Members of Congress are urging their colleagues to provide the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) authority to restore GI Bill benefits for students who attend schools that permanently close, reports The Washington Post.
When for-profits like Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institutes closed, thousands of veterans lost more than $1 billion in federal education funding. More closures are predicted, the Post reported.
"It is unfathomable to me that these brave men and women, who volunteered to serve their country in a time of war, are now being left in the lurch by some of the largest recipients of Post-9/11 GI Bill taxpayer dollars," said Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del).
The Post-9/11 GI Bill, enacted in 2009, has provided more than $65 million for tuition, books and housing to 1.6 million veterans and their families, the Post reported. A Senate Education Committee report found that for-profit colleges received a quarter of the total money allotted for the program in 2012-13.
"The VA and Congress need to do more on the front end to hold bad actors accountable and ensure that we're not continuing to send our veterans to schools delivering poor outcomes and destined for financial collapse," Carper told the Post.
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The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/10/21/veterans-are-getting-the-short-shrift-as-for-profit-college-close-down-report-says/