OUR RESEARCH & REPORTS
Our published reports regarding college accountability and students’ rights.
VA and States Should Act on Early Warning Signs When Risks to GI Bill Beneficiaries and Taxpayers Emerge at Participating Schools
The precipitous closure of numerous school chains since 2012 was presaged by clear indicators, which we refer to as early warning signs, that enrollment in these schools posed a risk to both GI Bill beneficiaries [...]
Congress Should Consider Authorizing VA to Require Letters of Credit from Schools in order to Mitigate Risks to Veterans and Taxpayers
The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) lacks the authority to require letters of credit (LOC) from schools eligible to enroll GI Bill beneficiaries. In contrast, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) can require schools to [...]
VA Still Not Enforcing 1974 Ban on Schools that Engage in Deceptive Advertising and Recruiting
This Issue Brief examines the history of schools that rely on misleading advertising and recruiting to enroll veterans and eligible family members and subsequent ban by Congress in 1974 based on contemporaneous findings of investigations [...]
Proposed Short-Term Pell Safeguards Should Be Further Strengthened
This Issue Brief examines the safeguards incorporated into revised legislation that would authorize Pell Grants for programs as short as 8 weeks. The bill was introduced with bipartisan support in March 2019. We suggest the [...]
Overemphasis on Payment Accuracy Impedes More Effective SAA Oversight of Schools Participating in the GI Bill
This report examines how SAA oversight of schools receiving the GI Bill has been weakened over time by VA's increased tasking of SAAs with payment accuracy to the detriment of substantive reviews of school quality. [...]
Army.com List of Partner Schools Exposed
The Federal Trade Commission shut down a number of copycat military websites in September of 2018. This report examines one of those websites, Army.com, and the list of partner schools it displayed while in operation. [...]
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 [...]
Could Education Corporation of America’s Sudden Closure Have Been Avoided?
Earlier this month, another for-profit college chain closed abruptly, leaving more than 20,000 students and 4,000 GI Bill beneficiaries wondering why this happened and how this will affect their future educational endeavors. On December 5, [...]
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 [...]
Piercing the Veil of Covert For-Profit Colleges
Recent efforts by certain predatory for-profit colleges to convert to nonprofit status1 raises the question of whether the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can continue to exercise jurisdiction over those entities’ misleading and deceptive recruiting [...]
Law Enforcement Actions Against Predatory Colleges
This document summarizes government actions against predatory colleges, providing links to the government actions and briefly explaining the fraud alleged.
OUR ADVOCACY LETTERS
Veterans Education Success works with our military and veteran allies to send policy advice to government officials.
21 Military & Veteran Organizations’ Letter to CFPB on Debt Collection
Veterans Education Success organized and led a letter from 21 national military and veteran service organizations to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding its proposed changes to debt collection rules.
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 [...]
Veterans and Military Service Organizations urge the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to maintain mandatory underwriting provisions of the rule regulating Payday, vehicle title and high-cost installment loans
Military and Veteran Service Organizations (MSO/VSOs) write to express opposition to recension of underwriting requirements of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) 2017 rule regulating Payday, Vehicle Title and Certain High-Cost Installment Loans.
We submitted a formal “Third Party Comment” regarding the accreditor ACICS to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation
We ask you to please review the following two letters regarding ACICS. The concerns of Veterans and Military Service Organizations regarding ACICS still stand:
37 Veterans and Military Service Organizations write Congress to share our priorities for Higher Education Act reauthorization
37 undersigned organizations representing the interests of more than 2 million military-connected current students in higher education, write to ensure that reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) increases college access and improves college completion [...]
Our recommendations to Senators regarding the needs of students of color
Thank you for the opportunity to share our thoughts on the needs of student borrowers of color as you undertake Higher Education Act reauthorization. Veterans Education Success represents veterans, servicemembers, military families, and survivors. According [...]
36 Veteran and Military Organizations Ask VA for Better Oversight of GI Bill Colleges
A letter from 36 military and veteran organizations to the Secretary of VA, requesting a meeting and his attention to the Inspector General's finding that VA is wasting $2.3 billion in GI Bill to colleges [...]
Our Letter urging VA to follow the law on schools that defraud veterans
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
Our Letter urging better disclosures on college performance under Gainful Employment rule
We at Veterans Education Success - a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of veterans, servicemembers, and their families - strenuously oppose the proposed changes to the Gainful Employment rule as they will undermine and weaken [...]
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
MORE NEWS & INFO
HR 4625: Protect the GI Bill Act
We are grateful to the bipartisan leadership of House Veterans Affairs Committee for this joint bill that would: Require risk-based oversight (and allow for disapprovals if needed) of schools under the Education Department's "Heightened Cash [...]
Sierra Sun Times: U.S. Senators Introduce Congressional Effort to Overturn Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ Rewritten Borrower Defense Rule
"Organizations supporting the resolution include...Veterans Education Success, The Education Trust, National Education Association, Project on Predatory Student Lending, National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low income clients), Third Way, Americans for Financial Reform, [...]
Top 10 Ways the New Borrower Defense Rule is Bad for Borrowers
The Institute for College Access & Success, National Consumer Law Center, and The Century Foundation released the following fact sheet describing the ways the new Borrower Defense rule is worse for borrowers than the 2016 [...]
Sacramento Bee: Veterans Affairs Moves to Strip California’s Power in Fight Over For-Profit Schools
“It’s hard to argue that the VA has the interests of veterans and taxpayers at heart when it allows things like Thomas Jefferson. Why would they rescind these actions?” said Walter Ochinko, research director for [...]
Our Oral Testimony on VA’s Debt Collection & GI Bill Overpayments
On Sept. 19, 2019, Veterans Education Success' Director of Military & Consumer Policy, Mike Saunders, testified before the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, regarding GI Bill "overpayments" and VA's aggressive debt [...]
Our Written Testimony for House Veterans Affairs Hearing on VA Debt Collection Practices
Veterans Education Success Director of Military & Consumer Policy Mike Saunders' written testimony regarding VA's debt collection practices and GI Bill "overpayment" issues.
Politico Morning Education: Veterans Education Success is Out with Two Reports
Veterans Education Success this week released two new reports about federal and state oversight of colleges receiving GI Bill funding: "Overemphasis on Payment Accuracy Impedes More Effective SAA Oversight of Schools Participating in the GI Bill" [...]
Press Release: DeVos’s Final Rewrite of the Borrower Defense Rule Is a Slap in the Face for Military-Connected Students
September 3, 2019 For Immediate Release Contact: Walter Ochinko | VES Research Director | (202) 657-1254 DeVos’s Final Rewrite of the Borrower Defense Rule Is a Slap in the Face for Military-Connected Students Washington, D.C. [...]
Stakes are High for Veterans as Congress Debates the Higher Education Act
The post was originally published by The Tennessean on August, 27, 2019. Stakes are High for Veterans as Congress Debates the Higher Education Act By Maj. Chris Davis, USMC What drew me and so many [...]
Inside Higher Ed: Faster Loan Forgiveness for Disabled Veterans
Education Department data provided last year to two groups, Veterans Education Success and Vietnam Veterans of America, showed that more than 42,000 borrowers were eligible for the loan forgiveness benefit, known as Total and Permanent [...]
Press Release: Statement by Veterans Education Success on the Presidential Memorandum on Discharging the Federal Student Loan Debt of Totally and Permanently Disabled Veterans
August 21, 2019 For Immediate Release Contact: Barrett Y. Bogue | Senior Communication Advisor (202) 670-5587 Statement by Veterans Education Success on the Presidential Memorandum on Discharging the Federal Student Loan Debt of Totally and [...]
The Military Lending Act and You
This post was originally published by Military.com on August 13, 2019. The Military Lending Act and You By Mike Saunders, Director for Military and Consumer Policy, Veterans Education Success As an active-duty service member, you [...]
ISSUES
Policy issues of Veterans Education Success
Veterans Education Success works to improve post-secondary quality and student outcomes to ensure military-connected students enjoy a solid education leading to a successful civilian career. You will find research reports and coalition letters related to college quality and student outcomes.
Veterans Education Success seeks to ensure students have adequate protections and rights and also believes bad actor colleges should be held accountable if they’ve trampled on students’ rights. You will find research reports and coalition letters related to student protections and college accountability.
Vterans Education Success works to protect the GI Bill and other federal education benefits.