Many vocational rehabilitation programs are for service disabled military veterans who need further training and / or education in order to attain suitable and steady employment. These veterans vocational rehabilitation programs often include various types of assistance for such things as tuition, fees, supplies, books and equipment necessary for training or employment itself.

Non-veteran rehabilitation programs are typically run through state and are funded by the federal government, with each state matching the funds that the government puts into the vocational programs offered by that state.

Vocational rehabilitation programs are not always 'rehabilitation' per se, but are also used as ways to prepare for professional life upon graduation from high school or college. Many vocational rehabilitation programs are entered into upon high school graduation or even during the senior year of high school to ready participants for entering the job market and meeting the demands of productive adult life.