The U.S. Department of Education has announced a final rule that it says will better protect veterans and service members from predatory recruitment practices by for-profit colleges and universities.
"These new rules crack down on some of the most deceptive practices we see in higher education, such as predatory marketing tactics that target U.S. service members and veterans, and changes in ownership designed to evade accountability to taxpayers,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement.
The rule was published in the Federal Register on Thursday. According to the Education Department, it closes a longstanding loophole in the 90/10 rule in the Higher Education Act that allowed for-profit colleges to aggressively recruit veterans and service members.
"After years of harassment by deceptive and aggressive for-profit college recruiters, veterans, service members, and their families will no longer be viewed as nothing more than dollar signs in uniform," Veterans Education Success President Carrie Wofford said in a statement.
The statute requires for-profit colleges to prove their value in the private market. These colleges must obtain 10 percent of their revenue from non-federal sources, but the statute allowed these colleges to count federal dollars outside of the student aid system—such as G.I. Bill benefits—toward their private market test.
The revised definition means institutions will no longer be able to count money from veteran and service member benefits toward that 10 percent revenue requirement.
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“This is particularly critical because the loophole generated incentives for some for-profit colleges to aggressively target their marketing to veterans and service members,” the statement notes. “Every $1 brought in from those students meant they could receive $9 more in Department of Education aid without needing to secure any private investment.”
VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in the statement that veterans and their families deserve the very best education America has to offer.
“It's our job at VA and across the federal government to deliver on that promise, making sure that veterans and their families not only have access to affordable education through the GI Bill – but also that they are protected from education fraud and abuse,” he said.
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The final rule has no direct impact on GI Bill eligibility. The regulations will apply to institutional fiscal years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2023.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.