutes (I know that's long for a survey & makes this a big ask but PLEASE your responses are so important to my work).

What my project is about: Exploring how positive communication impacts individuals living with or managing chronic illness, and yes we are including mental disorders like depression, anxiety, adhd, ocd, etc.

Privacy: Your responses are completely anonymous.

Your input is valuable and directly supports homegrown ODU research. Thank you so much for supporting a fellow student's graduation journey!

Click Here to Take the Anonymous Qualtrics Survey:

https://odu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9T8rsaItwbaAyTI

P.S. If you could share the link with anyone else that you know with a chronic illness I would appreciate it!!

Thanks! Ya'll are the best 😄

Edit: should be the correct link now!

hey all,

I am going to be at ODU next fall as a transfer student from PVCC. since I will transfer in as a junior, i was wondering if there are any special housing options open to me that are both on or off campus.

another question I have is that is it worth it to purchase/rent a propriety off of campus for any reasons.

Does anyone think we’ll be getting a refund this week? Please do not respond. If you are not taking a week courses this whole week course thing is really weird. As far as response. I would’ve just got the whole thing in the summer. I did just have a negative balance since yesterday.