{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr4625-116/featured_protect-the-gi-bill-act-1573862643.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hr4625-116/featured_large_protect-the-gi-bill-act-1573862643.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hr4625-116.png"},"introduced_on":"2019-10-08","title_override":"Should States & the Feds Have Greater Oversight of Schools With Students Using GI Bill Benefits?","summary_override":"

This bill — the Protect the GI Bill Act — would increase transparency and accountability among educational programs that receive Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) funding and give the federal government and state agencies greater authority to suspend schools from participating in the GI Bill program. It would require state educational agencies or their secretaries to determine whether educational institutions meet certain requirements regarding providing information to students before enrollment, transparency about tuition and financial aid, and more.

Subsequently, this bill would ban schools from GI Bill participation for misrepresenting themselves while marketing to, recruiting, and enrolling students. If an institution is determined to have carried out fraudulent or persistent recruiting tactics or engaged in “substantial misrepresentation” of its educational offerings, graduation rates, or graduates’ employability, it would be ineligible to enroll veterans with GI bill funding. It could also be subject to negative action by its accrediting agency, up to the loss of its accreditation.

This bill would also expand the conditions for full restoration of education benefits for students affected by schools’ closure or disapproval. It would also make schools, rather than students, responsible for repaying overpayments of tuition benefits from the VA under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

This bill would also expand veterans’ ability to use Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits by:

Allowing military service members to transfer Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to their child wards and children ages 21-25; and
Authorizing housing allowances under the Post-9/11 GI Bill during short periods of active-duty service.

Students receiving Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits would be required to verify their enrollment status to the VA.

If schools violate this bill’s requirements, State Approving Agencies (SAAs) would be able to flag or suspend new enrollments to them.

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Making schools that don’t meet minimum education and transparency standards ineligible for GI Bill funding would go a long way towards that goal. It would also ensure that taxpayer dollars aren’t used to prop up undeserving educational institutions, such as unscrupulous for-profit institutions that lie to students and deliver subpar educations.","argument_against":"This bill would restrict veterans’ ability to choose where they use their GI Bill benefits. Given that these servicemembers earned this benefit through service to their country, it’s unfair to restrict their educational choices. 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Should States & the Feds Have Greater Oversight of Schools With Students Using GI Bill Benefits?