The new GI Bill is turning out to be a lot different from the first one. This time around most veterans are using their money to go to for-profit schools and community colleges. According to an article by Michael Sewall in the Chronicle of Higher Education:
Advocates of the Post-9/11 bill, which was enacted in 2008, had said it could improve veterans’ ability to afford four-year institutions because of its increased benefits and new allowances for housing and textbooks. But data from the Department of Veterans Affairs show that for-profit and community colleges continue to dominate the list of the top institutions where veterans use their education benefits.
The University of Phoenix… topped the list, enrolling more than 10,000 students who used the new benefits. Phoenix operates a military division with more than 1,000 employees who specifically assist and advise veterans.
About 270,000 students are now using the new benefits to attend college. Some 22,000 of them attend just seven for-profit institutions.
Regular four-year colleges and universities tried very hard to make their schools attractive to veterans. Many for-profit schools, however, apparently tried harder.
