Title IV Accreditation: Regulatory Capture and Competition
The U.S. Department of Education has announced its intention to develop new regulations for its recognition of collegiate accreditation organizations for purposes of institutional eligibility for federal student aid. Department officials have been quite critical [...]
Understanding College Accreditation’s Current Weaknesses Through an Historical Lens
Introduction This paper presents a brief history of how voluntary nongovernmental accreditation first emerged around the turn of the 20th century and how it evolved, presented in order to highlight and understand the erosion of [...]
First-ever Assessment of the Post-9/11 GI Bill
The Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (also known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill) represents a significant federal investment: Between 2009 and 2019, nearly $100 billion was budgeted for the program, which provides [...]
Which Veterans Are Forgoing Their Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits?
The Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (also known as thePost-9/11 GI Bill, or PGIB) substantially increased the education benefit available to military service members who served after September 10, 2001. In this report, [...]
A Deeper Look at Post-9/11 GI Bill Outcomes for American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic Veterans
The Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (also known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill, or PGIB) substantially increased the education benefit available to military service members who served after September 10, 2001. This report [...]
Post-9/11 GI Bill Access and Uptake: Insights and Recommendations from Veterans
The Post-9/11 Veterans’ Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (also known as the Post-9/11 GI Bill) (Public Law 110-252) substantially increased the education benefits available to military service members who served after September 10, 2001, but [...]
Post-9/11 GI Bill-Eligible Enlisted Veterans’ Enrollment and Outcomes at Public Flagship Institutions, With a Focus on The Great Lakes Region
Never before has there been an assessment of the outcomes associated with the critical federal investment in the Post-9/11 GI Bill (PGIB) for American veterans. Thanks to an historic interagency effort to merge previously siloed [...]
Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits How Do Veterans’ Outcomes Differ Based on the Type of Education They Received? And How Are Veterans Who Have Not Used Their Education Benefits Faring?
This report examines two questions important to policymakers: How do the outcomes of veterans who used the Post9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (also known as the Post9/11 GI Bill, or PGIB) vary by [...]
A First Look at Post-9/11 GI Bill-Eligible Enlisted Veterans’ Outcomes
This first look at the Post-9/11 GI Bill and its outcomes for veterans is possible thanks to unprecedented interagency cooperation, combining and analyzing, for the first time ever, previously siloed federal data. There has never [...]
Postsecondary Outcomes for Undergraduate Veterans of Color
As America grapples with systemic racial injustice, it is more important than ever to examine the outcomes of veterans of color who are using the GI Bill to earn a postsecondary credential. In a 2011 [...]
Veterans’ Use of Private Student Loans: A Primer
Click here to download a PDF copy of the report. Highlights Based on our analysis of ED survey data from academic year 2007-08 to 2015-16: The proportion of undergraduate student veterans at for-profit schools taking [...]
Impact of Disability on First-Time Student Veterans’ Persistence and Attainment
Click here to download a PDF copy of this Issue Brief Highlights Among undergraduate veterans who enrolled in postsecondary education for the first time in 2011-12, 33% reported a disability, compared to 15% of non-veterans [...]
Annual and Cumulative Student Loan Debt Among Veterans Using and Not Using GI Bill Benefits
This Fact Sheet examines student loan borrowing in academic year 2015-16, comparing undergraduate veterans who received any GI Bill educational benefits (beneficiaries) to those who did not (nonbeneficiaries). In addition to their borrowing during that [...]
Weak Return on Investment at Trade Schools that Enroll GI Bill Beneficiaries
Highlights We found that student outcome data at Title IV- participating trade schools that enroll GI Bill beneficiaries in certificate programs showed a disappointing return-on-investment but robust retention and graduation rates (see table 1). For [...]
Should Colleges Spend the GI Bill on Veterans’ Education or Late Night TV Ads? And Which Colleges Offer the Best Instructional Bang for the GI Bill Buck?
Every year, around 700,000 Post-9/11 GI Bill students enroll in an institution of postsecondary education, a benefit earned through sacrifice and service to our nation. The GI Bill represents America’s thanks for veterans’ military [...]
Veteran Student Loan Debt 7 Years After Implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill
In May 2018, we reported on trends in veteran student loan debt from just before the 2009 implementation of the more generous Post-9/11 GI Bill (2007-08) to 3 years after the new benefit became available [...]
Career Education Colleges and Universities: Outcomes at Selected Member Schools
After a brief history of CECU, this report provides “key takeaways” from our analysis of both descriptive and outcome data for the 26 CECU-member schools. The report concludes with a discussion of some of the [...]
Postsecondary Non-Completion Among Veterans: Contributing Factors and Implications
This paper uses Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS), a longitudinal survey conducted by the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to examine factors contributing to and the impact of non-completion for “first-time” student [...]
Student Outcomes at Colleges Approved by the Accreditor ACICS
Veterans Education Success analyzed the most recent U.S. Department of Education (Department) data to determine student outcomes at the approximately 100 schools still accredited by the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). ACICS [...]
Veteran Student Loan Debt Before and After the Post-9/11 GI Bill
A major goal of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which modernized veterans’ educational benefits, was to provide veterans with the opportunity of a debt-free, postsecondary education—or, at a minimum, to mitigate their student loan debt. The [...]
Despite a 2016 Statute, the GI Bill Still Pays for Degrees That Do Not Lead to a Job
VES’s 2015 report, The GI Bill Pays for Degrees that Do Not Lead to a Job, identified 8-degree programs offered by 15 different schools, at both brick and mortar campuses and online, that failed to [...]
Enrollment Trends and Student Outcomes at Ashford University
This Fact Sheet examines the enrollment trends and student outcomes at Ashford University, including (1) how much of the school's revenue comes from the GI Bill; (2) what are its veteran enrollment trends; (3) how [...]
The GI Bill Pays for Degrees That Do Not Lead To a Job
Unfortunately, some programs approved for GI Bill benefits leave graduates de facto ineligible to obtain a job in their field of study because the school (1) lacks the appropriate accreditation or (2) fails to meet [...]