Seeing servicemembers as “dollar signs in uniform”

This morning, The New York Times published an op-ed by Holly Petraeus, our Assistant Director for Servicemember Affairs. She describes how for-profit colleges can exploit servicemembers who have a desire to learn more.

For every service member or veteran (or spouse or child, in the case of the post-9/11 G.I. Bill) enrolled at a for-profit college and paying with military education funds, that college can enroll nine others who are using nothing but Title IV money (the primary source of federal student aid).

This gives for-profit colleges an incentive to see service members as nothing more than dollar signs in uniform, and to use aggressive marketing to draw them in and take out private loans, which students often need because the federal grants are insufficient to cover the full cost of tuition and related expenses.

As a result, the college experience can end up hindering – instead of helping – the financial futures of servicemembers and veterans. Read the whole thing to find out more.