In 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs proposed abolishing a rule that prevented VA employees from involvement in for-profit colleges where the Post-9/11 GI Bill creates billions in revenue.
There are two issues with this rule change, which is back in the news again. The first is the known problem of predatory colleges seeking out veterans with little interest in graduating them. These schools have a special interest in veterans because of something called the 90/10 rule. Essentially, that rule provides that for every individual student veteran, a for-profit college can enroll nine nonveteran students with federal student aid packages. The Post-9/11 GI Bill paid out $4.5 billion in 2017 for nearly 700,000 student veterans, according to the Government Accountability Office. Multiply that by 10 and you can see we’re talking about real money.
The second issue is the critical need to maintain an ethical barrier between government employees who control federal education funds and the institutions that receive those funds.
The California State Approving Agency for Veterans Education and the VA can and do have overlapping jurisdiction. The two should work together to ensure that funds from the GI Bill are handled appropriately. Unfortunately, this is changing. VA has unilaterally decided to remove the CalVet guards. CalVet has provided a valuable service to veterans and taxpayers, such as when it withdrew approval for the notorious Corinthian Colleges and other predatory schools a year or more before the Department of Education shut them down.
The Department of Veterans Affairs argues that the rule changes are “aimed at easing the concerns of numerous VA employees,” such as doctors who teach. But this is a specious argument, as comparatively few VA employees are affected by current rules, and those who need a waiver can obtain one. Even worse, the VA seems to be placing these few employees ahead of more than 700,000 veterans using education benefits. This might explain why the Department of Veterans Affairs is still on the Government Accountability Office’s high risk list for outdated acquisition regulations, lack of reliable data systems, inability to monitor veterans’ access to CHOICE, wait time manipulation, and more.
Congress should be closing this loophole and preventing VA’s efforts to exploit the situation. But the problem presents a learning opportunity for veterans trying to utilize their earned education benefits. To start, veterans should consider participating in colleges that transfer the largest amount of credits from service. Excelsior College, for example, accepts up to 117 credits in many cases. Veterans should be wary of colleges that transfer a small number of credits and claim earned credits from service are different than the credits offered by that specific college or university for the same subject matter.
Veterans eligible for the Yellow Ribbon Program (which reduces tuition and fees for veterans) should ensure their institution of choice participates in that program, and if they don’t, it’s important to find out why.
Finally, veterans should consider institutions that do not make them pay out-of-state tuition. They should be wary of universities that provide a couple of parking spaces for veterans and call themselves “veteran-friendly.” Remember, it’s not about what an institution says it does for veterans; it’s about what it actually does for them.
Eric Hannel, previously the staff director for the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations at the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is a Marine Corps combat veteran and freelance writer.
