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.

I am so thankful for VES

“I am so thankful for Veterans Education Success. They have done more for me in 4 months than anyone and/or an organization has done for me in almost 4 years. For a minute I wanted to give up. People telling me, “it’s my fault and there is nothing that could be done and I will just have to pay off the student loan,” can be frustrating. It was such a magnificent feeling to find Veterans Education Success. It has allowed me to see a light at the end of tunnel. I am blessed to know that I have a wonderful organization that will stand by my side and fight until the end. You have given me the reassurance; I am happy that I never gave up when doors closed on me. THANK YOU AGAIN!”

– Jonathan Ngowaki Marine Veteran

VES Answered

“Every time I called, VES answered.  They stayed on top of my case and helped me get the VA to stop garnishing my wages and go after my school.  They always updated me and made sure I had the tools to get what I needed.”

– Ernesto Cruz, Army Veteran

Free help with your GI Bill and student rights is available at [email protected]. 

OUR LEGAL REPORTS AND MEMOS

Army.com List of Partner Schools Exposed

The Federal Trade Commission shut down a number of copycat military websites in September of 2018. This report examines one of those websites, Army.com, and the list of partner schools it displayed while in operation. [...]

Piercing the Veil of Covert For-Profit Colleges

Recent efforts by certain predatory for-profit colleges to convert to nonprofit status1 raises the question of whether the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can continue to exercise jurisdiction over those entities’ misleading and deceptive recruiting [...]

Read More Our Legal Reports

OUR LEGAL ADVOCACY LETTERS

Some of our legal advocacy letters can be shared publicly.

Letter to VA Regarding Bay State College

November 21, 2022 George O’Connor, Assistant Commissioner for Academic & Veterans Affairs Department of Higher Education Commonwealth of Massachusetts Via email Joshua Jacobs, Senior Advisor for Policy Performing the Delegable Duties of the Under Secretary [...]

Letter to VA Regarding Florida Career College

November 21, 2022 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 Joshua Jacobs, Senior Advisor for Policy Performing [...]

Letter to VA Regarding Full Sail University

November 21, 2022 Betsy Wickham, Bureau Chief State Approving Agency Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs Via email Joshua Jacobs, Senior Advisor for Policy Performing the Delegable Duties of the Under Secretary for Benefits Veterans Benefits [...]

Letter to VA Regarding ASA College

November 21, 2022 William Clarke, Veterans Program Manager Bureau of Veterans Education New York State Division of Veterans’ Services Via email Joshua Jacobs, Senior Advisor for Policy Performing the Delegable Duties of the Under Secretary [...]

Read More Our Legal Advocacy Letters

OUR COURT FILINGS

Our court filings to protect veterans, servicemembers, and military families.

11th Circuit ruling in Great Lakes

We filed an amicus brief about veterans' need for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, in support of a legal case regarding students' rights to use state law to sue loan servicing companies that fail to honor [...]

Read More Our Court Filings

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 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.

Read More Our FOIA Requests

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.

Press Release: Veterans Education Success Praises Decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs to Suspend New GI Bill Students from Enrolling at the University of Phoenix, Career Education Corporation Institutions, Bellevue University, and Temple University

For Immediate Release              Contact:  Carrie Wofford | President (202) 838-5050 Tanya Ang | Vice President (202) 838-5050 March 9, 2020  Veterans Education Success Praises Decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs to Suspend New [...]

Read More Law Enforcement News
The Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also take legal action. Click here to learn more.
For a continually updated list of federal and state law enforcement investigations and actions, click here.