“Veterans rely on VA’s stamp of approval when choosing a school for their GI Bill benefits,” said Jennifer Esparza, the legal affairs director at Washington, D.C.-based bipartisan nonprofit Veterans Education Success.
Esparza also attended Ashford University from 2010 to 2013.
“The veterans we serve are understandably angry when they learn that a school that scammed them is a school VA knew was engaged in substantial misrepresentations but nevertheless continued to be approved,” she said.
“I suspect giving up willingly was to their advantage,” said Will Hubbard, the vice president for veterans and military policy at Veterans Education Success.
The school relocated to Chandler from San Diego in 2020 but continued to administer VA education benefits in California.
Naturally, coughing up a license to operate will have an effect on funding from the state, Hubbard asserts.
“Either they’re lying, or they’re terribly disorganized,” Hubbard said of the school’s comments about VA education benefits in Wednesday’s New Times story.
Hubbard said the process could take a year.
“It’s not a short process,” he said. “This points to the very clear lack of quality across the board.”
“If you are a student at the school, you are left in a terrible position,” Hubbard said.
They may or may not get their license in Arizona,” Hubbard said. “Knowing the lack of quality that exists, it would not surprise me in the least if they were not approved.”
It is an alarming trend and I’m not excited to see it,” Hubbard said. “Ultimately, the students are left in the lurch.”
Read the full story in Phoenix New Times here.