We’ve provided free help to more than 5,000 veterans and servicemembers – and many corporate whistleblowers. Sometimes we win through negotiations, such as when we helped veterans at Stanford University get their full housing allowance, and sometimes we win through legal action. We also help law enforcement with information and victim and whistleblower connections. Most of our work is private and confidential, but here you can see our public filings.
Free help with your GI Bill and student rights is available at [email protected].
OUR LEGAL REPORTS AND MEMOS
Grand Canyon University – Recent Actions and Concerns
Grand Canyon University Recent Actions and Concerns Grand Canyon University (GCU) is owned and operated by the for-profit company Grand Canyon Education, Inc., traded on the NASDAQ under “LOPE.” In 2018, the for-profit company sold [...]
Ashford University/University of Arizona Global Campus – Recent Actions and Concerns
Ashford University/University of Arizona Global Campus Recent Actions and Concerns In August 2020, Zovio, Ashford University’s owner, announced that the University of Arizona would acquire Ashford for $1 and turn it into the University of [...]
Schools with Repeat Law Enforcement Settlements
Many Corporate School Chains Repeatedly Settled Lawsuits for Misleading Advertising, High-Pressure Recruiting, and False Certifications On March 9, 2020, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) notified five institutions of higher education that it possessed evidence [...]
Veteran and Servicemember Complaints about Misconduct and Illegal Practices at ITT Technical Institute
What follows is a public version of a “trends analysis” document we prepared detailing the types of harm observed by us in our free legal services to service members, veterans, and their dependents who brought [...]
Summary of Veteran and Servicemember Student Complaints about Colorado Technical University
As part of our free legal assistance to students, Veterans Education Success receives complaints from students using veterans’ benefits, such as the GI Bill, to attend colleges and universities around the country. We received 228 [...]
Summary of Veteran and Servicemember Student Complaints about Ashford University
As part of our free legal assistance to students, Veterans Education Success receives complaints from students using veterans’ benefits, such as the GI Bill, to attend colleges and universities around the country. We received 109 [...]
OUR LEGAL ADVOCACY LETTERS
Some of our legal advocacy letters can be shared publicly.
Our letter to the Indiana Supreme Court regarding proposed rule for unaccredited law schools
December 15, 2023 Proposed Rule Changes Indiana Office of Court Services 251 N. Illinois Street, Suite 800 Indianapolis, IN 46204 Submitted electronically Re: Proposed Amendment to Admission and Discipline Rule 13 To the Indiana Supreme [...]
Our Letter to VA Regarding Hussian College
July 19, 2023 Joseph L. Garcia, Executive Director Education Service Veterans Benefits Administration Via email Re: Hussian College Closing Dear Director Garcia, We write to urge the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the appropriate [...]
Our Letter to VA regarding Florida Career College’s Loss of Title IV Approval
April 13, 2023 Betsy Wickham, Bureau Chief State Approving Agency Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs Via email David Salgado, Director Veterans Education Program Texas Veterans Commission Via email Joseph L. Garcia, Executive Director Education Service [...]
Our Letter to VA Regarding Additional Information about ASA College
February 28, 2023 William Clarke, Veterans Program Manager Bureau of Veterans Education New York State Division of Veterans’ Services Via email Joseph L. Garcia, Executive Director Education Service Veteran Benefits Administration Via email Re: ASA [...]
Our Letter to VA with Additional Information Regarding Bay State College
January 9, 2023, George O’Connor Assistant Commissioner for Academic & Veterans Affairs Department of Higher Education Commonwealth of Massachusetts Via email Joseph L. Garcia, Executive Director Education Service. Veteran Benefits Administration Via email Re: Bay State College Dear Mr. O’Connor and Mr. Garcia...
VA FOIA Request Response RE: SAA requests for waivers of 38 USC 3683
VA's Agency Decision to VES' September 14, 2022, request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, submitted to the Veterans Benefits Administration Central Office (VBACO) FOIA Office, for access to records regarding information on whether any current State Approving Agencies employees have requested, received, or been denied a waiver under Sec. 3683, which prohibits SAA employees from receiving wages, salaries, gifts, profits, dividends, or services from a for-profit school.
OUR COURT FILINGS
Our court filings to protect veterans, servicemembers, and military families.
Our Amicus Brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit re GI Bill Benefits for Multiple Periods of Service
Veterans Education Success filed an amicus brief supporting that where a veteran has multiple periods of service, the veteran may qualify for both the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post 9/11 GI Bill. The case [...]
Public Service Loan Forgiveness – Montana Supreme Court Decision
We filed an amicus brief about the importance to veterans of Public Service Loan Forgiveness, in a case about whether students can use state law to sue student loan servicing companies that fail to comply [...]
Our Amicus Brief in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York re Student Loans Discharged in Bankruptcy
Veterans Education Success filed an amicus brief regarding when student loans can be discharged in bankruptcy. The case is Rosenberg v. Educational Credit Management Corporation, before the United States District Court for the Southern District [...]
Our FTC Petition: Lead Generators
Complaint, Request for Investigation, Injunction, and Other Relief Submitted by Veterans Education Success Pursuant to the Commission’s Rules, 16 C.F.R. § 2.2, Veterans Education Success respectfully requests that the Commission institute an investigation of businesses [...]
Our FTC Petition: Army.com and Partner Schools
Complaint, Request for Investigation, Injunction, and Other Relief Submitted by Veterans Education Success Pursuant to the Commission’s Rules, 16 C.F.R. § 2.2, Veterans Education Success respectfully requests that the Commission institute an investigation of schools [...]
OUR SUBMISSIONS TO ACCREDITORS
Our legal team provides submissions to college accreditors, documenting our findings about specific colleges, including our research findings, student veteran complaints, and whistleblower concerns.
- Our Letter to American InterContinental University System’s Accreditor | Apr. 2024
- Our Letter to Aviation Institute of Maintenance’s Accreditor | Jan. 2024
- Our Letter to Concorde Career College’s Accreditor | Jan. 2024
- Our Letter to IntelliTec’s Accreditor | Jan. 2024
- Our Letter to Lincoln Technical Institute’s Accreditor | Jan. 2024
- Our Letter to Remington College’s Accreditor | Jan. 2024
- Our Letter to Lincoln Technical Institute’s Accreditor | Oct. 2023
- Our Letter to Aviation Institute of Maintenance’s Accreditor | Oct. 2023
- Our Third Party Comment to Higher Learning Commission regarding University of Phoenix | Nov. 2018
- Our memo outlining HLC’s standards and the ways UOP has violated those standards
- Yale Law School memo describing hundreds of student veteran complaints received by VES
- Affidavit from Veterans Education Success President Wofford regarding the concerns expressed by, and documents received from, four UOP whistleblowers
- Letter from a UOP whistleblower sharing concerns
- Our Third Party Comment to WASC Senior College and University Commission regarding Ashford University | Dec. 20, 2017
- Our Submission of Additional Information to Ashford’s Accreditor| Feb. 22, 2018
OUR LEGAL BRIEFS
We serve as a solo amicus in a case regarding the rights of whistleblowers under the federal False Claims Act:
- Court recognition of Veterans Education Success’ amicus curiae filing (Oct. 2017) (here)
- Stephens Institute’s Reply Brief (Sept. 2017) (here)
- Motion for permission to file amicus brief (Aug. 9, 2017) (here)
- Amicus brief filed with the 9th Circuit (Aug. 7, 2017) (here)
We won two amicus cases to protect students’ rights to sue loan servicing companies that fail to comply with Public Service Loan Forgiveness – which is important to veterans and servicemembers and to recruiting and retention by the U.S. military, Veterans Affairs Department, and veterans organizations.
- Our brief in Reavis v. PHEAA (Dec. 16, 2019) (here). On July 14 ,2020, the Montana Supreme Court agreed with us! (here)
- Our brief in Lawson-Ross v. Great Lakes Higher Education Corp. (Dec. 10, 2018) (here). On April 10, 2020, the 11th Circuit Court agreed with us! (here)
We helped ITT Tech and Corinthian students, working closely with several hundred individuals to file claims with the Court.
We also supported lawyers at Harvard Law School’s Project on Predatory Student Lending, who represent a class of all 750,000 former ITT Tech students (including veterans) who attended in the last 10 years:
- ITT Class Action Settlement: US Court awards financial recompense to ITT students (Jan. 2018) (here). Students win $168 million in student debt cancellation (June 2019) (here)
- ITT Tech Student Class Complaint (Jan. 2017) (here)
- Veterans Education Success President Carrie Wofford’s Affidavit (here)
- US Securities & Exchange Commission rejects settlement terms for ITT Tech Executives who defrauded investors (Aug. 2017) (here)
We’ve joined several amici curiae briefs regarding the Gainful Employment rule at the US Department of Education that weeds out poor performing career college programs:
OUR FOIA REQUESTS
We file Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to government agencies to help expose important facts to protect veterans, servicemembers, and military families.
Department of Veteran Affairs’ Response to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request for Communications Regarding the House of Prayer Bible Seminary
September 12, 2022 Walter Ochinko Sent via email to: [email protected] Dear Mr. Ochinko: This is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated August 17, 2022 in which you asked for a [...]
FOIA response from VA regarding GI Bill payments to the Art Institute of Colorado
Veterans Education Success sent a FOIA request to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), seeking the number of students using VA funding and enrolled at the Art Institute of Colorado between November 2017 and [...]
FOIA response from VA regarding the Department’s communications with Moskowitz, Perlmutter, and Sherman
The US Department of Veterans Affairs sent the following response to our Freedom of Information Act request regarding the Department's communications with Bruce Moskowitz, Ike Perlmutter, and Marc Sherman.
LAW ENFORCEMENT NEWS
Veterans Education Success works with federal and state law enforcement to protect the rights of veterans, service-members, military family members and survivors.
Our Press Release: Veterans Education Success Applauds Department of Education’s $500 Million in Loan Relief to 18,000 Borrowers Scammed by ITT Technical Institute
For Immediate Release Contact: Carrie Wofford | President (202) 838-5050 June 16, 2021 Veterans Education Success Applauds Department of Education’s $500 Million in Loan Relief to 18,000 Borrowers Scammed by ITT Technical Institute The Department [...]
FTC Sends Nearly $30 Million in Refunds to People Tricked into Enrolling by School Operator’s Lead Generators
June 9, 2021 U.S. Federal Trade Commission For Release Career Education Corporation refund distribution, averaging more than $3,700 per person, is the largest per person average in agency’s history The Federal Trade Commission is sending [...]
For-Profit Trade School Owner Guilty of Defrauding Veterans
April 19, 2021 - The U.S. Department of Justice announced that the owner of for-profit trade school Retail Ready was convicted of defrauding student veterans. Jonathan Dean Davis ran an HVAC training course and collected [...]
Bloomberg: Ex-Temple Business Dean Cheated for Prized Rank, U.S. Says
The former dean of Temple University’s business school fed false data to U.S. News & World Report for years to inflate the school’s ranking and attract students, federal prosecutors alleged, in their latest crackdown involving higher education. Read [...]
Republic Report: Independence University Operator Seeks To Conceal Record of Trial It Lost
"An additional brief supporting the AG office position was filed last week by lawyers representing Debbi Potts, a former CEHE employee who blew the whistle on the company to Colorado authorities; Nannette Wride and Katie [...]
Massachusetts AG Settles with PHEAA Following Allegations of Unfair and Deceptive Practices
February 10, 2021 AG HEALEY SECURES FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND RELIEF IN SETTLEMENT WITH MAJOR STUDENT LOAN SERVICER Resolves Claims that PHEAA Made Errors and Misrepresentations in Administering Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program; More than 200,000 Massachusetts Borrowers [...]
Maryland Wins $2.6 Million in Loan Forgiveness for Brightwood College Students
November 16, 2020 - The Maryland Attorney General reached a settlement with Brightwood College to provide loan relief to Maryland students. Any loans owed directly to the school by Maryland students will be cancelled and, [...]
Great News for Veterans Cheated By Their School! “Borrower Defense” Applicants Get a Win in Court
November 23, 2020 For information: Call (202) 838-5050 Great news for veterans who were cheated or misled by their school! The U.S. Education Department has voluntarily agreed to stop denying "borrower defense" applications from students [...]
FTC Online Tool on Consumer Complaint Data by Military and Veterans
July 13, 2020 U.S. Federal Trade Commission For Release The Federal Trade Commission launched a new tool that explores data about problems military consumers may experience in the marketplace. For the first time, data about [...]
Stars & Stripes: VA to Suspend Some GI Bill Enrollments, Holding Back More Than $200 Million from ‘Deceptive’ Universities
“We’re grateful VA intends to suspend enrollment of new GI Bill students at these institutions. This sends a powerful message, one we’ve been advocating for VA to exercise since 2012, that the federal government and [...]