GI Bill & Other Education Benefits

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment 2018 Longitudinal Study

The Department of Veterans Affairs published the results for Fiscal Year 2018 of its Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment longitudinal study. The main goal of the study is to examine the post-program outcomes for the VR&E [...]

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 [...]

Despite a 2016 Statute, the GI Bill Still Pays for Degrees That Do Not Lead to a Job

VES’s 2015 report, The GI Bill Pays for Degrees that Do Not Lead to a Job, identified 8-degree programs offered by 15 different schools, at both brick and mortar campuses and online, that failed to [...]

Large For-Profit Schools Remain Dependent on Recruiting GI Bill Students Despite Overall Enrollment Declines

For several years, the media has reported on the decline in for- profit schools’ student enrollment. Missing in these articles are data on a key subset of students who are specifically targeted by for-profits—GI Bill [...]

For-Profit Schools’ Post-9/11 GI Bill Revenue and Enrollment Declined from 2014 to 2016

In this brief, we report separately on total GI Bill enrollment and enrollment for only the Post-9/11 benefit. Post-9/11 revenue includes tuition payments for qualifying GI Bill students through the Yellow Ribbon program under which [...]

Schools Receiving the Most Post-9/11 GI Bill Tuition and Fee Payments Since 2009

This issue brief focuses on cumulative Post-9/11 payments to schools, not enrollment. Eight of the top 10 recipients of Post-9/11 tuition and fee payments from fiscal years (FY) 2009 through 2017 were for-profit schools. These 8 [...]

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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Joint Letter in Support of Shalala Amendment on DoD Tuition Assistance

On July 25, 2019, twenty-six student, education, military, and veterans service organizations expressed their support for an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019 that will close the 90/10 loophole for DoD's Tuition [...]

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.

Free Credit Monitoring for Servicemembers

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

CDVA Offers Better Protections of GI Bill

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

DOL Urged to Exercise Caution With Apprenticeship Programs

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

Unnamed Schools Post Fake military Recruiting Websites

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 [...]

Automatic Loan Forgiveness for Disabled Veterans

A letter to the Department of Education 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.

Education Department Rolls Back Protections for Veterans

A letter by veteran organizations in opposition of the Education Department's rollback of veteran protections.   Individual veterans also filed their own public comments about their experiences.  

CFPB and DoD: Protect Servicemembers’ Rights

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. [...]

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 [...]

TICAS Updated Gainful Employment Rule Fact Sheet (August 2019)

The Institute for College Access and Success published an updated "What to Know About the Gainful Employment Rule,"which worked to improve quality, lower costs, and save taxpayer money. The Trump Administration rescinded the rule on [...]

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 [...]