Military and veterans groups are teaming up with several prominent Senators and the Department of Defense (DOD) to urge the Senate to strike a provision in the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization (NDAA) Bill that would effectively give for-profit colleges unfettered access to military bases to recruit military personnel.
The NDAA bill is on the Senate floor and a motion to strike the base-access amendment is expected to be debated on the floor soon, following its anticipated introduction by U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).
The provision was added in Committee by Sen. Joseph Manchin (D-WV), whose home state includes the headquarters of the for-profit American Military University/American Public University System (which is not a public university, despite the name). The amendment seeks to override DOD’s existing rules governing colleges’ access to military installations. Specifically, the amendment would force the Defense Secretary to give colleges unfettered access to recruit military personnel on base.
Access to military installations is currently controlled by DOD under requirements spelled out in a Voluntary Education Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which all schools wishing to participate in the DOD’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) must sign. Schools that have signed the MOUs are afforded ample access to bases by schools, provided the schools agree to not engage in unscrupulous and aggressive recruiting and make key disclosures to students. According to DOD, military students report that they currently have sufficient opportunity on base to consult with schools about their educational plans and needs.
“The Manchin Amendment would undermine the purpose of the Defense Department’s parameters under the MOU and their legitimate goal of ensuring service members are able to perform their military duties without being subjected to harassment by aggressive and unscrupulous college recruiters,” the groups argue in a letter to the Senate. “Weakening the existing DOD regulations is the opposite of what service members need right now.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee Report on the 2017 NDAA includes report language submitted by Senator Martin Heinreich (D-NM) objecting to the amendment, and raising particular concern about the amendment’s requirement that base access be granted in proportion to the number of students enrolled by each school. This could provide online, for-profit colleges an unfair advantage over public colleges that provide classes on base, since the online schools currently enroll a higher proportion of service members than traditional colleges, and would be incentivized to recruit and enroll as many service members as possible to maintain that advantage.
For-profit schools have engaged in well-documented aggressive and unscrupulous recruiting of service members and veterans, and 7 of the 8 for-profit schools receiving the most GI Bill dollars are currently under a law enforcement cloud for consumer fraud, according to a 2014 Senate report.
For-profit colleges target service members and veterans because of a loophole in federal law, through which the schools count military education benefits to offset a cap on federal funds the schools otherwise face. Known as the “90/10 loophole,” it “gives for-profit colleges an incentive to see service members as nothing more than dollar signs in uniform,” Holly Petraeus, the head of service member affairs at the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, explained.
More than 20 state Attorneys General wrote Congress that this accounting gimmick flies in the face of the intent of federal law, if not the clear language of the statute. Federal and state law enforcement actions against for-profit colleges have highlighted a pattern of deceptive and fraudulent advertising and marketing practices, promising service members and veterans degrees that will lead to high-paying careers. In many cases, those degrees are worthless and service members and veterans are saddled with loans they cannot afford to repay.
The for-profit company headquartered in Senator Manchin’s state has an exorbitant student loan default rate of 23%, according to the US Education Department.
Some for-profit colleges have gained access to military bases through sponsorships of lavish events and concerts of well-known bands. Last year, the University of Phoenix was temporarily suspended from participating in the TAP by the DOD for such surreptitious recruiting on bases and for appropriating military insignia on giveaways.
The following groups have signed on to a letter urging the Senate to strike the Manchin amendment from the bill: Air Force Sergeants Association, Air Force Women Officers Associated, Association of the United States Navy, Blue Star Families, Higher Ed Not Debt, Generation Progress, Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America, National Association for Black Veterans, National Association of College Admissions Counseling, The Institute for College Access & Success, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers Association & Enlisted Association, Veterans for Common Sense, Veterans Student Loan Relief Fund, Veterans Education Success, Veterans Legal Clinic-University of San Diego Law School, Vet Jobs, Vets First (a program of United Spinal Association), Vietnam Veterans of America, and Young Invincibles. Additional signatories are likely.
