We advocate for military-connected students before the Education Department
Disabled veterans’ right to student loan forgiveness
We had a major win in forcing the US Education Department to honor disabled veterans’ legal right to student loan forgiveness. Still more to do!
Loan Relief for Students Defrauded by a School
We fight for defrauded veterans to get their student loans forgiven by the Education Department, and their Pell Grants restored.
Integrity and Quality Standards by Colleges
We advocate for rules requiring colleges to abide by basic integrity rules and meet minimum quality standards.
Accreditation and Accreditors
We push for high quality standards by accreditors and we expose lax accreditors.
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT DATA
U.S. Education Department Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
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 Nomination Letter for Debbie Cochrane for Appointment to NACIQI
September 15, 2022 The Honorable Miguel Cardona, Ed.D. Secretary of Education U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue SW Washington, DC 20202 Mr. Secretary, Responding to the Department of Education’s Federal Register notice of August 16, 2022, I write on behalf of Veterans Education Success to nominate Ms. Debbie Cochrane, [...]
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT REPORTS
MORE NEWS & INFO
Testimony of Walter Ochinko, Veterans Education Success, on Borrower Defense and Gainful Employment Rules
My name is Walter Ochinko. I’m the research and policy director of Veterans Education Success—a small non-profit that advocates for the promise and integrity of the GI Bill. I’d like to use my 5 minutes to explain why the 2014 Gainful Employment and the 2016 Borrower Defense regulations matter to veterans.
Letter to Congress from 53 Veterans, Civil Rights, Consumer Protection, and Student Organizations
"In particular, we oppose all actions to delay, weaken, or repeal the gainful employment, incentive compensation, or recent “borrower defense to repayment” and college accountability regulations. Each of these accountability measures is essential to protecting students and taxpayers from sudden school closures and other misconduct by unscrupulous colleges, and to [...]
The ITT Collapse: Lessons Learned and Dealing with Future Challenges
The seeds of ITT Tech’s collapse were decades in the making. Deregulation of the for-profit college industry certainly played a rise in enabling ITT’s increasing dependence on federal dollars, but corporate short-term thinking, greed, consumer fraud, and a failure to learn were the primary causes of ITT Tech’s decline. At [...]
Education Dept Order: ITT Educational Services Inc. must increase its financial cushion to $123.7 million from $79.7 million
Dear Mr. Modany, On August 19, 2014, ITT Educational Services, Inc. (ITT) was cited in a letter by the Department of Education (Department) for late submission of its annual compliance audits and financial statements.
