Carper Applauds Bipartisan Introduction of House Companion Legislation to Protect Veteran and Military Students

WASHINGTON- Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) applauded the bipartisan introduction of the Military and Veterans Education Protection Act in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Congressman Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Congressman Walter Jones (R-N.C.), and 19 original cosponsors. The legislation is a companion to a piece of legislation introduced by Sen. Carper with Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in the Senate (S. 1664), which would close a loophole that allows for-profit schools to avoid having to secure at least 10 percent of their revenue from non-federal sources.

Since 2009, more than 1.4 million service members, veterans, and their families have financed their higher education using the GI Bill, and millions more will take advantage of this benefit in the years to come. In the past five years, 40 percent of Post-9/11 GI Bill tuition benefits have gone to the for-profit sector, even as questions continue to be raised about these institutions’ graduation, default, and job placement rates. The recent collapse of the for-profit chain Corinthian Colleges – which received $186 million in Post-9/11 GI Bill dollars – due to financial problems is another glaring reminder that Congress must remain diligent to protect active-duty military, veterans, and taxpayers.

“After serving our country, our nation’s veterans have earned the right to attain a high-quality, affordable education here at home with the help of the Post-9/11 GI Bill,” Sen. Carper said. “While not every for-profit college is a bad actor, one veteran mistreated is one veteran too many. We need to use common sense here. It doesn’t make sense for taxpayers to send veterans to for-profit schools that can be 100 percent subsidized using taxpayers’ dollars. Closing the 90/10 loophole is a common sense approach that demonstrates we’re serious about improving education outcomes for our veterans and that we’re serious about protecting taxpayers.”

The 90-10 rule is an important safeguard that is intended to protect taxpayers by ensuring that for-profit schools obtain at least 10 percent of their revenues from sources other than taxpayers. However, current law leaves open a loophole that allows for-profit institutions to count military and veteran educational assistance, including the generous Post-9/11 GI Bill, as non-federal revenues. Some bad actors in the for-profit industry are exploiting this “90-10 loophole” by aggressively recruiting veterans and G.I Bill tuition dollars, rather than obtaining 10 percent of their revenue from non-federal sources. This legislation would require GI Bill benefits that come from the Department of Veterans Affairs and military education benefits offered through the Department of Defense to count toward the 90-percent limit on the federal share of a school’s revenue.

Yesterday, Senator Carper took to the Senate floor to join Senators Durbin, Blumenthal, Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to call on Congress to help protect veterans from predatory actors in the for-profit education industry by quickly acting to close the loophole. Video of the Senator’s speech can be found below.