College and University Blog
Colleges in Hot Pursuit of Military Veterans and High Profits
Veterans and active members of the military have been enrolling in college at significantly higher rates over the past two years. It is believed that the group is being aggressively recruited by for-profit colleges thanks to the increased education benefits now provided by the Post-9/11 GI bill of 2008.
Benefitting Whom? For-Profit Education Companies and the Growth of Military Educational Benefits, a new report issued December 9, 2010 by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, shows a dramatic increase in Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs funds flowing into for-profit education companies.
Post-9/11 GI Bill Represents Lucrative Income for Some Colleges
For-profit colleges are already a hot topic among the government for several different reasons, two of which being their low graduation rates and the fact that many are earning as much as 85 to 90 percent of their revenues from federal financial aid money.
Both veterans and active members of the military have become attractive to for-profit colleges because their education benefits do not count toward the federal regulation which requires the schools to earn at least 10 percent of their revenue from sources other than federal financial aid. This rule was created in the early 1990s to prevent colleges from relying solely on federal aid programs for profits, but the GI bill and Department of Defense tuition benefits are not considered federal financial aid money because they are not student loans or Pell Grants.
For-profit colleges only serve only about 9 percent of the overall population at institutions of higher education across the country, but data compiled by the Department of Veterans Affairs shows that over 36 percent of the tuition payments made in the first year of the Post-9/11 GI bill went to for-profit colleges. Tuition at for-profit colleges is much more expensive than at it is other schools.
Veterans Benefits Received by For-Profit Colleges Increasing by Millions
Senator Harkin
Melissa Rhone+
Melissa Rhone earned her Bachelor of Music in Education from the University of Tampa. She resides in the Tampa Bay area and enjoys writing about college, pop culture, and epilepsy awareness.