We push for high quality and integrity for colleges and accreditors, and we expose lax accreditors.
OUR WORK
Title IV Accreditation: Regulatory Capture and Competition
The U.S. Department of Education has announced its intention to develop new regulations for its recognition of collegiate accreditation organizations for purposes of institutional eligibility for federal student aid. Department officials have been quite critical [...]
Understanding College Accreditation’s Current Weaknesses Through an Historical Lens
Introduction This paper presents a brief history of how voluntary nongovernmental accreditation first emerged around the turn of the 20th century and how it evolved, presented in order to highlight and understand the erosion of [...]
Our Oral Comment to NACIQI Regarding WSCUC- December 2025 Meeting
Good afternoon. I’m Allison Muth with Veterans Education Success, a nonprofit research, policy, and student veteran advocacy organization. We have helped more than 5000 students in the last decade, many of whom had negative experiences [...]
Our Letter to the Department of Education Re: Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges.
December 5, 2024 Herman Bounds, Director, Accreditation Group U.S. Department of Education Via email: ThirdPartyComments@ed.gov RE: Written Comments - Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges Dear Director Bounds, We write in response to the [...]
Student Veteran Submission: Matthew C. Testimony to the Department of Education, March 2024
Good afternoon, my name is Matthew. I feel duty-bound to share my experience at Sonoran Desert Institute to help other veterans. After I got out of the Army, I first attended a Community College near [...]
Student Veteran Submission: Caitlin Kadell Testimony to the Department of Education, March 2024
Good afternoon. My name is Caitlin Kadell, and I’m a Marine Corps veteran. I would like to take a few minutes today to talk about my time at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. In 2014, [...]
Student Veteran Submission: David Thibodeau Testimony to the Department of Education, March 2024
Good afternoon. My name is David Thibodeau. In 2008, a few years after my service in the Army National Guard, I enrolled in DeVry University in the Game & Simulation online program. I saw advertisements [...]
Student Veteran Submission: Amanda Sacoto-Dunbar Testimony to the Department of Education, March 2024
Hi, my name is Amanda Sacoto-Dunbar. Following my time in the Army, I decided to go to school. I completed a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in criminal justice, without any issues. I knew [...]
2021 Education Department Hearings
We mobilized individual veterans and veterans leaders to testify at the Education Department’s public hearings in 2021 about key accountability and quality issues in higher education.
- Testimony of William Hubbard, Veterans Education Success (written testimony here; photo here)
- Formal Written Submission by Veterans Education Success
- Testimony of Wesley Wilson, Higher Ground Veterans Advocacy (written testimony here)
- Testimony of Student Veteran Nicole Wilson (written testimony here)
- Testimony of Student Veteran Patricia Chang (written testimony here)
- Testimony of Student Veteran Jarrod Thoma (written testimony here)
- Testimony of Student Veteran Chris Wolfla (written testimony here)
- Testimony of Student Veteran Antonio Luna (written testimony here; photo here)
2018 PUBLIC HEARINGS ON EDUCATION DEPARTMENT’S RULES ON INTEGRITY AND QUALITY STANDARDS FOR COLLEGES
September 2018
- Public comment from 28 veterans and military service organizations urging the Department to maintain strong integrity rules against waste, fraud, and abuse, and to expand competency-based education (Sept. 14, 2018)
- Public Comment by VES against the Education Department’s proposal to completely rescind the requirement that career college programs meet minimum Gainful Employment metrics (Sept. 13, 2018)
- Find out which colleges “fail” the minimum gainful employment standards:
- Visit https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/node/274, then click on “Download the debt-to-earnings data spreadsheet,” then filter the column that has PASS/FAIL/ZONE in it to show the failing programs.
- Find out which colleges “fail” the minimum gainful employment standards:
- Testimony at Education Department public hearings:
Washington, DC (Sept. 6, 2018)
- Testimony of VES Vice President Tanya Ang (photo here) (video here)
- Testimony of Army veteran Jarrod Thoma (video and tweets here)
- Testimony of military spouse Mindy Thoma (video and tweets here)
New Orleans, Louisiana (Sept. 11, 2018)
- Testimony of VES Director of Military and Consumer Policy Director Mike Saunders (photo and tweet here; video tweet here)
- Testimony of Army Sgt Renee Seruntine (video and tweets here)
Sturtevant, Wisconsin (Sept. 13, 2018)
- Testimony by Veterans Education Success (video and tweets here)
June 2018
Today, 28 veterans and military service organizations filed a public comment urging the Education Department to maintain strong integrity rules against waste, fraud, and abuse, and to expand competency-based education. #VetsEdSuccess https://t.co/MHGearGLZh pic.twitter.com/0MQSvbbxa7
— Veterans Education Success (@GIBillRights) September 14, 2018
OUR LETTERS 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 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 us
- 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
MORE NEWS & INFO
National Advisory Council on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) on Accreditation to the Department of Education
January 20, 2022 Herman Bounds Director, Accreditation Group Office of Postsecondary Education U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20202 Dear Director Bounds: We submit this letter on behalf of the undersigned [...]
USA Today: This college was accredited by a DeVos-sanctioned group. We couldn’t find evidence of students or faculty
"Reagan National University was supposed to be a place of higher learning, but it was unclear how it awarded degrees. By all appearances, at present, it has no students, no faculty and no classrooms. An [...]
Washington Denies Ashford University’s Application to Recruit, Advertise, or Offer Field Placements to Students
On May 3, 2019, the Washington Student Achievement Council notified Ashford University that it is not permitted to engage in any actions that constitute "operating" in Washington, as defined in the state's Degree-Granting Institutions Act. [...]
Politico Morning Education: The group Veterans Education Success has released a brief
The group Veterans Education Success has released a brief that encourages the Education Department to consider lessons learned from GI Bill usage as it weighs regulatory changes. Read the full story: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-education/2019/02/25/gun-control-bill-heads-to-the-house-floor-this-week-399378
DIIHE: Analysis: ACICS-Accredited College Students Have Negative Outcomes
Students who attend schools approved by the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) are twice as likely as their counterparts at other schools to end up with unmanageable debt, according to a Veterans [...]
Center for American Progress: The 85 Colleges That Only ACICS Would Accredit
June 12 was supposed to be the end of the road for colleges that relied on the Accrediting Council for Independent Schools and Colleges (ACICS) for access to federal financial aid, marking 18 months since [...]
New York Times: Betsy DeVos Reinstated College Accreditor Over Staff Objections
WASHINGTON — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos disregarded a scathing review by her own staff this spring when she reinstated the watchdog body that had accredited two scandal-scarred for-profit universities whose bankruptcies left tens of thousands [...]