VFW Veterans’ Education Bill Passes House

Yesterday afternoon the House passed H.R. 4057, a bill designed to improve consumer protections for student-veterans who seek to utilize their Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits.

VFW leaders applauded the passage of the bill and will call on the Senate to take up its education package during this week’s fall legislative conference, where VFW advocates are asking Congress to “Finish Strong For Veterans.”

H.R. 4057 was amended while in committee to include several other VFW-supported provisions to improve veterans’ benefits such as the bill that the VFW and the American Legion worked together to draft and amend, the HIRE at HOME Act (H.R. 4115), introduced by Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, which ensures that states consider military training for professional licenses in a variety of technical fields.

The committee also added language from other bills ensuring safe housing standards for homeless veterans, limiting bonuses for VA employees, and commissioning an Open Air Burn Pit exposure registry with VA.

H.R. 4057 was inspired by VFW action earlier this year, when VFW authored a letter signed by a broad coalition of veterans' advocates and education experts, calling for improved consumer information and consumer protections for veterans. To learn more about the bill, click here.

The bill’s author, Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., spoke on the House floor, touting the merits of his bill, which made it to the floor with overwhelming bipartisan support through the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

House Veterans Affairs Committee Ranking Member Bob Filner, D-Calif., a cosponsor of the bill, also discussed the merits of the bill’s other provisions, like ensuring VA keeps track of health care conditions for veterans exposed to toxins resulting from open air burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Your VFW will continue to advocate for the Senate to pass a comprehensive education package before the end of the current Congress. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.

VFW Joins House VA Committee Republican Roundtable

House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., hosted a roundtable discussion this morning with Republican committee leadership and leading veterans’ advocates in the committee’s chambers of the Cannon House Office Building. VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci was on hand to discuss a series of persistent veterans’ issues like mental health care, employment, and looming budget concerns.

Miller decided to host the roundtable as a way to evaluate progress over the 112th Congress, identify shortfalls in meeting the needs of veterans, and candidly discussing potential new ideas to ensure veterans receive the care and benefits to which they are entitled.

The morning’s discussion took place just as the VFW National Legislative Committee converged on Washington, asking Congress to “Finish Strong For Veterans,” by enacting meaningful legislation, providing oversight, and applying pressure on federal agencies to better serve the veterans’ community. This week, VFW advocates will visit every Congressional office discuss VFW’s outstanding issues for the 112th Congress relating to benefits delivery, health care, budget concerns, and education and employment. To learn more about these issues, click here.

Gallucci reiterated the VFW’s “Finish Strong For Veterans” message, encouraging Congress to pass bills like the H.R. 4057 to improve consumer information for student-veterans; provide oversight to ensure the military’s new transition assistance program, or TAP, provides relevant resources to transitioning service members; ensure VA can meet its mental health staffing requirements; and apply pressure to VA and the Administration to define “administrative accounts” potentially affected by mandatory sequestration budget cuts.

Chairman Miller also took the opportunity to candidly discuss a controversial proposal from Republican leaders designed to help veterans receive timely mental health care from TRICARE providers, paid for by VA. The idea comes on the heels of ongoing military and veteran suicide concerns, and reports that VA cannot meet the demand to deliver mental health care in a timely manner.

Veterans’ advocates expressed concern about how the proposal could not only increase care costs for VA, but could create more bureaucratic problems for veterans seeking care outside the VA system.

Gallucci explained that many times veterans cannot receive timely mental health care from VA because they never actively enrolled in the VA health care system before reaching out for help. If veterans sought out emergency care from TRICARE providers on the economy, Gallucci explained that they could be left with a hefty bill for services, and face additional bureaucratic hurdles when they seek reimbursement from VA.

Chairman Miller explained that the concept was designed to ensure veterans who need mental health care can find somewhere to go as a stop-gap measure, and ensured the veterans’ community that his committee would flesh out exactly how such a system could efficiently deliver care.

Other discussion topics this morning included alternative treatments for traumatic brain injury like hypobaric oxygen therapy, persistent processing delays for Post-9/11 G.I. Bill recipients, the effectiveness of peer-to-peer counseling for mental health issues, and empowering employers to find potential veteran employees.

(Image: VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci discusses VFW's call for Congress to "Finish Strong For Veterans" in the 112th Congress. Photo courtesy of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.)

VFW at DNC: Opening Night Dems Focus on Veterans

Last night, VFW legislative advocates made their way into Charlotte for the first night of the Democratic National Convention. Though most of the evening's discussions focused on social issues, the Democrats also took the time to focus on issues critical to military families and veterans.

The night kicked off with the introduction of Marine Corps Iraq veteran Nate Davis discussing how the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill allowed him to pursue a quality education after leaving the military. Next, noteworthy veterans' advocate and wounded warrior Tammy Duckworth, who is currently running for Congress in Illinois, took to the stage to make the case for how the current administration has made caring for veterans and military families a priority.

The theme of honoring America's military families and veterans continued on during the night, when Blue Star Mother Elaine Brye introduced First Lady Michelle Obama, whose program "Joining Forces" has made a difference in the lives of thousands of military families, like Brye's.

While the first lady made an impassioned speech as to why she believes her husband deserves four more years in the White House, Mrs. Obama also took the time to discuss why family values are so important to her and how she sought to make the lives of military families easier, as their loved ones continue to sacrifice for our nation overseas.

The VFW was happy to see the DNC focus on veterans' issues early on in the convention. This afternoon, VFW will join in a Veterans and Military Families Caucus as part of the convention in an effort to ensure Democrats understand the issues critical to the military and veterans' communities.

The VFW hopes this dialogue on veterans and military quality-of-life continues throughout the convention, and that the president takes the time to outline his plans to care for our nation's heroes when he formally accepts his party's nomination Thursday night. Check back for updates.

(Images: Top: First Lady Michelle Obama greets the delegates before making her speech before the DNC last night. Bottom: Tammy Duckworth explains how she believes the Obama administration has made an effort to serve veterans. Photos by Ryan Gallucci.)

VFW Joins Roundtable Discussion on Education

The VFW joined education industry experts, congressional staffers and veterans’ advocates from Student Veterans of America for a roundtable discussion on veterans’ education as part of the American Legion’s national convention in Indianapolis this week.

VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci was invited to participate in the roundtable discussion, alongside many signatories from a January letter to House and Senate leadership and the Obama Administration. Participants sought to identify issues faced by student-veterans pursuing an education with the Post-9/11 GI Bill in an effort to build consensus on how to improve educational decision-making for today’s veterans. Congressional offices sent staff to Indianapolis specifically to listen to the discussion.

The roundtable comes in the wake of a report from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that implied some schools were more interested in the guaranteed tuition aspect of enrolling GI Bill recipients than on the student-veteran’s academic career.

After analyzing the Senate report and reaching out to academia, VA officials and student-veterans, the VFW determined that what the report exposed was more the lack of information than any wrongdoing. Student-veterans were not receiving information prior to enrolling to help them make proper academic decisions based on career goals. And once enrolled, there was little information about alternatives should they become dissatisfied with their school or academic choice. In other words, they felt locked in once a choice was made, which might account for part of the dropout rate.

In his remarks, Gallucci focused on improving delivery of academic counseling resources VA is already supposed to offer to potential student-veterans, improving information flow to separating service members through the military’s transition assistance program, or TAP, and revisiting the role of State Approving Agencies, or SAAs, who serve as boots-on-the-ground to approve G.I. Bill education programs in each state.

Gallucci said that the VFW consistently hears from student-veterans who do not understand their benefits and have hit dead ends searching for reliable answers. Many point out that VA hotlines are ineffective and resources on the web are confusing. Gallucci drew on his own experiences navigating the G.I. Bill, explaining how student-veterans may not be receiving the best education for them because they are not armed with the right information.

Over the last year, the VFW has testified on this issue on multiple occasions, and successfully pushed for an executive order to improve information delivery to student-veterans. VFW has also helped to introduce legislation in both the House and Senate that would further improve consumer information and consumer protections for student-veterans.

From the roundtable, participants agreed that student-veteran advocates needed to refocus the discussion on improving consumer information for student-veterans, rather than maligning certain sectors of higher education – a phenomenon major media outlets have taken up since the Senate released its report in late July.

This fall, your VFW plans to push Congress to move on this legislation; particularly during the VFW’s fall legislative conference in September, when VFW advocates are scheduled to meet with every House and Senate office. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.

Senate Passes Camp Lejeune Treatment Resolution as Part of Veterans' Omnibus

This week the Senate moved forward on a veterans' benefits omnibus bill, the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act, which will finally offer care to veterans and family members exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

The bill clarifies that veterans and family members stationed or working at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days between Jan. 1, 1957 and Dec. 31, 1987 who developed health conditions consistent with exposure to toxic water will be eligible to receive VA health care for the resultant conditions.

Before the Fourth of July recess, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., placed a hold on the bill when the Senate sought to hotline it for passage, voicing concerns about potential fraud within the system that could divert resources away from other veterans who need them.

The VFW Action Corps and National Legislative Committee quickly sprang into action, with advocates in South Carolina reaching out directly to DeMint to explain the VFW's stance on the bill.

After speaking to the Action Corps, DeMint recognized why the bill was a responsible solution for affected veterans and family members, and this morning, he praised it on the Senate floor.

Language for the omnibus bill was agreed upon in late June by legislators in both the House and Senate. With this afternoon’s passage in the Senate, the House will now be able to vote on a final package.

The compromise language on Camp Lejeune was packaged with H.R. 1627, a 2011 veterans' benefits omnibus bill that already passed in the House and includes more than 50 provisions to better serve veterans; many of which the VFW has testified in support of over the last two years.

Highlights of the bill include:

• Extending hospital care and medical services coverage for certain illnesses and conditions to eligible veterans and family members who served on active duty or lived at Camp Lejeune.
• Authorizing VA to waive co-payments for telehealth and enhancing VA’s teleconsultation and telemedicine capabilities
• Protecting veterans from sexual assault at VA facilities
• Expanding services for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury, or TBI
• Allowing veterans with service dogs access to all VA facilities
• Expanding travel reimbursement for veterans in highly rural areas and improving reimbursement for state veterans homes 
• Enhancing specially adapted housing programs for disabled veterans
• Commissioning annual reports to Congress on the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill 
• Reauthorizing certain homeless veterans programs and expanding eligibility for shelter services, allowing homeless veterans who are not mentally ill to take advantage of the services

The bill also includes provisions designed to streamline disability claims processing by clarifying VA's duty to assist veterans in obtaining private medical records and allowing VA to contact veterans electronically to adjudicate claims. 

The VFW voiced concerns over these two provisions before the House VA Committee last year, offering specific recommendations on how to best implement changes. VFW National Veterans Service staff are reviewing the specific language in the new veterans' omnibus to ensure duty-to-assist and electronic notification provisions meet our organization's standards. VFW staff will then make recommendations to the House on how to proceed with these specific provisions.

Check back regularly with this blog for updates as the 2012 veterans benefits omnibus package moves through Congress.

To learn how you can make a difference with your legislators, receive the Washington Weekly eNewsletter and other legislative priority alerts, sign up to be a member of the VFW Action Corps by clicking here. 

VFW Applauds State Attorneys General for Protecting Student-Vets

The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) applauded the work of 20 state attorneys general, who announced this morning that the Web site GIBill.com had officially been turned over to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and that the Web site’s owner, QuinStreet, would pay $2.5 million to states as part of a settlement for fraudulent recruiting practices.

The VFW joined Sens. Dick Durbin, Tom Harkin, Richard Blumenthal, and Kay Hagan; state attorneys general Jack Conway, Beau Biden, and Lisa Madigan; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Assistant Director of Service Member Affairs Holly Petreaus; VA Deputy Secretary W. Scott Gould and veterans' advocates this morning to announce the settlement at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

“Since the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill took effect in 2009, the VFW has had a vested interest in ensuring our veterans have access to the quality education they earned,” said VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci, an Iraq War veteran who used his G.I. Bill benefits to earn his college degree. “The VFW was one of the first organizations to call attention to these kinds of misleading and dubious practices, designed to lure veterans into programs that will not help their career aspirations, and we’re proud to see that states have taken decisive action.”

For nearly a year, the VFW has said that potential student-veterans are often inundated with incomplete and, sometimes, downright inaccurate information when they seek to take advantage of their earned education benefits. Companies like QuinStreet maintain entities intentionally designed to look like official government resources purporting that student-veterans can only use benefits at schools who pay for sponsorships.

In addition to action from state attorneys general, the VFW has also voiced its support to VA’s efforts to copyright the phrase “G.I. Bill” to offer protections to beneficiaries of the benefit, similar to existing copyrights that protect Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries from fraud.

The VFW is also working diligently to improve consumer education tools for student-veterans to ensure that VA and the military can level the playing field by offering quality information to potential student-veterans by supporting legislation that would improve pre-enrollment counseling as well as consumer protections for veterans who believe they have been victims of fraud, waste and abuse.

“Before we ask our troops to make life-or-death decisions on the battlefield, we provide them with the best training, equipment and information to make the right choice. This is why we have the most competent and professional military in the world,” said Gallucci. “If we prepare our student-veterans with the same vigilance, the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill will mold our nation’s next Greatest Generation, as we intended.”

The VFW helped to draft a recent presidential executive order to improve current G.I. Bill protections, and the VFW continues to vigorously push both the House and Senate to move on pending legislation that will improve consumer information and consumer protections for student-veterans.

(Image: Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conwey demonstrates the version of GIBill.com that sparked he and 19 other state attorneys general to investigate QuinStreet during today's press conference at the National Press Club. Photo by Ryan Gallucci.)

We Were Supposed to do a Webinar Today…

This afternoon, the interagency committee tasked with implementing the president’s recent executive order on veterans’ education planned to host a webinar for veterans’ advocates and higher education stakeholders to outline how VA, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Education planned to implement the new directive.

The VFW has played a lead role in building consensus among leaders in higher education and the veterans’ community, sparking decisive action from Congress and the White House on the issue. Unfortunately, when it came time to log on to the webinar, the VFW was locked out.

Military OneSource, the DoD service tasked with hosting the webinar, said in an email that they overbooked the system, locking out groups like the VFW who had registered to participate last week. The email went on to explain that a subsequent webinar would be hosted next Friday and the presentation would be available to the public in two weeks online.

“To the VFW, this course of action is unacceptable,” said VFW Executive Director Bob Wallace. “We’ve been persistent advocates on this issue and we deserve to know how VA, the Pentagon and higher education intend to implement the executive order in order to best represent our veterans’ needs. It’s highly unprofessional and completely unacceptable to ask the VFW and our partner organizations to wait another week to learn about this program.”

The VFW was one of the few veterans’ organizations invited to testify on the president’s executive order, Executive Order #13607, before the House VA Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity two weeks ago. To learn more about the hearing and the executive order, click here.

(Image: Screengrab of the VFW's lock-out screen from today's webinar on Executive Order #13607.)

Share Your Stories of Advocacy from Memorial Day and the Congressional Recess

This weekend, legislators are once again home in their districts to observe the Memorial Day holiday alongside the men and women they represent. Many legislators will join VFW members and advocates who will gather to honor the brave American men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our nation, hoping to hear our concerns on the issues facing service members, veterans, and military families. If you seize the opportunity to advocate this week on behalf of our nation's veterans and want to share your story, we want to help spread the word on the VFW Capitol Hill blog.

For more than a century, VFW has helped to get passed into law virtually every significant quality-of-life legislation for service members, veterans and their families. VFW has also helped to defeat bad legislation that would reduce or eliminate those hard earned programs, which is why our sustained voice in Washington is only as strong as the voice of VFW members and all of our veterans’ advocates around the country.

Without your help and your grassroots action in communities from coast to coast, accomplishments like the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Agent Orange presumptions, veterans’ hiring preference, survivor benefits, advance health care appropriations and Family Caregiver benefits would not have been possible.

If you don't know where to begin, the VFW offers a variety of tools to help you reach out to your elected officials and discuss many of the most pressing national issues facing our service members, veterans, and their loved ones.

To army yourself with the latest VFW Legislative Priority Goals, click here.

To learn about key bills VFW is working to pass in Congress, click here.

To find contact information for your congressmen and senators, click here.

The VFW Capitol Hill blog brings together the efforts of the VFW Action Corps and the VFW National Legislative Service to provide updates in real time on veterans and military issues as they develop in Washington and around the nation. We hope that you will send us your stories and help us inspire members to reach out to their representatives and take action!

To send us your news, use the Blog Submission Form posted here, or simply email photos and stories directly to vfwac@vfw.org.

WATCH: VFW Testifies on Protecting Student-Veterans

UPDATE: The archived webcast from Wednesday's hearing is now available. to view the webcast, click here. VFW testimony starts at the 15-minute mark. To read VFW's prepared remarks in full, click here. 

The VFW testified on Wednesday at a House VA Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity hearing on the implementation of the recent executive order to better protect student-veterans. The hearing took place at 2 p.m. in the committee's chambers, room 334 of the Cannon House Office Building.

To view a full list of witnesses and to read their prepared remarks, click here.

The executive order, entitled “Establishing Principles of Excellence for Educational Institutions Serving Service Members, Veterans, Spouses and Other Family Members,” comes after VFW legislative efforts called on the House, Senate and White House to improve consumer protections for veterans who seek to use their earned GI Bill benefits. VFW Commander-in-Chief Richard L. DeNoyer applauded the executive order in an official statement two weeks ago.

“The VFW has worked very hard to get these protections created, and the president’s executive order will go far to crack down on the predatory recruiting practices and poor performance of all schools who participate in the Post-9/11 GI Bill, but our fight isn’t over,” he said.

Over the past eight months, reports from the Senate and GAO have indicated that student-veterans may be victimized by schools that fail to deliver on their educational promises, creating a perception in Washington that military and veterans’ education dollars are being wasted, because student-veterans are not receiving the education they were promised.

“Veterans make responsible life and death decisions on the battlefield every day, but reports indicate that they aren’t making the same quality decisions about the schools they choose to attend on the G.I. Bill,” said VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci, who is scheduled to testify on behalf of the VFW. “The difference is preparation and information. We prepare our battlefield leaders to make these tough choices and we provide them with quality, accurate information. We fail to prepare our student-veterans for the life-changing decisions they’re about to make, and the information we make available is incomplete, inaccurate and sometimes downright misleading.”

At the hearing, Gallucci discussed why the VFW believes the executive order will serve as an important first step in ensuring student-veterans have all the information they need to make a responsible educational choice, and have proper recourse should they become victims of fraud, waste or abuse.

In January and February, the VFW worked to build consensus among veterans’ advocates and higher education, calling for improved consumer protections. Today, both the House and Senate have introduced bills to improve the landscape for student-veterans. The VFW believes the president’s executive order should serve as the impetus for Congress to quickly move legislation, ensuring consumer protections are written into law.

In his prepared remarks, Gallucci goes on to say that executive action is limited to current law and available resources, which is why the VFW believes legislative solutions remain the best option.

(Image: Screen grab from Wednesday's webcast of the House VA Subcommittee hearing on the president's recent G.I. Bill executive order.)

VFW Action Sparks Legislation to Better Serve Student-Veterans

This morning Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., introduced the "GI Education Equity Act of 2012," a bipartisan bill to help ensure student-veterans have access to quality educational counseling before tapping into their G.I. Bill benefits, and a clear method of recourse should student-veterans feel they have become victims of fraud, waste or abuse.

The bill reflects the two main tenets of a letter VFW sent to House, Senate and Obama Administration leadership, calling for improved consumer education and recourse mechanisms for student-veterans, and signed by a diverse coalition of veterans' education stakeholders, including veterans' advocates and both for-profit and non-profit education advocates. To read Lautenberg's bill, click here. To read the coalition letter, click here.

“The Post-9/11 G.I. Bill could be the transformative benefit for today’s service members and veterans, but the VFW believes that we must ensure that our veterans have all the tools they need to succeed in higher education. This bill will do just that,” said VFW Executive Director Bob Wallace in a statement issued by Lautenberg's office this morning. “Through just a few simple steps, we can ensure that student-veterans are armed with the best information to make an academic choice, and that they can take action when a school doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain. This bipartisan bill presents some common sense, easy-to-implement solutions that will help our student-veterans succeed in higher education without restricting their choice of schools or placing unreasonable burdens on campuses that open their doors to student-veterans.”

After a recent Senate investigation implied waste within the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, and both the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees offered several proposals to scale back the benefit, the VFW sought to learn more about how veterans were making their educational decisions. All indicators led VFW to conclude that veterans were never properly informed of their benefits, despite programs within DOD and VA designed to do just that.

Under Chapter 36 of the G.I. Bill, VA is obligated to make educational and vocational counseling available to service members, potential student-veterans, and dependents eligible for any chapter of the G.I. Bill. Unfortunately, very few student-veterans are aware that this benefit exists, and even fewer choose to take advantage of it. In its current form, veterans must first discover that such counseling is available, fill out the requisite paperwork, mail it to their nearest VA regional office and wait for a response. This labor-intensive “opt-in” process resulted in only 6,400 veterans receiving counseling in 2011, compared to more than 800,000 veterans utilizing G.I. Bill benefits.

Lautenberg's bill mandates that VA actively contact veterans eligible for G.I. Bill counseling, asking those who wish to waive the benefit to “opt-out.” On the back end, VA must leverage its resources to create a formal, complaint process to address student-veteran issues, allowing VA and other agencies responsible for student-veteran programs to take action and audit findings. The legislation is co-sponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Scott Brown, R-Mass., Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

Lautenberg's bill is similar to a House bill recently introduced by Rep. Gus Bilrakis, R-Fla., the "Improving Transparency of Education Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2012," which VFW supported in testimony before the House last week. Bilrakis' bill orders VA to develop a plan to deliver comprehensive consumer education and formally track complaints. Lautenberg's bill lays out how the Senate wants VA to deliver such counseling. To read VFW's testimony, click here. To read Bilrakis' bill, click here.

The VFW hopes both bills will gain momentum in their respective chambers, resulting in a responsible compromise piece of legislation that will help student-veterans make a responsible choice in higher education without limiting access to certain kinds of schools or placing new administrative burdens on academic institutions.

VFW Supports Closing G.I. Bill Payment Loophole

This week the VFW sent a letter to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., expressing support for his bill, H.R. 3483, the Veterans Educational Equity Act of 2011, which would offer student-veterans who do not meet residency requirements at public schools equitable reimbursement to finance their education through the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill.

The purpose of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill was to offer a free, public education to today's war-fighters. Unfortunately, in an effort to ensure student-veterans have access to the highest quality educational programs, new reimbursement policies have created a loophole that potentially harms student-veterans who choose to attend certain public schools.

Recent changes to the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefit allow student-veterans attending private schools to receive up to $17,500 in tuition and fee payments from VA. However, student-veterans attending public schools are still only entitled to receive the highest in-state tuition and fee payments, regardless of whether or not they meet residency requirements for the state. As a result, many student-veterans who do not qualify for in-state tuition face significant out-of-pocket costs to attend the public school of their choice, unlike their counterparts whose education at a private school may nearly be fully financed.

In the letter, VFW Legislative Director Ray Kelley said that many times the nature of military life makes it difficult for veterans to establish residency in areas where they may choose to attend college.

"Servicemen and women must constantly move across the country and even around the world,which can prevent them from establishing domicile in any one state," said Kelley. "We must take these extenuating circumstances into account and offer an equitable benefit for veterans who choose to attend both public and private schools."

Butterfield's bill would extend the $17,500 reimbursement cap for student-veterans attending public schools who do not meet residency requirements for in-state tuition. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 25,000-35,000 veterans are affected by this inequity, and closing the loophole could cost up to $134 million each year.

The VFW is scheduled to testify on H.R. 3483 and other pending legislation before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity on Thursday, March 8.

To read the full text of Butterfield's bill, click here.

To read Butterfield's statement about the bill, click here.

The VFW played a critical role in passing the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill in 2008 and continues to have a vested interest in ensuring that today's student-veterans have an opportunity to use their benefits as intended to receive a quality education. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.

VFW Discusses G.I. Bill with State Approving Agencies

This week the VFW joined the National Association of State Approving Agencies, or NASAA, for the organization's annual conference at the Radisson Hotel in Arlington, Va. State Approving Agencies serve as the "boots on the ground" for certifying G.I. Bill-eligible programs across the country, which is why VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci was honored to join a distinguished panel of veterans' education experts and veterans' advocates to discuss specific challenges and opportunities for student-veterans who seek to use their Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits.

Panelists included Chad Schatz, president of NASAA, Keith Wilson, director of VA education programs, David Brasuell, president of the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs (NASDVA), Dorothy Gillman, president of the National Association of Veterans Program Administrators (NAVPA), Steve Gonzalez, assistant director of the American Legion's National Economic Division, Tom Tarantino, deputy policy director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and Matt Feger, director of development for Student Veterans of America.

The panelists discussed a range of issues facing today's G.I. Bill beneficiaries, including access to benefits, responsible educational decision-making, academic planning, and proper oversight of G.I. Bill-eligible programs. The panelists also took questions from the audience on issues like VA's school compliance surveys, the evolving role of state approving agents, and unique challenges facing Guard and Reserve students.

Gallucci's remarks focused on the VFW's ongoing efforts to ensure veterans have access to quality information with which to make educational decisions and proper recourse mechanisms should they feel they have been victims of fraud, waste or abuse.

Last summer, a Senate investigation concluded that many veterans may be the victims of schools that seek to collect veterans' education dollars, with little intention of conferring relevant degrees or credentials for the veteran.

The VFW believes that a lack of quality information for potential student-veterans and a lack of oversight from VA has created an environment where potentially uninformed or misinformed consumers can be coerced into making poor decisions on how to best use their earned benefits.

Over the last six months, the VFW has discovered that while VA is authorized to offer educational counseling to potential student-veterans, the agency remains dramatically under-resourced to adequately conduct the counseling on a consistent basis. In 2011, more than 800,000 veterans enrolled in G.I. Bill programs, but VA was only able to council 6,400 veterans on their benefits.

Wilson acknowledged that VA is working with the departments of Labor and Defense to integrate educational counseling into the redesign of mandatory transition assistance programs; a step the VFW applauds. However, the VFW also hopes to see legislation that will allow VA to physically contact all potential beneficiaries, explaining in detail the benefits to which they are entitled before the veteran enrolls in an academic program.

Last month, the VFW built a diverse coalition to support improved consumer education and consumer protection for student-veterans, calling on leaders in the House, Senate and the Obama Administration to take action. To read the letter and learn more about the specific steps VFW hopes to take, click here.

The VFW also joined NAVPA's annual conference this week to discuss veterans' education issues. NAVPA is the national organization that represents school certifying officials for the G.I. Bill; the men and women who interact daily with student-veterans on college campuses around the country.

The VFW is currently working closely with leaders in the House and Senate to draft legislation to ensure student-veteran success; legislation that should be introduced in the coming weeks.

Your VFW will continue to advocate on behalf of student-veterans, ensuring they have access to the quality education they have earned. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.

(Images: Top: L-R, Dorothy Gillman, Matt Feger, and Ryan Gallucci were among the participants in Monday's panel on the G.I. Bill, moderated by Joe Wescott, vice president of NASAA. Bottom: State approving agents and veterans' education advocates look on during the panel discussion. Photos courtesy of NASAA.)

VFW Builds Coalition to Support Student-Veteran Success

VFW staff in Washington have been busy over the last month, building a robust coalition, pushing for student-veteran success in higher education. The coalition, comprised of 10 organizations vested in supporting student-veterans, recently sent a series of letters to leaders in the House, Senate, and the Obama Administration, calling for improved consumer education for potential student-veterans and a streamlined method of recourse for veterans who feel they were victims of fraud, waste or abuse while using their benefits.

The VFW first scored a major victory for student-veterans in 2008, pushing for the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, which now offers unprecedented educational opportunities to veterans of the current conflicts and the dependents of career service members. Unfortunately, recent reports indicate that some of today’s newest student-veterans may lose their benefits by enrolling in schools that fail to confer relevant educational credentials.

While some continue to point fingers at certain sectors of higher education, the VFW has chosen to look at the root causes of the problem – a potentially uninformed consumer inundated with bad information and no process for recovery. Over the last few months, the VFW has learned that enough quality information is available for veterans to make informed decisions about how to best use their education benefits, and both the Department of Education and VA have already taken steps to collect more. Unfortunately, most of this information never reaches student-veterans. Plus, if veterans feel they have been victims of fraud, waste or abuse, conflicts are resolved on an ad-hoc basis, with little knowledge or interaction from VA.

Under Chapter 36 of the G.I. Bill, VA is obligated to make educational and vocational counseling available to service members, potential student-veterans, and dependents eligible for any chapter of the G.I. Bill. Unfortunately, very few student-veterans are aware that this benefit exists, and even fewer choose to take advantage of it. In its current form, veterans must first discover that such counseling is available, fill out the requisite paperwork, mail it to their nearest VA regional office and wait for a response. This labor-intensive “opt-in” process resulted in only 6,400 veterans receiving counseling in 2011, compared to more than 800,000 veterans utilizing G.I. Bill benefits.

With so much at stake for these future leaders, the coalition has asked for an overhaul to VA’s educational counseling procedures, mandating VA to actively contact veterans eligible for such counseling, asking those who wish to waive the benefit to “opt-out.” On the back end, the coalition has asked that VA leverage its resources to create a formal complaint process to address student-veteran issues, allowing VA and other agencies responsible for student-veteran programs to take action.

In addition to the VFW, the coalition includes some of the nation’s leading veterans’ advocates, including the American Legion, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and Student Veterans of America; as well as a diverse group of advocates in non-profit and for-profit education including American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers, American Council of Education, Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, National Association for College Admission Counseling, National Association of State Approving Agencies, and the University of Phoenix.

The VFW believes that by ensuring veterans understand their benefits and can take action when a school breaks the rules, student-veterans will be able to use their G.I. Bill effectively, molding the next generation of American leaders, as we intended. Check back regularly with this blog for updates.

(Image: Coalition letter recently sent to House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and Ranking Member Bob Filner, D-Calif., asking for improved consumer education and recourse for student-veterans.)