Veterans spoke at a bipartisan roundtable discussion in the Senate and on the front steps of the Department of Education’s building.

A Senate Roundtable in Higher Education Quality

In conjunction with the Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking on accountability, we hosted a bipartisan roundtable on December 8, 2025, in the US Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs’ hearing room on higher education accountability. We brought 4 veterans to Washington (from Colorado, Illinois, and Texas) and they sat side-by-side with leadership and committee staff as well as policy experts to discuss higher education quality and how federal programs can better protect veterans and their families. 

The discussion focused on three questions:

  • How should Title IV and Title 38 accountability be aligned so that schools receiving taxpayer funds for veterans meet the same quality expectations as schools funded through federal student aid?
  • Why are veterans still being steered into poor-quality or deceptive programs?
  • Which specific safeguards are needed to ensure VA and the Department of Education can prevent waste, fraud, and abuse before they harm more veterans?

Feedback from offices across the aisle was clear and encouraging. Staff from Senate leadership and committee offices praised the concrete stories and solutions veterans brought to the table. One veteran summed it up simply: “The school was paid top dollar, essentially just to advertise a lie.” That is the problem that Department rulemaking and Congress must fix.

We also brought the veterans to the Department of Education’s negotiated rulemaking on accountability. The Department refused to allow any public comment period during the proceedings. But we ensured the veterans had a chance to share their perspective on the steps of the Department’s building. Each veteran shared how low-quality and deceptive schools wasted their benefits and time. One veteran described how his school billed VA around ten thousand dollars for a single poor-quality class, concluding that the school was being paid top dollar simply to advertise a lie. 

Hear Their Stories

The four veterans who traveled to Washington shared detailed written statements about their experiences at IntelliTec College, Illinois Media School, San Francisco Film School, and Future Tech Career Institute, and outlined what they believe needs to change to prevent other veterans from experiencing the same ordeal.