Blumenthal & Murphy: Congress Should End Loophole that Encourages For-Profit Colleges to Target Veterans & Service Members

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), along with U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jack Reed (D-RI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Tom Carper (D-DE), joined by U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) today introduced bicameral legislation that would help put an end to the for-profit college industry’s aggressive recruiting of veterans, service members, and their families. The Protecting Our Students and Taxpayers (POST) Act would prohibit for-profit colleges and universities from receiving more than 85 percent of their revenue from the federal government and change the calculation of federal revenue to include all federal funds, including Department of Veterans Affairs GI Bill and Department of Defense Tuition Assistance benefits.  

According to data released last year by the U.S. Department of Education – in response to a request by Durbin, Blumenthal, Murphy, and 17 other Democratic Senators – because of the loophole, 186 institutions, including some of the largest recipients of GI Bill benefits, received more than 90 percent of their revenue from federal taxpayers – nearly $8 billion cumulatively. Further, more than 563 institutions received more than 85 percent of their revenue from federal taxpayers – $12.6 billion cumulatively.

“Our legislation would close a glaring loophole that allows for-profit college bad actors to treat the men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving our country like nothing more than ATM machines. Shameful recruiting campaigns that target servicemembers and veterans allow for-profit schools to rake in billions of dollars in VA education benefits every year, including Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits. This in unacceptable – for taxpayers and for our men and women in uniform,” said Sen. Blumenthal.

“Too many for-profit colleges are get-rich-quick schemes, cheating students and veterans and defrauding taxpayers along the way. It’s unbelievable that these schools are supported almost entirely by taxpayer money but have very little accountability for the results they produce. For-profit colleges are getting away with skirting the laws by targeting veterans and their hard-earned benefits. Congress needs to step up and crack down on this,” said Sen. Murphy.

The current federal 90/10 rule is a provision in the law that bars for-profit colleges and universities from deriving more than 90 percent of their revenue from the U.S. Department of Education’s federal student aid programs. The other 10 percent needs to come from sources other than the federal government. The purpose of this rule is to ensure that schools are not counting on taxpayer dollars as their sole source of revenue. 

Because of the way the law is written, veterans’ and active duty service members’ federal education benefits – such as G.I. bill education benefits and the Department of Defense’s tuition assistance funds – do not currently count toward the 90 percent. As a result, for-profit educational institutions have been aggressively recruiting and enrolling veterans, service members, and their families to their programs as a way to comply with the 90/10 rule. 

The POST Act would reinstate the original ratio of 85/15 (it was loosened to 90/10 in 1998) and change the definition of what counts as federal revenue so that it includes all federal funds. This new definition would eliminate the powerful incentive for-profit schools to aggressively recruit service members and veterans and ensure that all schools are complying with the law as it was intended.  Additionally, the POST Act would count institutional loans (schools can now use Title IV funds from one student to lend to another) in the calculation of federal revenue sources and eliminate a school’s Title IV eligibility after one year of noncompliance instead of the three consecutive years it now takes.

The POST Act is supported by: Student Veterans of America; Military Officers Association of America; Paralyzed Veterans of America; Veterans Education Success; The Education Trust; U.S. PIRG; The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS); National Association of College Admission Counseling; American Federation of Teachers; American Association of State Colleges and Universities; and Young Invincibles.