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.

Watch: VFW Testifies on Veterans’ Economic Opportunity Bills

Update: The archived webcast from today's hearing is now available by clicking here. 

This morning, your VFW testified before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity on four pieces of pending legislation designed to protect service members’ financial interests and offer improved employment opportunities and protections for veterans.

The started at 10 a.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.

VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci testified before the subcommittee, lending the VFW’s support to bills improving protections for military home owners, H.R. 4740 and H.R. 5747, and a bill that seeks to close licensing gaps for veterans, H.R. 4115.

The VFW worked closely with the American Legion to push for H.R. 4115, the HIRE at HOME Act, which was introduced by Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, and would mandate that states consider military training and experience when issuing licenses for medical professionals and truck drivers. The VFW suggested that the subcommittee should add language similar to the Senate companion bill, which would outline how states would report on licensing gaps from veteran applicants, and how Department of Labor would subsequently share that information with the Pentagon in an effort to eliminate such gaps.

The VFW also applauded Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., for introducing their bills to improve the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, or SCRA. Cummings' bill, H.R. 5747, would strengthen foreclosure protections and enforcement for deployed service members, surviving spouses and disabled veterans, which Hunter's bill, H.R. 4740, would allow military families to refinance mortgages on homes they own at old duty stations, even though it is no longer a primary residence.

Gallucci also voiced the VFW’s concerns on the proposal in H.R. 3860 to exclude large businesses from claiming financial hardship exemptions under the Uniformed Servicemembers Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, or USERRA, explaining that such a drastic change could prevent service members and veterans from finding employment.

The VFW's position was at odds with other panelists from the American Legion and the Reserve Officers Assocation, but Gallucci stressed that poor enforcement of current policy was actually what prevented service members covered under USERRA from returning to their jobs.

Gallucci also pointed to a recent study from the Center for a New American Security, which reported that employers sometimes do not make the distinction between veterans and service members with Guard and Reserve obligations, and that legal obligations tied to deployments -- specifically USERRA -- may actually prevent companies from even allowing veterans in the door.

Your VFW will continue to follow each of these bills as they move through the House. Check back regularly for updates.

(Image: VFW Deputy Legislative Director Ryan Gallucci, left, testifies before the House VA Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity alongside American Legion National Economic Division Associate Director Steve Gonzalez and Reserve Officers Association Executive Director, retired Major Gen. Drew Davis. Photo by Jimmy Petersen.)

Field Report: VFW Helps Colorado Veterans’ Forum Develop Solutions

Last year Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., put together a state veterans’ forum, comprised of veterans’ advocates and leaders across Colorado in an effort to better serve the state’s veterans. In January, a forum subcommittee, chaired by VFW Post 1 Commander Izzy Abbass came together to address a series of veterans’ issues under the title “Better Serving Those Who Have Served.”

Abbass’ subcommittee included advocates from across Colorado who interacted with the veterans’ community in a variety of ways such as workforce investment, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, military family policy, academia, and veterans’ services on both the state and national level. Major veterans’ service organizations like the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Military Officers Association of America, and Paralyzed Veterans of America also participated in the discussion.

The forum produced a report on six specific areas, outlining ways to improve support services for service members, veterans and their families in Colorado.

“We are unified in our belief that we must do a better job addressing [these] challenges if Colorado is going to become the best place for veterans to live and work,” said Abbass. “ This report is an initial step in continuing to build consensus and strategize how to implement reforms to better meet the needs of military families and veterans.”

The six areas and the panel’s recommendations are:

• Improving community collaboration: Thousands of public and private programs exist to serve veterans, but despite the quantity of programs focused on veterans, critical gaps in services remain. Those working for veterans do not communicate with one other and it is often difficult for veterans to pinpoint which of the multitude of service providers is most relevant to their needs and accessible to them geographically. This country needs a central place where public and private organizations committed to serving veterans can go to learn about each other and work together, and where veterans can go to connect to the services they need.

• Putting our warriors back to work: Although veterans are some of the most highly-skilled workers in the country, they often face unique challenges that can make finding employment after military service difficult. Some of the challenges faced by transitioning service members include translating their unique skills into civilian occupations and overcoming employers’ misunderstanding of the injuries associated with combat. We should work together to find a way to make the transition from warfighter to civilian employee easier.

• Providing easy and efficient access to earned benefits: Bureaucratic overload, inefficiency and inaccuracy continues to cause the backlog of claims at the Veterans Benefits Administration. These delays are an unnecessary burden on veterans who are entitled to the benefits earned through their service. In addition, improvements can be made to the G.I. Bill education benefit to make sure returning veterans get the most out of their education.

• Ending homelessness and addressing foreclosure: Veterans are more likely to become homeless than their non-veteran counterparts, and service members continue to face foreclosure and other financial challenges due, in part, to their mobility. We have a responsibility to make sure veterans are not placed at a disadvantage because of their service to our country.

• Improving awareness and addressing the mental scars from combat: The long-term mental health and cognitive implications of post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury are not fully known. Some medical experts believe that the injuries could be contributing factors in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. We need to start planning now for the potential wave of cognitive and mental health issues that may develop in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the decades to come.

• Raising national awareness about the unique challenges faced by military families and veterans: Our goal should not just be to simply reintegrate the service member into civilian society, but should also be to educate communities about the challenges facing those who have served.

From this report, Abbass’ subcommittee will now focus its efforts on three specific areas: Licensing and education, local VA support, and employment.

Abbass said each subcommittee in the state veterans’ forum is now working toward developing action items for the next full committee meeting, which takes places on March 30 in Denver.

To submit your Field Reports for consideration on the VFW’s Capitol Hill blog, simply fill out our online form here, or send photos and stories directly to vfwac@vfw.org. Information for this story was provided by Colorado VFW Post 1 Commander Izzy Abbass. 

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.)