Federal spending to educate returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan is disproportionately helping the bottom line of for-profit colleges, according to government enrollment data.
Boosted by a GI Bill with more-generous benefits, U.S. spending on veterans’ education will more than double to $9.5 billion this year, from $4.2 billion in 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs said in response to questions. Six for- profit colleges had more students receiving VA funding in 2009 than any public or nonprofit institutions, statistics provided by the department show. Eight of the top 10 colleges with the most VA-funded students were for-profit institutions.
“The concern is that for-profit colleges in some cases, not all, are promising more than they’re actually delivering,” Eric Hilleman, legislative director of the Kansas City, Mo.- based Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., said in a Friday interview. “They’re giving people expensive degrees that don’t translate into viable employment. To some extent, it’s buyer beware.”
The dominance of for-profit colleges — such as Denver- based Alta College Inc., the parent of Westwood College; Apollo Group Inc.’s University of Phoenix; and American Public Education Inc.’s American Military University — among veterans and active-duty military is facing congressional scrutiny. A Senate committee said last week it plans to hold hearings on the quality and funding of the schools’ military education programs by the end of the year.
