In a response to the recent reports about student-veterans wasting their benefits by enrolling in schools that fail to confer relevant educational credentials and proper programmatic accreditation, a coalition of veteran service organizations and higher education groups has sent letters to Congress, the VA, and the White House laying out a plan to put an end to the problem.
The coalition includes the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and Student Veterans of America; as well as a diverse group of advocates in non-profit and for-profit education including American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers, American Council of Education, Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, National Association for College Admission Counseling, National Association of State Approving Agencies, and the University of Phoenix.
To their credit, the coalition has not joined the finger pointing and has instead taken the high road by focusing on the “root causes” – a potentially uninformed consumer inundated with bad information and no process for recovery.
As the VFW “Voice on the Hill’ article points out, there is no shortage of good helpful information to help veterans make informed decisions about how to use their education benefits. However, most of this information never reaches student-veterans. To address this issue, the coalition is seeking an overhaul to VA’s educational counseling procedures, mandating VA to actively contact veterans eligible for such counseling, asking those who wish to waive the benefit to “opt-out.”
In addition, veterans who feel they have been victims of fraud, waste or abuse, currently have little recourse. Unfortunately, most veterans simply blame themselves and give up. The coalition has asked VA to leverage its resources to create a formal complaint process to address student-veteran issues, allowing VA and other agencies responsible for student-veteran programs to take action.
This is a fresh approach and the coalition should be applauded for coming up with a positive approach to fixing this problem. However, the approach appears to miss one critical part of the problem – ill prepared veterans who start college without the academic skills they need to be successful.
Any robust program to combat the issue of high drop-out rates and wasted GI Bill benefits must include remedial academic assistance, placement exams, tutoring, and counseling. Take a look at the Veterans Upward Bound program offered by the Dept. of Education if you want to see a model program that makes a difference to veterans who need a leg up.
Military spouse must feel really proud that their husband is serving the nation but at times these women become so lonely since their husband are living away from them. So, it would be great if they take up some course to both learn and use their time fruitfully. I think an online MBA Program would be just perfect for those looking ahead to work.
Blame the consumer and ignore the systemic problems of for profit education…typical.
From the article: "In addition, veterans who feel they have been victims of fraud, waste or abuse, currently have little recourse. Unfortunately, most veterans simply blame themselves and give up. The coalition has asked VA to leverage its resources to create a formal complaint process to address student-veteran issues, allowing VA and other agencies responsible for student-veteran programs to take action."
Doesn't read to me that the issue is being ignored. Reads to me it will be addressed.
Dear Terry,
After reading your article, I am encouraged to learn efforts are underway to help ensure student-veteran success. This issue is important to me as a 20-year Navy veteran, former military academic advisor, senior academic advisor, adjunct faculty member, and doctoral student at a for-profit college. I work at an online college and am amazed at the number of conversations I have with service members and veterans who do not know how to use their education benefits. I find myself shifting from my primary academic advising role to educating military students about their education benefits. Since I work outside the Veterans Affairs Office, I do not claim to be a subject matter expert. Instead, I provide basic information, direct students to the Veterans Affairs website, and transfer calls to the college’s Veterans Affairs counselors. I strongly believe veterans will be better served by receiving the VA’s educational counseling prior to enrolling into schools.
Agree 100%
I'm currently dealing with the VA's Incompetence and miss-handling of my Ch33 benefits. Even while admitting to errors on their part, the VA stopped payment forcing me to drop out of school. This resulted in the VA claiming I was now in debt for the drop that they caused. I was also told repeatedly over the past 14 months that this would take 2-6 months to resolve. I'm still not able to pursue my education.
Graduated today with a 3.84 GPA but did not receive honors due to having too high of a percentage of military service transfer credits to college credits. What's up with that? I had 40 credits at the college, all core courses, and the transfer credits were mostly electives. Thankful for the degree and the Post 911 Bill but feel a little cheated, I worked my tail off.
MVCC in Utica, NY has a great VA education guy that is a expert at the GI BILL. His name is Zin and I am pleased with his help. However i would advise if you know or feel strongly about going beyond a 2 yr degree pay for this 2 year degree Tuition out of pocket, save the GI bill for the more costly college.