Veterans Fighting Sales Pitches Rather Than Midterms
Returning
veterans are facing a job market much like the combat zones they are leaving. Sensing the trouble in the economy, many vets are taking advantage of the benefits offered by their GI Bill to seek higher education for a higher competitive edge. Vets looking for schools are now finding themselves inundated by sales pitches rather than the advice of education counsellors, as for-profit institutions seek easy money from government benefits. Lawmakers are now seeking means to protect vets from so-called diploma mills, without harming their chances at an equal and meaningful education.
GIBill.com is not a government website, it is a commercial site run by a company called QuinStreet, a “lead generator.” Companies like QuinStreet will collect information from vets looking for a school, then sell the information to for-profit educational facilities. These so-called diploma mills spend vast sums of money targeting veterans considering using their GI Bill for education, and use sites which sometimes falsely represent themselves as government web pages to lure vets in. Providing just a small amount of information will result in being inundated with sales pitches, with a test by Daniel Elkins, a legislative associate with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, resulting in nearly a hundred phone calls and over three hundred emails in just a few days.
Veterans are a key demographic for for-profit schools, with the Department of Veterans Affairs having already paid out nearly $18,000,000,000.00 in educational benefits to veterans after the 9/11 wars. Less-than-reputable institutions view vets as walking pay checks, with their tuition and fees guaranteed by government dollars. Congress hasn’t let the situation go entirely unnoticed, as lawmakers have moved to clamp-down on institution seeking to profit from vets without offering them a real educational future. Legitimate for-profit schools don’t like the nefarious tactics of other institution either, as they harm the reputation of the entire industry. Jim Sweizer, vice president for military programs at the for-profit American Public University System, agrees with more regulations and stricter punishments for schools that violate the government’s trust. He believes that some schools legitimately want to help veterans, and that blocking the entire for-profit industry could harm the educational opportunities of veterans rather than help them.
Getting a higher education is one step towards financial independence, and The Veterans Affordable Housing Program wants to help you have a home while you are at school. The Veterans Affordable Housing Program was created to help vets in times of need, and is dedicated to helping low and moderate income, disabled, or transitioning veterans and their families find affordable housing in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Washington. We can help you by providing rent relief, down payment assistance, reduced-cost housing, subsidies, and more. Please contact us if you, or somebody you know, is a veteran and is in need of housing assistance.
Helping Veterans with the Veterans Affordable Housing Program…
Affordable Community Living is a qualified 501(c)(3) charitable organization providing low and moderate income families with quality, affordable housing since 1997 and now offers help to veterans and their families through it’s Veterans Assistance Program.
Learn more about our mission and how we aim to help America’s heroes.
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