Issue link: http://gijobsdigimag.epubxp.com/i/884421
30 G.I. JOBS | OCTOBER 2017 | GIJOBS.COM The loophole: GI Bill education benefits and the Department of Defense's Tuition Assistance (TA) funds are not defined as Title IV funds. That means for-profit schools can count those military education benefits toward the 10-per- cent requirement meant to come from sources other than federal taxpayers. POST-9/11 GI BILL The implementation of the Post-9/11 GI Bill in August 2009 gave tens of thou- sands of service members and their families a free ticket to college. By the end of fiscal year 2010, $9 bil- lion in educational benefits was provided to service members and veterans, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported. The 90/10 loophole did not escape the notice of for- profit schools. According to a December 2010 report by the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pen- sions (HELP) committee, 20 for-profit schools received $521.2 million in military education benefits in 2010, a 683 percent increase from $66.6 million the same schools received in 2006. In May 2012, the attorneys general from 22 states wrote a letter to congressional vet- erans affairs leaders urging Congress to close the loop- hole in the wake of reports of some for-profit schools ag- gressively recruiting military and veteran students. "The undersigned At- torneys General strongly support our military men and women and the GI Bill's policy of providing education benefits to those who have sacrificed so much for our country," the letter read. "Un- fortunately, the current loop- hole in federal law allowing for-profit schools to count GI Bill benefits against the 10 percent non-federal revenue component of Title IV not only undermines the balance Congress established, it has created a harmful incen- tive for these businesses, and they are businesses, to target service members. We urge you to take action to close this loophole, protect our tax dollars and protect our service members from these predatory practices." Several lawmakers tried to close the loophole. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., a veteran himself who went to college on the GI Bill, introduced several versions of the Military and Veterans Educa- tion Protection Act – most recently in June 2015. The bill would require for-profit schools to count military and veteran education funds toward the 90 percent requirement. The bills never made it out of committee. In November 2015, Sen. Durbin introduced the Protecting Our Students and Taxpayers (POST) Act of 2015. It, too, would have closed the 90/10 loophole opened in 1998. POST was referred to the Senate HELP committee, where it died. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R- Tenn.), who chairs the HELP committee, did not respond to requests for an interview. He says for-profit colleges have been able to exert influ- ence in Congress on a variety of issues. Maintaining the loophole allows them to continue accessing unlimited federal dollars, he added. Durbin pointed to data released by the Depart- ment of Education in 2016 that shows 193 for-profit institutions received more than 90 percent of their revenue from federal tax- payers when Department of Education, Department of Veterans Affairs, and De- partment of Defense funds were counted together. "The collapse of Corin- thian Colleges and ITT Tech was a wakeup call to many that we need to take a hard look at for-profit colleges," Durbin said. Durbin plans to rein- troduce the POST Act in the upcoming session of Congress. "I look forward to work- ing with my colleagues, veterans service organiza- tions (VSOs), and others to address this and other important accountability concerns in future legisla- tion," Durbin said. The Student Veterans of America was one of the VSOs instrumental in the creation of the Forever GI Bill. "SVA looks forward to working with our partners in Congress and the vet- eran community to further improve student veteran protections and transpar- ency," said Barrett Bogue, vice president for public relations and chapter en- gagement, in an email.