RESEARCH & REPORTS
Published reports by VES and other organizations regarding college accountability and students’ rights.
Should Colleges Spend the GI Bill on Veterans’ Education or Late Night TV Ads? And Which Colleges Offer the Best Instructional Bang for the GI Bill Buck?
Every year, around 700,000 Post-9/11 GI Bill students enroll in an institution of postsecondary education,1 a benefit earned through sacrifice and service to our nation. The GI Bill represents America’s thanks for veterans’ military [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
Career Education Colleges and Universities: Outcomes at Selected Member Schools
After a brief history of CECU, this report provides “key takeaways” from our analysis of both descriptive and outcome data for the 26 CECU-member schools. The report concludes with a discussion of some of the [...]
Advice for Accreditors
Recruiting practices by institutions of higher learning is an area fraught with deceptive and misleading practices, due to a number of competing incentives. While veteran recruiting practices differ from civilian recruiting in some respects – [...]
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 [...]
Student Outcomes at Colleges Approved by the Accreditor ACICS
Veterans Education Success analyzed the most recent U.S. Department of Education (Department) data to determine student outcomes at the approximately 100 schools still accredited by the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). ACICS [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Veteran Student Loan Debt Before and After the Post-9/11 GI Bill
A major goal of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which modernized veterans’ educational benefits, was to provide veterans with the opportunity of a debt-free, postsecondary education—or, at a minimum, to mitigate their student loan debt. The [...]
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 [...]
VES ADVOCACY LETTERS
Veterans Education Success works with our military and veteran allies to send policy advice to government officials.
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 [...]
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
Gainful Employment – Proposed Changes
VES urges US Education Department to improve disclosures on college performance under Gainful Employment rule
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 [...]
Tanya Ang Recommended to Represent Veteran Students
Recommendation to the US Education Department of negotiators representing veterans and military students in 2019 Negotiated Rule-Making
Service Member Protection from Credit Bureaus
Consumer and Veteran groups asked Congress to protect service members from credit bureaus infringing on their rights.
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.
MORE NEWS & INFO
VES Analysis of the Impact of Closing the 90/10 Loophole
VES used a December 2016 Department of Education study to estimate the number of schools that would be affected by including GI Bill and Defense Department tuition and fee payments in the 90 cap on [...]
WSAC Media Release: State Denies Ashford University’s Application to Recruit, Advertise in Washington
The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) has denied Ashford University’s application to continue advertising and recruiting in state. The school’s courses and degree programs are entirely online. WSAC made this decision after reviewing Ashford’s most [...]
U.S. Department of Justice prosecutes 4 VA employees for receiving bribes from 3 for-profit colleges in exchange for steering disabled veterans and $2M in Voc Rehab funds to the schools
WASHINGTON – A former U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) official pled guilty today to demanding and receiving bribes from three for-profit schools in exchange for enrolling disabled military veterans in those schools and facilitating [...]
Courtroom hearing on Colorado Attorney General’s Lawsuit against Stevens-Henager College America for defrauding students
This is an action brought by the state of Colorado pursuant to Colorado Consumer Protection Act.
Federal Trade Commission shuts down predatory fake military websites (Army.com, Air-Force.com, NavyEnlist.com, and ArmyEnlist.com)
The operators of copycat websites army.com and navyenlist.com have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they targeted people seeking to join the armed forces and tricked them by falsely claiming to be affiliated [...]
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.