A drive to protect veterans and members of the Reserve and National Guard, originating with misplaced bias against for-profit schools, will gut options for these patriots when they try to use their GI Bill to get a useful education. That’s the impression one could reach upon examining the federal government’s campaign to hobble the ability of “proprietary” for-profit schools to enroll GI Bill-wielding applicants.
For any college, university or vocational school, government dollars can make a huge — even a make-or-break — difference. Applicants bringing GI Bill benefits are, in that regard, a bonanza.
But a paternalistic Congress, unwilling to grapple with second- and third-order legislative effects — advised by those who want less competition from the private sector — is hobbling education options through murkily concocted ratios that limit how much GI Bill money the for-profits can receive. This limitation doesn’t, however, affect the more favored conventional education sector.
The 9/11-G.I. Bill of 2008 is used by more than 700,000 beneficiaries at a taxpayer cost of $10.7 billion, nearly twice the 2010 amount, showing its utility. Unlike many federal expenditures, this one, like its 1944 ancestor, truly can be regarded as in investment in America’s future.