Tag: Student Veterans

Q: Military Times: Vet groups are blasting Trump’s education secretary. Here’s why.

Veterans’ education benefits are being undermined by the federal government, according to officials with two prominent advocacy organizations focused on student veterans.

Q: WaPo: Veterans groups ask VA secretary to keep GI benefits out of the hands of predatory colleges

Three dozen advocacy groups are calling on Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie to intensify monitoring of college programs that enroll veterans after an audit found lax oversight could result in $2.3 billion in tuition benefits going to predatory schools during the next five years.

Q: Our New York Times op-ed: Betsy DeVos vs. Student Veterans

Our President Carrie Wofford authored an op-ed in the New York Times : "As the political makeup of the 116th Congress begins to congeal, the question of what, if anything, this divided government can do together looms. Although there is faint hope of cooperation on most issues, if there is something that could unite President Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Mitch McConnell, it should be their promises to protect America’s veterans. The post-9/11 G.I. Bill, which rewarded returning service members with college funding, first passed under George W. Bush and was unanimously expanded by Congress in 2017 with Mr. Trump’s signature. But the value of veterans’ hard-earned G.I. Bill benefits is being undermined from within the Trump administration. The culprit, unfortunately, is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos....." Read the full op-ed here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/opinion/betsy-devos-student-veterans.html

Q: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Inspector General: VA’s Oversight of State Approving Agency Program Monitoring for Post-9/11 GI Bill Students

Prior VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports have identified significant financial risks in how the education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill are administered. The OIG conducted this audit to determine if VA and State Approving Agencies (SAAs) effectively reviewed and monitored education programs in accordance with the provisions of Title 38 of the United States Code (U.S.C.) and ensured only eligible programs had enrolled Post-9/11 GI Bill students.

Q: 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 veterans pursuing a postsecondary education—certificates, associate’s, or bachelor’s degrees. BPS includes student veterans who were first surveyed during the 2011-12 academic year and again in 2013-14. Because students surveyed by BPS for a second time in 2014 had only 3-years to earn a degree, we used the Department’s National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:16) to analyze time-to-degree from students’ first enrollment date, obtaining a longer-term perspective. For comparison, we include data on non-veteran independent students, a group comparable to veterans that we refer to as “nonveterans.” In general, both veterans and such non-veterans are financially independent, older, and are often married with dependent children. Because the focus is on veterans, we highlight the differences between veterans and non-veterans only when we believe they merit attention. [pdf-embedder url="https://vetsedsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/post-secondary-non-completion-veterans-copntributing-factors-and-implications.pdf"]

Q: New Research Report: Student Vets More Resilient, Persistent in Pursuit of Higher Education. However, stronger federal and institutional support would help bolster their completion rates

[pdf-embedder url="https://vetsedsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/college-persistence.pdf"]

Q: Politico Morning Education: Veterans Education Success issued a new analysis today

Meanwhile, the group Veterans Education Success issued a new analysis today based on government data that found student veterans demonstrate stronger rates of persistence and completion of higher education goals compared with their non-veteran peers.

Q: Creating Student-Centric Support Systems for Military-Connected Students

Prior to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, little focus was put on promising practices to support military and veteran students in their pursuit of higher education. With the passage of this comprehensive benefit in 2009, administrators at colleges and universities throughout the country began the mad dash of trying to find ways to best support the approximate one million military-connected students looking to pursue post-secondary education with their new-found benefits.

Q: Why Aren’t More Undergraduate Student Veterans Enrolling at Selective Colleges? Veteran Undergraduate vs Graduate Student Demographics

Selective colleges with high graduation rates enroll far fewer veterans pursuing undergraduate certificate, associate’s, or bachelor’s degrees than those seeking post-baccalaureate degrees such as master’s, PhD’s, or certifications. This Issue Brief explores demographic and enrollment differences between these two cohorts of veterans in order to identify (1) factors that may be contributing to this disparity and (2) interventions to increase the proportion of undergraduate veterans enrolling in selective institutions. [pdf-embedder url="https://vetsedsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/issue-brief-6-why-arent-more-veterans-enrolling-selective-colleges.pdf"]

Q: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences: Military Service and Educational Attainment of High School Sophomores After 9/11: Experiences of 2002 High School Sophomores as of 2012

This Statistics in Brief examines 2002 high school sophomores’ entrance into military service through 2012, up to 8 years after most graduated from high school in 2004. The report provides estimates regarding the timing of military service; the demographic and academic characteristics of those who served in the military; the relationship between students’ expectations for a military career and subsequent military service; the relationship between students’ military service and that of their parents; and the postsecondary enrollment, fields of study, degree attainment, and financial aid of students with and without military service. The report draws on data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002).