We collaborate with our veteran & military allies to maximize our collective advocacy impact, offering policy recommendations to Congress and federal agencies.

OUR LETTERS TO CONGRESS

Background on the Protect the GI Bill Act: Understanding Section 1016 In 2016, a unanimous Congress enacted the Career Ready Student Veterans Act, preventing GI Bill funding to be wasted at education programs which leave [...]

OUR LETTERS TO VA

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 [...]

OUR LETTERS TO THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Veterans & Military Organizations’ Letter to the Dept. of Education re: “Low-Financial-Value” Colleges

The undersigned military and veteran organizations write to provide comments on the above-referenced Request for Information (RFI). We agree with the Department that low-financial-value programs “may cause particularly acute harm for student loan borrowers who may struggle to repay their debts after discovering too late that their postsecondary programs did not adequately prepare them for the workforce” and that “taxpayers also shoulder the costs.” We write specifically regarding the impact on student veterans and military-connected students.

Letter to NC-SARA re: Proposal to Elevate SARA’s Consumer Protection Standards

The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), administered by the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA), lowers barriers for schools to offer online programs in multiple states, easing the way for institutions to expand the reach of their online programs. SARA’s impact is immense - almost 6 million students were enrolled in online programs at more than 2,300 SARA participating schools in Fall 2020, including 1.6 million students enrolled in online programs based outside of their state.1 Every state except for California is a SARA member. 2 However, the agreement’s standards set an extremely low bar for consumer protection, leaving millions of online students vulnerable to abuse by unscrupulous schools.

Our Letter to the Department of Education on the Council on Occupational Education.

VES advocacy letter on behalf of students and veterans in higher education in response to the call for third-party comments announced on November 14, 2022, in the Department of Education’s Notice Accrediting Agencies Currently Undergoing Review for the Purpose of Recognition by the U.S. Secretary of Education. 1 Our comments concern the Council on Occupational Education (“COE”) and the senior Department official’s (SDO) decision letter dated October 27, 2021, requiring COE to come into compliance with 34 C.F.R. Part 602 within 12 months and to submit a compliance report within 30 days thereafter.

OUR LETTERS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

OUR LETTERS TO CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION AGENCIES

OUR LETTERS TO THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

OUR LETTERS TO THE STATES

OUR LETTERS TO OTHERS

OUR ADVOCACY

See how we are working to advance higher education success, protecting the integrity and promise of the GI Bill.

Our Advocacy Letters

  • We collaborate with our veteran & military allies to maximize our collective advocacy impact.  We frequently submit formal letters, with policy recommendations, to federal agencies and Congress.

  • We work with Congressional Committees and Members to introduce bills, hold hearings, and urge the executive branch to protect military-connected students.

Our Work with the Executive Branch

  • We work with federal agencies to ensure military-connected students’ hard-earned education benefits are successful and effective.

Our Work with the States

  • An emerging area of our work is helping state policymakers better understand and address the need to improve college quality and accountability.