A subcommittee of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee today will hold a hearing on draft legislation by Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) that would impose new restrictions on how for-profit colleges access GI Bill benefits, among a slew of other education-related bills.
— Takano’s draft bill would cut off the flow of GI Bill funds to for-profit schools that don’t meet the federal 90/10 rule with the inclusion of all sources of federal funding, including veterans and military service education benefits. The legislation doesn’t change the 90/10 rule in the Higher Education Act directly— unlike other Democratic efforts to tighten the law — but it imposes the more expansive calculation of funding sources as a condition of for-profit colleges receiving GI Bill funds.
— The bill is backed by several veterans groups that are testifying at the hearing, including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Veterans Education Success. Veterans groups have argued that the current 90/10 rule creates an incentive for for-profit colleges to aggressively recruit veterans because it doesn’t capture GI Bill benefits.
— The Trump administration plans to oppose the legislation, according to prepared testimony from Charmain Bogue, a top Department of Veterans Affairs official overseeing education benefits. “We have significant concerns regarding the implementation and administration of the requirements and cannot support the legislation as proposed,” Bogue will say.