On Feb. 14, 2020, VA approved Ashford’s eligibility for GI Bill. Letter pasted below.
In approving Ashford, VA’s leadership is once again flouting 38 USC 3696, which forbids VA from approving GI Bill to schools that engage in deceptive advertising or recruiting. In doing so, VA is continuing to ignore the calls from 3 dozen veterans and military service organizations in 2019 and in 2016 for VA to follow the law. VA’s failure to follow this law is a problem the VA Inspector General reported just a year ago is partly to blame for $2.3 billion in improper GI Bill payments to ineligible schools.
Separately, VA disapproved 20 of Ashford’s programs – one in a teach-out, three that appeared to not be legitimate programs, and sixteen that violated the 2016 Career Ready Student Veterans Act of 2016 (codified at 38 USC 3676(c)(14), which forbids VA from paying for programs in licensed occupations that do not leave the student eligible for the license (e.g., electrician, nursing, or law schools from which a graduate is not eligible to sit for the licensing exam) – a problem we exposed in our report, The Gi Bill Pays for Degrees That Do Not Lead to a Job and in our 2018 report, Despite a 2016 Statute, the GI Bill Still Pays for Degrees That Do Not Lead to a Job.
Download VA’s Letter: