Administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Post-9/11 GI Bill's educational benefits can help both veterans and schools that prepare them for successful civilian careers. But too often — especially when for-profit schools are involved — schools seem to benefit at veterans' expense.
With high school graduates' numbers shrinking, the GI Bill has helped boost enrollment at private schools such as Robert Morris, Duquesne, Point Park and Seton Hill universities, at Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities and at the state-related University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University. But those nonprofit schools don't target veterans the way for-profit schools such as the Art Institute of Pittsburgh have, according to a Trib report.
A former Art Institute recruiter (who's suing it for racial and age discrimination) says it enticed veterans with “various strategies … not routinely granted other prospective students, including automatic waiver of application and enrollment fees.” Its 2011-16 graduation rate of just 3.6 percent for veterans is even more worrisome because schools keep veterans' benefit money if they drop out.
When veterans end up with nothing to show for their studies — and on the hook to repay their GI Bill education benefits — a proud tradition dating to the original, post-World-War-II GI Bill is dishonored.
The VA must uphold America's sacred duty to those who've worn its uniform by doing a better job of protecting veterans against schools that prey on them and their benefits.
