By a nearly unanimous vote, Congress approved a bill Jan. 2 that is designed to make the transition into higher education and eventually into the workforce much easier and more straightforward for veterans.
“They only get one shot at using the G.I. Bill,” said Rep. Gus Bilirakis, who sponsored the bill. “I want to make sure it’s used as efficiently and effectively as possible and that their one shot leads to their career of choice.”
Bilirakis, who was just elected to serve his fourth term representing a strip of Florida’s Gulf Coast just north of Tampa, serves as vice chair of the House’s Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
The bill, known as the Improving Transparency of Education Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2012, is focused on creating a means to deliver comprehensive information to veterans and members of the Armed Forces about the educational opportunities available to them. It will provide explanations about financial aid opportunities and about the different types of accreditation schools may hold, and school-specific information such as the total cost of attendance, sector, accreditation status, average student debt, and graduation rate. There are also regulations on how this information is determined, to ensure accountability.
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The bill will create a central means for tracking and publishing feedback from students and state agencies about the quality of instruction, recruiting practices, and post-graduation employment. Contact information for schools’ accrediting agencies and state approving agencies would also be provided so students know where complaints may be taken.
The bill also requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to determine the availability of an online tool that will allow members of the military to assess whether he or she is ready for postsecondary education and whether or not any remediation is required. Another online tool would provide members of the military with a list of institutions that meet their academic specifications and requirements.
While a lot of this information, specifically that about institutions’ accreditation status, sector, and cost, might be available in other places, the goal of this legislation is to put all the information veterans need in one place. There are a lot of opportunities and resources available to veterans including career and financial counseling, he said, but many veterans don’t know about the resources until they visit or call a congressional office.
“Not everybody knows where to look,” Bilirakis said. “We and the V.A. have an obligation and duty to be proactive and reach out to them, and the (Veterans’ Service Organizations) will help disseminate the information as well.”
Veterans’ service organizations as well as the educational institutions themselves contributed to the bill, Bilirakis said.
“The ultimate goal is to weed out institutions that are taking advantage of our vets,” he said. “We can’t have that.”
Numbers released Jan. 4 show the veteran unemployment rate at 7%, below the national average of 7.8%. For post-9/11 veterans, the unemployment rate is 10.8%.
The bill passed unanimously in the Senate and 392-3 in the House. It awaits President Barack Obama’s signature.
Follow Anna Schumann on Twitter at @AnnaTSchumann.
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