GI Bill & Other Education Benefits

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 [...]

Is Trident University a Good Choice for Military-Connected Students?

Trident, a University that focuses heavily on recruiting military-connected students, has a mixed record. Its outcomes are better than Ashford’s, another for-profit school that is exclusively online, and the proportion of Trident students with federal [...]

Veteran and Servicemember Complaints about Misconduct and Illegal Practices at Trident University

Forty-six military-connected students, however, have submitted complaints to Veterans Education Success (VES) about various issues they allegedly experienced with Trident. In one way or another, those complaints indicate that Trident does not necessarily live up [...]

The Borrower Defense Rule and Its Importance to Veterans

The Borrower Defense Rule gives the Education Department the authority to forgive federal student loans for students that prove their debt was incurred because they were defrauded by a school. It has been in place [...]

The Gainful Employment Rule and Its Importance to U.S. Veterans

The Gainful Employment Rule, finalized in 2014 and upheld by federal courts multiple times, implements the requirement in the Higher Education Act that career education programs (whether for-profit, public, or non-profit) must “prepare students for [...]

Ashford’s Fight to Maintain GI Bill Access Raises Questions about the Enforcement and the Adequacy of Statutory Requirements

Ashford’s potential loss of its eligibility to enroll veterans using the GI Bill and its more than year-long effort to maintain that eligibility raises questions about the enforcement of statutory approval requirements by State Approving [...]

VES Release: Ashford’s Fight to Maintain GI Bill Access Raises Questions about the Enforcement and the Adequacy of Statutory Requirements

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U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Elizabeth Warren: Insult to Injury: How the DeVos Department of Education is Failing Defrauded Students (Nov. 2017)

This staff report examines the current status of Borrower Defense discharges under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Trump Administration. It includes recent data on the tens of thousands of unprocessed claims for relief, and [...]

Misleading Websites and “Lead Generators”: A Case Study: Victory Media’s “Military Friendly Schools”

VES Report: Misleading Websites and "Lead Generators": A Case Study: Victory Media's "Military Friendly Schools" DOWNLOAD Too often, veterans and servicemembers are misled and deceived by websites and “lead generators” that steer [...]

Trends in Veteran and Servicemember Student Complaints about ITT Technical Institute

What follows is a public version of a “trends analysis” document Veterans Education Success prepared detailing the types of harm observed by us in our work providing free legal services to service members, veterans, and [...]

U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions: For Profit Higher Education: The Failure to Safeguard the Federal Investment and Ensure Student Success

Between June 2010 and July 2012, Senate HELP Committee Chairman Tom Harkin conducted an in-depth oversight investigation focusing exclusively on the for-profit sector of higher education. Theinvestigation was undertaken to better understand the enormous growth [...]

U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions: Charts on Defense Department & For-Profit Colleges (2012)

For‐Profit Colleges Collect Half of All Department of Defense Tuition Assistance Benefits

VES to VA: It’s Time to Do Your Job

After multiple for-profit colleges have been caught defrauding veterans, the VA has still failed to act. VES wrote a letter to the VA reminding the agency of its duty to protect veterans.

VES and other veterans and military service organizations write to US Federal Trade Commission regarding free credit monitoring for servicemembers

19 Veterans and Military Organizations, along with two education organizations, write in support of proposed regulations by the California Department of Veterans Affairs to better protect the GI Bill and student veterans

Letter urging the US Department of Labor to ensure adequate quality controls in apprenticeship programs approved for GI Bill

28 Veterans and Military Leaders ask US Federal Trade Commission to release the names of the schools that participated in fake military recruiting websites

  Related letter to US Congressional Armed Services Committees requesting their work to ensure future military recruitment is not disrupted by fraudulent college lead generator companies

Letter from VES and other veterans and military organizations to the US Education Department requesting automatic loan forgiveness for disabled veterans

Career-Ready Student Veterans Act

Painful Delays in GI Bill Payments

As an IT issue wreaked havoc on GI Bill payments, 15 veteran and military organizations wrote a letter urging VA Secretary Wilkie to find a prompt solution.

27 veteran and military service organizations oppose the US Education Department’s rollback of protections for taxpayers and students in Borrower Defense to Repayment rules, and include quotes from veterans with pending Borrower Defense applications

  Individual veterans also filed their own public comments about their experiences.  

38 veterans and military service organizations call on the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and US Defense Department to stop the rollback of servicemembers’ rights under the Military Lending Act

  Resubmitted Sept. 5 with additional signatures   FULL PAGE NEWSPAPER AD nationwide Petition   Same letter borrowed submitted by a smaller, additional coalition   [...]

Storm the Hill | PROSPER Act | After Action Report

In June, representatives from America's largest Veterans Service Organizations stormed Capitol Hill to encourage lawmakers to oppose a proposed piece of legislation called the "PROSPER Act," a terrible bill which would have decimated military families [...]

Dear House Leaders: We oppose the PROSPER Act

PROSPER act does no close the 90/10 loophole, so 35 organizations wrote a letter to the House Leaders

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.

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 [...]

Proposed Education Department Regulatory Changes Should Be Reevaluated Based on GI Bill Oversight Lessons

ED’s rulemaking should be revaluated based on the lessons learned from GI Bill oversight and the impact on veterans. In each of the areas ED is proposing changes, veterans have been disproportionally harmed in a [...]

House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing: Improving the Quality and Timeliness of GI Bill Processing for Student Veterans

View Hearing Hearing documents

Veteran Student Loan Debt 7 Years After Implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill

In May 2018, we reported on trends in veteran student loan debt from just before the 2009 implementation of the more generous Post-9/11 GI Bill (2007-08) to 3 years after the new benefit became available [...]

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Annual Reports on GI Bill Usage and Other Benefits

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs published reports on the usage of GI Bill and other military benefits.

Task & Purpose: The VA May Blow $2.3 Billion in GI Bill on Schools That Don’t Deserve It, the IG Says

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued the latest in a series of five audits charging that the Department of Veterans Affairs' oversight failures could potentially lead to $2.3 billion in GI Bill money [...]

Stars & Stripes: VA says it reversed course on underpaid GI Bill recipients, though lawmakers remain skeptical

WASHINGTON — After Department of Veterans Affairs officials admitted the agency had no plans to retroactively pay some student veterans who are likely to receive incorrect housing stipends during the next year, VA Secretary Robert [...]

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: 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 [...]

Newser: VA Won’t Repay Vets After GI Bill Snafu

(NEWSER) – A major snafu has hit benefit payments to student veterans under the GI Bill—and congressional aides tells NBC that they have been told the veterans are never going to be paid back. The [...]

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Unacceptable Delays in GI Bill Aid Point to Larger Problem

The deaths of three American soldiers in Afghanistan this week are a tragic reminder of why it’s so important for the nation to keep its promises to military men and women, Veterans, no matter where [...]

ConnectingVets.Com: VA Fix to Ongoing GI Bill Fiasco: Hurry Up and Wait

"I am encouraged by the steps Under Secretary Lawrence, and his staff are taking, but expect VA to correct student's monthly housing allowance from fall 2018 well before spring 2020, said Tanya Ang, director of [...]