Veterans & Service Members

AACRAO recognizes and honors the sacrifices these men and women have made and its members are proud to assist them and meet their educational needs. Veterans and students on active military duty and their families face special circumstances and challenges.

Changes in federal statute and executive actions have greatly promoted the expansion of services toward veterans and their families. Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill was passed in 2009, close to 1 million veterans, service members, and eligible dependents have taken advantage of the educational benefits available to them. With the passage of more recent legislation, such as the Forever GI Bill in 2017 and the Isakson Roe and THRIVE Acts in 2021, there will be significant changes to military education benefits over the coming years.

Capitol

Latest Actions

AACRAO recently hosted a webinar to discuss the implementation of veteran legislation passed in December 2020, also known as the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act. This law will have a transformative effect on the mission of Education Service to provide ready access to, and timely and accurate delivery of, education benefits to Veterans, Service members, and their families, as well as further enable the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to empower GI Bill beneficiaries to achieve their vocational and career goals.

Other recent legislation introduced in both the House and Senate include important provisions to help ensure veterans can continue to receive their education benefits as well as technical corrections to the legislation passed last year.

UPDATES

Democrats Drop Bicameral Bill to Close 90/10 Loophole

Jun 27, 2019, 15:58 PM
legacy id :
Summary : AACRAO is listed in support of measure to reinstate 85/15 rule and expand the definition of federal sources to include VA, DOD education benefits to require for-profit colleges to bring in more revenue from non-federal sources.
Url :

U .S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) recently introduced bicameral legislation that aims to "put an end to the for-profit college industry's aggressive recruiting of veterans, service members, and their families."

Current federal law prohibits for-profit colleges and universities from deriving more than 90 percent of their revenue from the Education Department's federal student aid programs. The other 10 percent must come from non-federal sources as a way to ensure that schools are not overly dependent on the federal government for their operation. However, a loophole in the law excludes Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DOD) education benefits from being counted as federal funds. As a result, for-profit colleges can receive an unlimited percentage of their revenue directly from federal taxpayers by enrolling large numbers of these students. The law gives for-profit colleges a financial incentive to aggressively recruit and enroll veterans, service members, and their families to their programs, according to a press release.

The POST Act would reinstate the original federal revenue cap of 85 percent on for-profit colleges and expand the definition of federal sources to include VA, DOD, and other federal educational assistance funds. The legislation would also count institutional loans in the calculation of federal revenue sources and eliminate a school's Title IV eligibility after one year of noncompliance instead of the three consecutive years it now takes.

"We can't let this invitation to exploit our veterans and service members continue," Sen. Durbin said. "The current revenue cap, along with the loophole in the law, allows far too much federal money to funnel to an industry that often provides a greater return on taxpayer investment to its executives and investors than it does to its students.  We must do better for our veterans, service members, and their families."

AACRAO is listed in support of the POST Act.

Related Link

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin's Press Release

https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-cohen-congress-must-close-loophole-that-encourages-for-profit-colleges-to-target-veterans-and-service-members

 
Michelle Mott
Categories :
  • Admissions and Recruitment
  • Advocacy
  • Financial Aid and FAFSA
  • Veterans and Service Members
Tags :
  • 90/10 rule
  • Federal relations
  • for-profit colleges
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