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Our Advocacy Letters (parent category)

Coalition letter on OPMs

November 13, 2024 The Honorable James Kvaal Under Secretary United States Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue SW Washington, D.C. 20202 Dear Under Secretary Kvaal, We write as a coalition of organizations representing students, consumers, [...]

Our Letter to VA regarding Florida Career College, UEI College, and United Education Institute

We are writing to urge VA and the appropriate State Approving Agencies (SAAs) (copied on this letter) to exercise your oversight authority with respect to three affiliated schools – Florida Career College (FCC), UEI College, and United Education Institution. Specifically, we urge you to reassess the approval status for FCC, in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 3675(b)(4) and 38 U.S.C. § 3696, and to conduct risk-based surveys for UEI College and United Education Institute. (According to the Department of Education, these three institutions are all owned by IEC Corporation (IEC)).

Statement on Fake Letter

RE: Fake Letter with Subject Line “5 Star CDL Training” To Whom It May Concern: It has come to our attention that you may have received a letter purporting to be from Veterans Education Success [...]

Our Letter to VA Regarding Hussian College

July 19, 2023 Joseph L. Garcia, Executive Director Education Service Veterans Benefits Administration Via email Re: Hussian College Closing Dear Director Garcia, We write to urge the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the appropriate [...]

Our Follow-Up to VA re: Risk-Based Survey SOPs

July 10, 2023 James Ruhlman, Deputy Director Program Management Education Service Veterans Benefits Administration Via email Dear Mr. Ruhlman, In response to concerns we raised about the standard operating procedures for the risk-based surveys as [...]

Veterans and Military Organizations’ Letter to the Department of Education on Rulemaking (Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment, Financial Responsibility, Administrative Capability, Certification Procedures, Ability to Benefit)

June 20, 2023 Secretary Miguel Cardona U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Ave. SW Washington, DC 20202 RE: Docket ID ED-2023-OPE-0089 Dear Mr. Secretary, The undersigned organizations representing servicemembers, veterans, military families, and survivors are [...]

Our Letter to VA regarding the VETS Credit Act

June 14, 2023 Joseph L. Garcia, Executive Director Education Service Veterans Benefits Administration Via email Re: School closings and GI Bill Restoration information Dear Director Garcia, As you requested in our meeting on May 24, [...]

Our Follow-Up to VA re: Risk-Based Survey SOPs

June 1, 2023 Joseph L. Garcia, Executive Director Education Service Veterans Benefits Administration Via email Re: Risk-Based Surveys Dear Director Garcia: Thank you for your response to our previous letter concerning the implementation of risk-based [...]

Coalition Letter on Third Party Servicer Guidance

March 30, 2023 Annmarie Weisman Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning, and Innovation Office of Postsecondary Education U.S. Department of Education Re: Docket ID ED-2022-OPE-0103 Submitted electronically via regulations.gov Dear Deputy Assistant Secretary Weisman, On [...]

Coalition Letter on Maryland 90/10

March 27, 2023 Emily A. A. Dow, Ph.D. Assistant Secretary for Academic Affairs Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) 6 N. Liberty St., 10th Fl. Baltimore, MD 21201 By Email Dear Dr. Dow, The undersigned organizations, [...]

Our Letter to VA re Risk-Based Survey SOPs

March 7, 2023 Joseph L. Garcia, Executive Director Education Service Veteran Benefits Administration Via email Re: Risk-Based Surveys Dear Director Garcia: We thank you and your team at the Education Service for making progress towards [...]

Veterans & Military Organizations’ Letter to the Dept. of Education re: “Low-Financial-Value” Colleges

The undersigned military and veteran organizations write to provide comments on the above-referenced Request for Information (RFI). We agree with the Department that low-financial-value programs “may cause particularly acute harm for student loan borrowers who may struggle to repay their debts after discovering too late that their postsecondary programs did not adequately prepare them for the workforce” and that “taxpayers also shoulder the costs.” We write specifically regarding the impact on student veterans and military-connected students.

Coalition Letter for Higher Education Accountability Priorities

As 40 organizations working on behalf of students, consumers, veterans, faculty and staff, civil rights advocates, and researchers concerned about unaffordable student debts and predatory practices, we write to share our coalition’s higher education priorities. As Congress continues to consider long-overdue reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) and to evaluate other higher education proposals, we strongly urge you to support policies that better protect students - especially low-income students and students of color - and the taxpayers who invest in them.

Letter to NC-SARA re: Proposal to Elevate SARA’s Consumer Protection Standards

The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), administered by the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA), lowers barriers for schools to offer online programs in multiple states, easing the way for institutions to expand the reach of their online programs. SARA’s impact is immense - almost 6 million students were enrolled in online programs at more than 2,300 SARA participating schools in Fall 2020, including 1.6 million students enrolled in online programs based outside of their state.1 Every state except for California is a SARA member. 2 However, the agreement’s standards set an extremely low bar for consumer protection, leaving millions of online students vulnerable to abuse by unscrupulous schools.

Our Letter to VA Regarding Living Arts College Closure

January 10, 2022 Timothy D. Freeman, Executive Director North Carolina State Approving Agency Via email Joseph L. Garcia, Executive Director Education Service Veterans Benefits Administration Via email Re: Living Arts College Closure Dear Mr. Garcia [...]

Our Letter to VA with Additional Information Regarding Bay State College

January 9, 2023, George O’Connor Assistant Commissioner for Academic & Veterans Affairs Department of Higher Education Commonwealth of Massachusetts Via email Joseph L. Garcia, Executive Director Education Service. Veteran Benefits Administration Via email Re: Bay State College Dear Mr. O’Connor and Mr. Garcia...

Our Letter to the Department of Education on the Council on Occupational Education.

VES advocacy letter on behalf of students and veterans in higher education in response to the call for third-party comments announced on November 14, 2022, in the Department of Education’s Notice Accrediting Agencies Currently Undergoing Review for the Purpose of Recognition by the U.S. Secretary of Education. 1 Our comments concern the Council on Occupational Education (“COE”) and the senior Department official’s (SDO) decision letter dated October 27, 2021, requiring COE to come into compliance with 34 C.F.R. Part 602 within 12 months and to submit a compliance report within 30 days thereafter.

Letter to VA Regarding Bay State College

November 21, 2022 George O’Connor, Assistant Commissioner for Academic & Veterans Affairs Department of Higher Education Commonwealth of Massachusetts Via email Joshua Jacobs, Senior Advisor for Policy Performing the Delegable Duties of the Under Secretary [...]

Letter to VA Regarding Florida Career College

November 21, 2022 Betsy Wickham, Bureau Chief State Approving Agency Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs Via email David Salgado, Director Veterans Education Program Texas Veterans Commission Via email Joshua Jacobs, Senior Advisor for Policy Performing [...]

Letter to VA Regarding Full Sail University

November 21, 2022 Betsy Wickham, Bureau Chief State Approving Agency Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs Via email Joshua Jacobs, Senior Advisor for Policy Performing the Delegable Duties of the Under Secretary for Benefits Veterans Benefits [...]

Letter to VA Regarding ASA College

November 21, 2022 William Clarke, Veterans Program Manager Bureau of Veterans Education New York State Division of Veterans’ Services Via email Joshua Jacobs, Senior Advisor for Policy Performing the Delegable Duties of the Under Secretary [...]

Our Comment on Record Keeping at Flight Schools

January 7, 2022 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Education Service 810 Vermont Avenue NW Washington, DC 20420 Via electronic submission Re: Agency Information Collection Activity: Record Keeping at Flight Schools, 86 FR 61855 Dear Sir [...]

Background on the Protect the GI Bill Act: Understanding Section 1016 In 2016, a unanimous Congress enacted the Career Ready Student Veterans Act, preventing GI Bill funding to be wasted at education programs which leave [...]

Coalition Letter: Support for California’s SB-802

The Honorable Jose Medina Assembly Higher Education Committee Legislative Office Building, Room 173 Sacramento, California 95814 RE: SUPPORT for SB 802 as Amended 5/5/2021  Dear Chair Medina:  We represent a group of student, veteran, consumer, [...]

Our Letter to DoD & ED Asking Them to Improve PSLF

May 7, 2021   The Honorable Miguel Cardona Secretary of Education Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue SW Washington, DC  20202   Secretary Lloyd Austin US Department of Defense 1000 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-1000 [...]

Our FTC Petition: Lead Generators

Complaint, Request for Investigation, Injunction, and Other Relief Submitted by Veterans Education Success Pursuant to the Commission’s Rules, 16 C.F.R. § 2.2, Veterans Education Success respectfully requests that the Commission institute an investigation of businesses [...]

Our FTC Petition: Army.com and Partner Schools

Complaint, Request for Investigation, Injunction, and Other Relief Submitted by Veterans Education Success Pursuant to the Commission’s Rules, 16 C.F.R. § 2.2, Veterans Education Success respectfully requests that the Commission institute an investigation of schools [...]

Veterans Education Success Letter in Support for SB 1544

"We at Veterans Education Success are writing in support of Senate Bill 1544. This bill will protect veterans and servicemembers from fraud and abuse by predatory colleges that target them with aggressive and deceptive recruiting just to get their GI Bill."

MSO-VSO Letter Supporting MLA Expansion

November 15, 2019   The Honorable Mike Crapo, Chair Senate Committee on Banking SD-534 Dirksen Senate Office Committee Washington, DC 20510   The Honorable Sherrod Brown, Ranking Member Senate Committee on Banking SD-534 Dirksen Senate [...]

Protecting Servicemember Loan Rates

Military and veteran groups wrote to the Department of Defense thanking them for automating SCRA rights and asking for restitution to servicemembers who previously were not accorded to these rights that they were entitled to. [...]

CFPB and DoD: Protect Servicemembers’ Rights

38 veterans and military service organizations call on the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and US Defense Department to stop the rollback of servicemembers' rights under the Military Lending Act   Resubmitted Sept. [...]

Piercing the Veil of Covert For-Profit Colleges

Recent efforts by certain predatory for-profit colleges to convert to nonprofit status1 raises the question of whether the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can continue to exercise jurisdiction over those entities’ misleading and deceptive recruiting [...]

Veteran Preference in FTC Oversight

Veteran and Military organizations ask the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce to prioritize veterans and service members in Federal Trade Commission oversight.

No Accreditation, No DoD Money

American Legion writes a letter to Senator Durbin asking for greater protection of Defense Department education funds.

Veterans Education Success

1250 H Street NW Floor 8 Washington DC 20005

Web: VetsEdSuccess.org

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