IAVA Protecting Veterans from Predatory Schools
NEW YORK – The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America kicked off veteran education week this morning, continuing a six-week campaign to highlight the priority issues of its members.
Over the course of this week, IAVA is highlighting its advocacy efforts to expand and protect veteran education benefits, including protecting military and veteran students from predatory schools.
As a leading veteran service organization, holding these schools accountable for taking advantage of GI Bill recipients is one of IAVA’s top priorities.
“Everyone deserves to receive quality higher education. Predatory schools take advantage of veterans and their service by preying on GI Bill recipients, in exchange for substandard education,” said Jeremy Butler, CEO for IAVA.
“As an advocate for post-9/11 veterans, IAVA will fight to protect veteran education benefits and will work to ensure that GI Bill recipients do not fall prey to for-profit college scams,” Butler said.
IAVA backed the first bipartisan bill to close the 90/10 loophole and ensure that military connected students were not unfairly targeted by predatory schools.
During COVID-19, IAVA advocated alongside veteran service organizations and Congressional allies to ensure that veterans did not lose their education benefits if schools went online due to the pandemic.
IAVA’s 400,000 members are urging the Department of Veterans Affairs to update its information technology infrastructure to reflect recent changes to GI Bill payments and schooling, and to reflect the needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organization said it is continuing to work with its allies to ensure students who have been defrauded by predatory schools do not lose their GI Bill benefits.
Learn more about IAVA’s advocacy efforts regarding veteran education benefits here.