VA EDUCATION 

BENEFITS

VA Needs to Improve 

Program Management 

and Provide More 

Timely Information to 

Students

Report to Congressional Requesters

May 2013

GAO-13-338

United States Government Accountability Office
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-13-338, a report to 

congressional requesters

May 2013

VA EDUCATION BENEFITS 

VA Needs to Improve Program Management and 

Provide More Timely Information to Students 

Why GAO Did This Study

VA provided nearly $10 billion in 

education benefits to almost 1 million 

veterans and beneficiaries in fiscal 

year 2011. The majority of these 

benefits were provided through the 

Post-9/11 GI Bill, which in 2008 

established what has since grown into 

VA’s largest education program. GAO 

was asked to review VA’s education 

programs. This report examines: (1) 

what challenges, if any, veterans face 

pursuing higher education; (2) how VA 

supports student veterans on campus; 

and (3) to what extent veterans are

achieving successful academic 

outcomes and how VA uses data on 

student outcomes to improve its 

education benefit programs. 

To address these topics, GAO 

reviewed existing government studies 

and scholarly research on veterans’ 

educational challenges, services, and 

outcomes; reviewed VA’s strategic 

planning documents; interviewed 

officials from VA, Education, higher 

education associations, and veteran 

service organizations; and conducted 

focus groups with student veterans and 

interviewed school officials at 11 

postsecondary institutions. 

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that VA: (1) provide 

veterans with more information on 

payment timelines and policies; (2) 

work with schools to facilitate earlier 

access to other sources of federal 

financial aid; (3) promote opportunities 

to share best practices for serving 

student veterans; and (4) create a plan 

to use new data on student veteran 

outcomes to improve program 

management. VA agreed with GAO’s 

recommendations and noted a number 

of actions it is taking to address these 

issues.

What GAO Found

Student veterans face many challenges pursuing higher education, and problems 

with the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) administration of the Post-9/11 GI 

Bill create financial challenges that also affect veterans’ academic success.

Veterans already cope with challenges transitioning into college as nontraditional 

students (older or with family obligations) while they are readjusting to civilian life 

and potentially managing disabilities. However, veterans and school officials told 

GAO that delays in VA benefit payments create financial challenges for veterans 

that threaten their ability to pursue higher education. In fiscal year 2012, VA’s 

average processing times for new Post-9/11 GI Bill applications (31 days) and 

benefit payments claims (17 days) were over a third higher than its performance 

targets. Processing times during the fall of 2012 were at times even longer. 

These delays led many veterans GAO spoke with to take on personal debt to 

cover their housing expenses or consider dropping out of school. VA has taken 

steps to reduce processing delays, and GAO previously made recommendations 

to address these issues. However, VA provides limited information about benefit 

processing timelines and payment policies to student veterans prior to

enrollment, which can leave them unprepared to deal with these payment delays. 

In some cases, these delays also made it difficult for veterans to access other 

sources of federal grants and loans since some schools are reluctant to distribute 

this aid to students until after tuition and fee payments are received from VA.

VA provides limited direct support to veterans on campus, and schools are 

generally building their own veteran support services without any assistance from 

VA. VA has initiated the VetSuccess on Campus pilot, which provides veterans 

on 32 campuses with direct access to VA counselors who help them connect to 

services. VA also offers counseling and funding for academic tutoring to eligible 

student veterans. Some schools are developing services to meet the needs of 

these students, including creating new administrative offices to serve them. 

However, smaller schools have limited resources to devote to veteran services 

and may require different approaches to effectively meet veterans’ needs. The 

Post-9/11 GI Bill has also sparked rapid growth in student veteran enrollments, 

and schools have reported concerns about the challenges of supporting this 

emerging population. VA recognizes the need to leverage partnerships with 

stakeholders to better support veterans, but has not sought opportunities to

disseminate information about best practices for supporting veterans that would

help schools more effectively build their own on campus services. 

It is unclear the extent to which veterans are achieving successful academic 

outcomes, and VA lacks a plan for using student outcomes data from its new 

data collection efforts to improve its education programs. Current data on student 

veteran outcomes are outdated or incomplete. For example, existing studies from 

VA and the Department of Education (Education) do not capture the increase in 

beneficiaries under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. VA is coordinating with Education and 

the Department of Defense to develop additional outcome measures and has 

multiple efforts to collect new data on student veterans, including a study that will 

track Post-9/11 GI Bill beneficiaries over the next 20 years. However, VA does 

not yet have a plan to use these data to improve program management. These 

data could provide VA with a tool for assessing the effectiveness of its education 

benefit programs in facilitating student veterans’ academic success. 

View GAO-13-338. For more information, 

contact Melissa Emrey-Arras at (617) 788-

0534 or emreyarrasm@gao.gov. 
Page i GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Letter 1 

Background 3

VA’s Problems Administering the Post-9/11 GI Bill Add to Student 

Veterans’ Challenges 9

VA Provides Limited Support to Veterans on Campus and Schools 

are Generally Building Services for Veterans Without Guidance 

from VA 20

Veterans’ Academic Success is Unclear, and VA Lacks a Plan For 

Using New Data Collection Efforts to Improve Its Education 

Programs 24

Conclusions 32

Recommendations for Executive Action 33

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 33

Appendix I Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 36

Appendix II Title IV Programs Administered By Education 41

Appendix III Status of Prior GAO Recommendations on VA’s Education 

Benefit Programs 43

Appendix IV Comments from the Department of Veterans Affairs 45

Appendix V GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 51

Related GAO Products 52

Tables

Table 1: Major VA Education Benefit Programs Available to Eligible 

Veterans 4

Contents 
Page ii GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Table 2: Institutions Included in Study for Interviews with Officials 

and Student Focus Groups 37

Figures

Figure 1: Beneficiaries of Selected VA Education Benefit Programs, 

Fiscal Years 2007-2013 5

Figure 2: VA’s Processing of Post-9/11 GI Bill Program Claims and 

Payments 7

Figure 3: Notable Challenges Veterans Face Pursuing Their 

Education 9

Figure 4: GI Bill Call Center Volume (October 2011-December 

2012) 18

Figure 5: Examples of Support Services Selected Schools Are 

Providing Specifically for Veterans 22
Page iii GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Abbreviations

BAH Basic Allowance for Housing

DEA Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance 

Program

DOD U.S. Department of Defense

Education U.S. Department of Education

FAFSA Free Application for Federal Student Aid

LTS Long Term Solution

MGIB-AD Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty 

MGIB-SR Montgomery GI Bill-Selected Reserve

Post-9/11 GI Bill Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 

2008 

PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder

REAP Reserve Educational Assistance Program

TBI traumatic brain injuries

VA U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

VR&E Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment

Yellow Ribbon Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement 

Program

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Page 1 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

441 G St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20548

May 22, 2013

The Honorable Bill Flores

Chairman

The Honorable Mark Takano

Ranking Member

Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

House of Representatives

The Honorable Bruce Braley

House of Representatives

The Honorable Marlin Stutzman

House of Representatives

The passage of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 

2008 (Post-9/11 GI Bill) significantly increased postsecondary education 

benefits for veterans.1 By fiscal year 2011, the Department of Veterans 

Affairs (VA) was providing almost $10 billion in education benefits to over 

900,000 veterans and their beneficiaries, mostly through the Post-9/11 GI 

Bill.2 Participation in this program is expected to increase by almost 10 

percent from 2011 to 2013, in part due to veterans returning from service 

in Iraq and Afghanistan. Other veterans are still receiving benefits for prior 

service through older programs like the Montgomery GI Bill.3

Researchers have become increasingly interested in better understanding 

postsecondary student outcomes and identifying the various factors that 

can help students achieve academic success. Policymakers have also 

raised questions about the effect of federal assistance on student 

These 

benefits enable veterans to pursue an education and develop work skills 

to help them re-enter the workforce. However, it has been reported that 

veterans often face numerous challenges completing their degrees and 

still experience high unemployment rates once they graduate.

 

1 Pub. L. No. 110-252, tit. V, 122 Stat. 2323, 2357-86.

2 38 U.S.C. §§ 3301-3334.

3 38 U.S.C. §§ 3001-3036. 

 
 

Page 2 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

outcomes such as graduation rates, and whether there is an appropriate 

return on the federal investment. In light of these issues, you asked us to 

review several issues related to VA’s higher education programs. For this 

report, we examined:

1. What challenges, if any, do veterans face pursuing higher education?

2. How does VA support student veterans on campus?

3. To what extent are veterans achieving successful academic outcomes 

and how does VA use data on student outcomes to improve its 

education benefit programs?

To identify the challenges student veterans face, we conducted a 

literature review of relevant studies and interviewed officials from VA and 

higher education and veteran service organizations. We selected 11 

institutions to interview school officials and facilitate focus groups with 

student veterans to discuss the challenges veterans face. We selected 

this non-generalizable sample of schools to include a mix of program 

lengths, sectors (public, private not-for-profit, and private for-profit), 

traditional classroom-based as well as online schools, institutions with 

student veteran populations ranging from less than 200 to nearly 40,000, 

schools with and without VA counselors located on campus, and schools 

located in different geographic areas of the country, to capture diverse 

perspectives on the various challenges students veterans may face. We 

limited our scope to institutions of higher learning, defined as institutions 

offering postsecondary-level academic instruction that leads to an 

associate’s or higher degree. We did not include other types of approved 

training programs under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, such as on-the-job training

and flight training. We also reviewed VA’s performance metrics for 

education benefit claims processing and VA’s National Education Call 

Center, which responds to phone call inquiries regarding VA education 

benefits. To identify how VA supports student veterans, we reviewed 

program documents and interviewed VA officials. We also interviewed 

officials from higher education associations and at the 11 institutions in 

our study about the various support services schools provide specifically 

for veterans. To analyze the collection and use of student veteran 

outcomes, we reviewed existing data collected by VA, the Department of 

Education (Education), and other federal sources. We also interviewed 

officials from VA, Education, and selected schools about their data 

collection efforts. We reviewed VA’s strategic plan and performance and 

accountability report, and examined federal guidance on performance 

measures. We also interviewed officials at VA and Education. We 

assessed the reliability of the outcomes data from VA, Education, and 
 

Page 3 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

other federal sources as well as the performance metrics data from VA by 

reviewing existing information about the data and the systems or studies 

that produced them and interviewing knowledgeable agency officials. We 

determined the data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this 

report. See appendix I for more information about our scope and 

methodology and a list of the schools included in the study.

We conducted this performance audit from April 2012 to May 2013 in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 

sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives.

VA has been providing veterans educational assistance benefits since 

1944.4 These benefits have been put in place over time in order to 

compensate for compulsory service, encourage voluntary service, avoid 

unemployment, provide equitable benefits to all who served, or promote 

military retention. There are currently five major benefit programs 

available to eligible individuals who pursue education or training (see 

table 1).

 

4

 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, Pub. L. No. 78-346, 58 Stat. 284.

Background 
 

Page 4 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Table 1: Major VA Education Benefit Programs Available to Eligible Veterans

Program Description 

Participants

(FY2011)

Obligations

(FY2011)

Post-9/11 Veterans 

Educational 

Assistance Program 

(Post-9/11 GI Bill)

38 U.S.C. §§ 3301-

3334.

Provides benefits to veterans and service members who served on active 

duty for at least 90 days after September 10, 2001. The program is designed 

to provide individuals who served on active duty for a full 36 months with the 

full cost of attendance at a public school and up to $17,500 for private 

nonprofit and private for-profit schools. The 36 months of benefits is 

equivalent to a traditional 4-year bachelor’s degree program (36 months of 

classes spread over four 9-month academic years). Veterans who served on 

active duty for less than 36 months are eligible for a portion of the maximum 

benefit amount based on their time served. Beneficiaries can also receive 

additional funding for housing expenses (Basic Allowance for Housing) as 

well as books. 

555,329 $7,656 million

Montgomery GI BillActive Duty

(MGIB-AD)

38 U.S.C. §§ 3001-

3036.

Provides a fixed monthly allowance primarily to veterans who enter active 

duty after June 30, 1985. In fiscal year 2013, the benefit was $1,564 per 

month for full-time study.

185,220 $1,386 million

Montgomery GI BillSelected Reserve

(MGIB-SR)

10 U.S.C. §§ 16131-

16137.

Provides a monthly benefit payment for reservists, including the National 

Guard, who agree to serve for 6 years. In fiscal year 2013, the benefit was 

$356 per month for full-time study.

65,216 $201 million

Survivors’ and 

Dependents’ 

Educational 

Assistance Program

(DEA) 

38 U.S.C. §§ 3500-

3566.

Provides education and training opportunities to eligible dependents of 

certain veterans who became disabled or died during active duty service. In 

fiscal year 2013, beneficiaries could receive up to $987 per month based on 

their enrollment status.

90,657 $463 million

Reserve Educational 

Assistance Program

(REAP) 

10 U.S.C. §§ 16161-

16166.

Provides benefits to Reservists with at least 90 days consecutive active-duty 

service after September 10, 2001. In fiscal 2013, the benefit is $1,251 per 

month for full-time study, with at least 2 years of consecutive active-duty 

service.

27,302 $95 million

Total 923,724 $9,801 million a

Source: GAO analysis of VA’s congressional budget submission fiscal year 2013, Annual Benefits Report Fiscal Year 2011, and other 

program documents.

Notes: VA provides additional benefits to veterans with service-connected disabilities. The Vocational 

Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) Program provides services to veterans with serviceconnected disabilities that can include education benefits and counseling. 38 U.S.C. §§ 3100-3121. 

FY = fiscal year.

a Participants would be counted twice in this total if they received benefits under more than one 

program.

Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill became effective August 1, 2009, the number 

of veterans receiving VA education benefits has increased by almost twothirds (see fig. 1). Participation in VA education benefit programs is 
 

Page 5 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

expected to increase as the number of post-9/11 veterans grows to over 5 

million by 2020.5

Figure 1: Beneficiaries of Selected VA Education Benefit Programs, Fiscal Years 

2007-2013

The Post-9/11 GI Bill provided a new way for VA to deliver education 

benefits. Whereas VA’s other education benefit programs provide a 

single, standard monthly payment directly to students enrolled in school, 

the Post-9/11 GI Bill requires VA to send multiple payments to both 

students and schools. Under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, VA sends payments to 

 

5 The Post-9/11 GI Bill also empowers the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to authorize the 

secretaries of the various military service departments to permit eligible service members 

to transfer their benefits to their spouses or children, and this authority has been provided 

to the service departments. 38 U.S.C. § 3319 and 38 C.F.R. § 21.9570 (2012), 

respectively. Under similar authority, while the service departments have also been 

authorized to permit transfers under the Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty, Montgomery GI 

Bill-Selected Reserve and the Reserve Educational Assistance Programs (38 U.S.C. § 

3020 and 38 C.F.R. § 21.7080 (2012)), only the Army has permitted such transfers and 

only under the Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty Program.

Administration of the Post9/11 GI Bill
 

Page 6 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

students for a monthly housing allowance and book stipend,6 and pays 

schools directly for tuition and fees.7

Veterans attending participating private schools or public schools as outof-state students may receive additional benefits to cover costs that 

exceed their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit through VA’s Yellow Ribbon GI 

Education Enhancement (Yellow Ribbon) Program.8

To receive education benefits through the Post-9/11 GI Bill, students 

submit applications to VA, schools certify enrollments, and VA processes 

claims and payments (see fig. 2).

Through this 

program, schools enter into voluntary agreements with VA to pay a 

portion of the tuition and fees that exceed an individual’s Post-9/11 GI Bill 

benefit and VA matches the schools’ contribution.

 

6 The monthly housing allowance is based on the Department of Defense (DOD) Basic 

Allowance for Housing (BAH) and the amount depends on the zip code of the school the 

veteran is attending (students enrolled exclusively online can also receive a portion of the 

housing allowance). 38 U.S.C. § 3313(c)(1)(B)(i)-(iii). The amount for books and supplies 

is based on the number of credits a student takes, with a maximum of $1,000 a year. 

Veterans are also eligible for a one-time rural relocation payment of $500 if they reside in 

a rural county and must relocate at least 500 miles or travel by air to attend school. 38 

U.S.C. § 3313(c)(1)(B)(iv).

7 38 U.S.C. § 3313(h).

8 38 U.S.C. § 3317. The Yellow Ribbon Program is part of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. In order to 

be eligible for the Yellow Ribbon program, individuals must be eligible for the maximum 

Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit. That is, after September 10, 2001, they generally must have 36 

months of active-duty service or 30 continuous days of active-duty service and be 

discharged from active duty for a service-connected disability. 38 U.S.C. §§ 3311(b)(1) 

and (2), and 3313(c)(1).
 

Page 7 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Figure 2: VA’s Processing of Post-9/11 GI Bill Program Claims and Payments

Notes: Because veterans themselves are liable for any overpayment, VA regulations anticipate that 

schools will transmit overpayments to student veterans. 38 C.F.R. § 21.9695 (2012). However, there 

are some circumstances in which VA requires schools to return funds directly to VA, for example, if a 

school receives funds for a student not enrolled at the school. VA requires each school to designate a 

certifying official from one of its offices, such as the financial aid office, to administer the Post-9/11 GI 

Bill program. 38 C.F.R. § 21.4266(a)(2) (2012). Among other things, these officials may work with 

other campus officials to assist students in making decisions to finance their education.

Although veterans only have to submit one application to VA, unless they 

change schools or programs, the school certifying official has to submit 

information to VA each semester or term to verify the veteran’s 

enrollment.9

Student veterans may also be eligible for state and institutional aid 

(scholarships from state governments or schools, for example) as well as 

grants and loans administered by Education, which can help cover the 

costs of postsecondary education (see app. II for additional information 

on the financial aid programs administered by Education).10

 

9 38 C.F.R. § 21.4203(a)(5)(i) (2012).

Education 

does not count VA education benefits against the student when it 

10 Federal student aid is provided through programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher 

Education Act of 1965. 20 U.S.C. §§ 1070-1099e. 

Veterans’ Eligibility for 

Other Sources of Student 

Aid 
 

Page 8 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

calculates eligibility for the federal student aid it administers.11 Therefore, 

the benefits a veteran receives from the Post-9/11 GI Bill or other VA 

programs do not affect the amount of federal student aid available from 

Education, and vice versa. Student veterans must submit a separate 

application to apply for federal student aid, the Free Application for 

Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), just as other students do.12

To ensure that veteran and other military educational benefits programs 

are providing service members, veterans, spouses, and other family 

members with the information, support, and protections they deserve, the 

President signed Executive Order 13607 in April 2012 “Establishing 

Principles of Excellence for Educational Institutions Serving Service 

Members, Veterans, Spouses, and Other Family Members.”13 The 

executive order directs VA, the Department of Defense (DOD), and 

Education, among other things, to develop these principles to ensure that 

institutions provide meaningful information to students, including 

information on student outcomes.14 The order also directs VA, Education, 

and DOD to develop a comprehensive strategy for developing 

comparable student outcome measures, including measures applicable to 

student veterans.

 

11 20 U.S.C. § 1087vv(a)(2), (b)(1)(C) and (c). The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational 

Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 changed how tuition and fees are calculated for the 

Post-9/11 GI Bill to account for certain scholarships and waivers. Pub. L. No. 11-377, § 

102(a), 124 Stat. 4106, 4108-09 (2011). Benefit payments are now based on the net cost 

for in-state tuition and fees after the application of any tuition waivers, scholarships, or 

other federal, state, institutional, or employer-based aid or assistance (excluding loans 

and title IV funds) that is provided directly to the institution and specifically designated for 

the sole purpose of defraying tuition and fees. 38 U.S.C. § 3312(c). As a result, Title IV 

aid, such as Pell Grants, or general scholarships do not affect a student’s eligibility for or 

amount of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.

12 20 U.S.C. § 1090.

13 Exec. Order No. 13,604, 77 Fed. Reg. 25,861 (May 12, 2012).

14 These principles will be incorporated into new agreements with educational institutions 

participating in the Yellow Ribbon Program for veterans or the Tuition Assistance Program 

operated by DOD for active duty service members, to the extent practicable and permitted 

by law. Institutions participating in the Post-9/11 GI Bill program are strongly encouraged 

but not required to comply with the principles.

Recent Executive Order
 

Page 9 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Student veterans face multiple challenges pursuing their education, but 

veterans and school officials told us that problems with VA’s 

administration of its education benefit programs create financial 

challenges that negatively impact veterans’ academic success. Some of 

the challenges veterans face transitioning to college are common among 

nontraditional students who are older and may have families, while others 

are specific to veterans, such as adjusting to civilian life or managing 

service-related disabilities (see fig. 3). VA’s delays in processing benefit 

payments and the lack of timely benefit information it provides can 

exacerbate or create new financial challenges for student veterans.

Figure 3: Notable Challenges Veterans Face Pursuing Their Education

Student veterans face a range of challenges in pursuing postsecondary 

education, including some that are common to other nontraditional 

students. Like many other nontraditional students who have not gone 

straight from high school to college, veterans are usually responsible for 

managing their own finances and may be financially supporting spouses 

or children, as well as managing other family responsibilities. Veterans in 

some of the focus groups we spoke with were also employed while 

pursuing their education. For example, one veteran told us that she is 

supporting a daughter by balancing a full-time job and a VA work-study 

position, and that her grades have suffered as a result of these competing 

demands. Another veteran mentioned the difficulty of finding part-time or 

full-time jobs that are flexible enough to accommodate his class schedule. 

These characteristics that student veterans have in common with other 

nontraditional students, in particular supporting children and working fulltime, can put college students at greater risk of not completing their 

VA’s Problems 

Administering the 

Post-9/11 GI Bill Add 

to Student Veterans’ 

Challenges 

Veterans Often Cope with 

a Range of Challenges 

While Pursuing 

Postsecondary Education
 

Page 10 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

academic programs, according to research by Education.15 Student 

veterans returning to the academic environment after time away can also 

face challenges navigating the academic bureaucracy, whether in 

attempting to receive transfer credit for previous college courses or 

military training, or in determining what other sources of financial aid may 

be available to them.16

Student veterans can also face difficulty managing the cultural transition 

from the military to an academic environment, which can leave veterans 

isolated from the rest of the college community. Student veterans in most 

of our focus groups talked about these feelings of isolation, with one 

veteran saying he found it difficult to be around people who did not 

understand his life experiences. They also said veterans can feel 

uncomfortable or stigmatized when students or professors express 

negative views about the military or ask about combat experiences that 

they might not want to discuss. While some school officials said that the 

maturity and focus they see from student veterans helps those students 

succeed and become leaders on campus, they noted that these 

characteristics also make some veterans feel out of place on campus. 

Student veterans in some of our focus groups said they had difficulty 

relating to younger students, feeling like their classmates lacked focus 

and did not show appropriate respect to others.

Student veterans in two focus groups told us they 

were not aware that they were eligible to fill out the Free Application for 

Federal Student Aid or that they may qualify for federal grants or loans 

through Education (see app. II for a list of aid programs administered by 

Education).

In addition to balancing work and family responsibilities and transition 

issues, many student veterans are also dealing with the effects of 

combat-related physical and psychological injuries, which can make it 

difficult for them to participate in some classroom settings without 

additional effort or special accommodations. We have previously found 

that veterans with disabilities are an emerging population in higher 

 

15 Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Nontraditional Students, NCES 

2002-012, (Washington, D.C.: 2002).

16 As we have previously reported, students can face numerous challenges transferring 

credits from one institution to another. See GAO, Transfer Students: Postsecondary 

Institutions Could Promote More Consistent Consideration of Coursework by Not Basing 

Determinations on Accreditation, GAO-06-22 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 18, 2005).
 

Page 11 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

education, in part due to the enactment of the Post-9/11 GI Bill.17 These 

students may require academic accommodations to account for their 

disabilities. For example, a student veteran who is deaf or hard of hearing 

may have a note taker assigned to provide lecture notes, or a student 

who has reduced ability to concentrate may require a distraction-free 

room to complete a test.18 Some school officials and student veterans in 

some of our focus groups described how physical disabilities, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or traumatic brain injuries (TBI) added 

challenges to student veterans’ academic pursuits. Other student 

veterans we spoke with had not been diagnosed with a particular 

disability but mentioned various symptoms that are commonly associated 

with PTSD or TBI.19

 

17 GAO, Higher Education and Disability: Education Needs a Coordinated Approach to 

Improve Its Assistance to Schools in Supporting Students, 

For example, one student, while he did not 

acknowledge a specific disability, mentioned having a greatly reduced 

ability to concentrate when taking timed tests in class. Officials from two 

different schools described students who suffered from PTSD as having a 

sense of unease in large classrooms or open spaces, which limited their 

ability or interest in participating in both academic and non-academic 

activities. It can also be difficult for veterans with disabilities to balance 

GAO-10-33 (Washington, D.C.: 

Oct. 28, 2009).

18 There are two principal federal laws that protect disabled students in postsecondary 

schools from discrimination. The first, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 

requires that no otherwise qualified individual with a disability be, solely by reason of a 

disability, excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to 

discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. 29 

U.S.C. § 794(a). The second, the Americans with Disabilities Act, requires that no 

otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall, solely by reason of a disability, be 

excluded from participation in; denied the benefits of the services, program, or activities of; 

or subjected to discrimination by any public entity. 42 U.S.C. § 12132. Furthermore, the 

Americans with Disabilities Act also prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability on 

the part of public accommodations, which includes “undergraduate, or postgraduate 

private schools, or other places of education.” 42 U.S.C. §§ 12181(7)(J) and 12182. The 

Higher Education Opportunity Act included a number of provisions to benefit student 

veterans with disabilities, canceling the liability of veterans, for example, for certain federal 

student loans should the Secretary of Veterans Affairs determine the borrower to be 

unemployable due to a service-connected disability. Pub. L. No. 110-315, § 464(b), 122 

Stat. 3266-67 (codified at 20 U.S.C. § 1087dd(c)(1)(F)(iv)).

19 PTSD symptoms can be debilitating and include insomnia; intense anxiety; and difficulty 

coping with work, social, and family relationships. Symptoms may appear within months of 

the traumatic event or be delayed for years. Left untreated, PTSD can lead to substance 

abuse, severe depression, and suicide. See GAO, VA Health Care: VA Should Expedite 

the Implementation of Recommendations Needed to Improve Post-Traumatic Stress 

Disorder Services, GAO-05-287 (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 16, 2005).
 

Page 12 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

their class schedules with numerous medical appointments for servicerelated injuries. For example, a veteran in one of our focus groups 

reported that he decided to stop attending PTSD counseling sessions 

because they conflicted with his class schedule. To mitigate the effects of 

these various physical and psychological challenges, two student 

veterans told us that they chose to take classes online rather than in a 

traditional classroom setting.20 For example, one student veteran with a 

mobility disability told us that online classes allow him to avoid the 

difficulties of commuting to a classroom building.

Student veterans in most focus groups and most school officials told us 

that VA’s delayed processing of education benefit payments can create or 

exacerbate financial challenges for student veterans as they begin their 

postsecondary education. In fiscal year 2012, it took an average of 31 

days for VA to process new applications for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, 8 days 

longer than VA’s performance target, and 17 days to process claims for 

benefit payments, 5 days longer than VA’s performance target. 21

 

20 For additional information on online learning, see GAO, Higher Education: Use of New 

Data Could Help Improve Oversight of Distance Education, 

Processing times during the fall of 2012 were at times even longer, with 

average processing times reaching up to 45 days for new applications 

and 22 days for benefit payments. Student veterans in some of our focus 

groups reported having their benefits delayed for two months or longer. 

Student veterans provided several examples of challenges that they 

experience as a result of these delays, including threats of eviction or 

having utilities turned off, and student veterans in most of our focus 

groups reported taking on large amounts of personal debt, such as 

GAO-12-39 (Washington, 

D.C.: Nov. 17, 2011).

21 A student veteran may apply for Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits (an original claim) either 

before or after enrolling in school. Once a student is enrolled, the school must also submit 

a supplemental claim for benefit payments to VA in order to for the school to receive 

payment for tuition and fees and the veteran to receive the monthly housing allowance.

Delayed Benefits and a 

Lack of Timely 

Information from VA 

Create Financial 

Challenges

Delayed benefit payments and 

varying monthly payments add 

to student veterans’ challenges 
 

Page 13 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

incurring credit card debt or bank loans to make up the shortfall. A 

veteran in one focus group told us that he and his family brought another 

student veteran into their home when they found out he was living in his 

car because his benefits were delayed and he did not have money to 

cover his housing expenses. These financial concerns create an 

additional challenge for students that can make it difficult for them to 

concentrate on their school work. Some student veterans and school 

officials told us that the delays are a particular pressure point during the 

first semester of enrollment. Student veterans in some focus groups said 

these payment delays caused them or other student veterans to 

reconsider their decision to pursue higher education and to contemplate 

dropping out of school, and officials at several schools said that payment 

delays have caused some veterans to drop out of their institutions.

Student veterans can also face challenges budgeting for their housing 

expenses during school breaks due to recent statutory changes that 

eliminated benefit payments during breaks in the academic calendar, 

known as “interval payments” or “break pay.” Until passage of the Post9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010,22 VA 

had been authorized, under certain conditions, to pay eligible student 

veterans housing allowances under the Post-9/11 GI Bill during periods 

between school terms.23 The 2010 act eliminated these payments for any 

breaks longer than seven days.24

 

22 Pub. L. No. 111-377, 124 Stat. 4106 (2011). 

As a result, housing allowance 

payments are now prorated in any months during which there are school 

breaks, such as December and January and during spring break at many 

schools. This change ensures that veterans preserve their 36 months of 

benefits for when they are actually taking classes, but it creates 

significant challenges for students who lack other means of paying their 

monthly living expenses. The resulting variability of housing allowance 

payments combined with delayed payments increase the complexity 

faced by student veterans in budgeting for household needs or 

23 VA was authorized to pay allowances to student veterans during any breaks that did not 

exceed eight weeks and were shorter than both the terms preceding and following. 38 

U.S.C. § 3680(a) (2006).

24 § 206, 124 Stat. 4126 (codified at 38 U.S.C. § 3680(a)). This change originated out of 

concern that veterans using part of their entitlement during periods when they “were not 

actively pursuing an education” could result in failure to complete their educational 

objectives within the 36 months of benefits to which they are entitled. It was also expected 

to reduce program expenditures. S. Rep. No. 111-346, at 23-24 and 27-28 (2010).
 

Page 14 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

determining needs for additional funding, such as seeking employment or 

applying for federal student aid from Education. Veterans in some of our 

focus groups said it is difficult for them to find outside employment for just 

a month or less, or to increase hours at existing part-time jobs to make up 

for the loss of benefits during school breaks.

Although schools we visited generally allow veterans to stay enrolled in 

classes despite VA’s processing delays, 25 the delays can also limit 

student veterans’ ability to access alternative federal sources of student 

aid to cover their housing expenses while they await their benefits from 

VA.26 Student veterans in some of our focus groups said that their 

schools do not disburse to veterans any other sources of aid they may 

have been awarded, including federal grants and loans provided by 

Education,27 until payments are received from VA to cover the veterans’ 

charges for tuition and fees.28 As we have previously reported, the 

effective integration of related federal activities is necessary to achieve 

cross-cutting goals. 29

 

25 Some school officials told us that their schools allow veterans to remain enrolled in 

class even if tuition and fee payments from VA are still being processed past the university 

deadline. Two school officials said the schools understand that VA is still working through 

processing issues, and they assume that if a student has a certificate of eligibility VA will 

eventually process the student’s tuition and fees payment.

Although VA and Education both provide funding to 

help veterans afford higher education, VA’s payment delays hinder 

schools’ abilities to timely provide other needed federal financial 

26 We previously found that veterans generally received similar amounts of grants and 

loans from Education as nonveterans. See GAO, Higher Education: Veteran Students 

Received Similar Amounts of Title IV Aid As Nonveterans but More Total Aid with GI 

Benefits, GAO-08-741 (Washington, D.C.: June 20, 2008).

27 Students may apply for federal student aid funds in greater amounts than the tuition 

and fees charged by their school. Additional costs factored into “cost of attendance” can 

include average payments for books and supplies, room and board, dependent care, or 

costs related to disabilities. Because the cost of attendance is higher than tuition and fees, 

many students will apply for aid beyond the costs directly payable to the school, which 

results in a refund of remaining funds to students after tuition has been paid.

28 Because VA benefits are excluded from the calculation for Title IV financial aid, it is 

possible that a student veteran could receive grants and loans covering the full cost of 

attendance in addition to their Post-9/11 GI Bill or other VA benefits. Officials from a 

higher education association representing schools said that, in such cases, it would be 

possible to have a credit balance even before VA benefits are disbursed. 

29 GAO, Managing for Results: GPRA Modernization Act Implementation Provides 

Important Opportunities to Address Government Challenges, GAO-11-617T (Washington 

D.C.: May 10, 2011).
 

Page 15 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

assistance to student veterans. These barriers to the timely distribution of 

other federal grants and loans can therefore impede the effective 

operation of other federal student aid programs and stewardship of 

federal resources. Students’ inability to access other forms of aid to cover 

their living expenses reduces their financial options and can lead to 

increased reliance on personal loans or credit card debt. An official from a 

higher education association representing schools said they knew of 

some schools that will occasionally pay students other aid they have been 

awarded in advance of VA payments if the school knows that the money 

will be coming from VA for tuition and fees. The official said schools’ 

ability to provide students earlier access to other sources of financial aid 

may be limited in part because the schools don’t have enough information 

from VA about how much money to expect.

We have previously issued recommendations to VA to address 

longstanding concerns with Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit processing delays, 

and VA has taken some steps in response (see app. III for the status of 

our recent recommendations to VA regarding its education benefit 

programs). In 2011, we examined the cause of these delays and 

determined that VA faced many challenges in processing the volume of 

claims it received, including the absence of an adequate information 

system to process claims. 30

 

30 See GAO, Veterans’ Education Benefits: Enhanced Guidance and Collaboration Could 

Improve Administration of the Post-9/11 GI Bill Program,

VA has been developing a new system to 

address payment delays by automating key functions of the claims 

process, and implementing the program in multiple phases. However, the 

full implementation of this system, the Long Term Solution (LTS), has 

faced repeated delays. VA officials told us that recent statutory changes 

to the program required VA to modify the system and extend its 

deployment schedule. For instance, VA had to modify its system to reflect 

GAO-11-356R (Washington, 

D.C.: May 5, 2011). GAO recommended that VA should collaborate with Education to 

leverage their experience administering student aid and explore opportunities for 

streamlining VA’s administrative practices. As a result of this recommendation, officials 

from VA and Education met on several occasions to discuss the processes used by each 

agency to deliver and recoup funds issued for educational assistance. VA determined that 

existing statutory and technical differences prevent VA from adopting certain Education 

processes that have been deemed effective in administering federal student assistance. 

See GAO-11-356R. 
 

Page 16 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

statutory changes to the way tuition and fees are calculated.31

VA officials said the recent deployment of the LTS is already helping 

address the backlog of unprocessed claims. Although all original claims 

are still processed by hand, VA officials said that LTS now automatically 

processes more than 45 percent of supplemental claims. According to VA 

officials, the average processing times for supplemental claims dropped 

to 6 days in April 2013 due primarily to the automation provided by LTS. 

Officials also said that the automation of supplemental claims allowed the 

agency to shift human resources to processing original claims, which 

decreased original claims processing times to 19 days in April 2013. VA 

has traditionally struggled with the volume of claims during peak fall 

processing months, so this coming fall (2013) will show the extent to 

which automation has increased capacity since it will be the first time 

claims processing will be automated for the full fall semester.

Because of 

these and other delays, VA officials said they were not able to fully deploy 

the most recent wave of LTS, which introduced automated processing of 

some claims, until September 24, 2012. VA officials told us that this 

delay, in conjunction with increasing claims volume, contributed to longer 

average processing times for original claims (which establish a veteran’s 

eligibility) and supplemental claims (which initiate benefit payments).

VA offers little information about its benefit processing times and housing 

allowance policies, and leaves student veterans unprepared to deal with 

the financial consequence of payment delays and prorated housing 

allowance payments during school breaks. While delayed and varying 

payments present financial challenges for student veterans and their 

households, a lack of advance notice about benefit policies and process 

limits student veterans’ ability to prepare for these challenges and 

evaluate and make informed financial decisions. Student veterans in 

some of our focus groups said they did not have advance warning about

these delays in any correspondence from VA or their schools. VA officials 

confirmed that they do not provide any advance information to students 

about how long to expect for claims to be processed. VA officials said that 

 

31 Before the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010, 

tuition and fees were assessed annually on a statewide basis not to exceed the maximum 

in-state tuition and fees for a public school. The act amended tuition and fees provisions to 

cover public schools, and capped payments for academic year 2011 at $17,500 a year for 

private and foreign schools. § 102(a), 124 Stat. 2011 (codified at 38 U.S.C. § 

3313(c)(1)(A)(ii)(II)(aa)). 

A Lack of Information from VA 

About Benefit Policies and 

Process May Further Impede 

Student Veterans’ Educational 

Success 
 

Page 17 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

information about payment amounts and timeframes varies depending on 

when and where a student decides to enroll and the department does not 

provide estimates when it initially processes eligibility certification 

paperwork. The lack of estimated benefit payment timelines, however, 

has negative consequences on student veterans’ ability to budget for their 

housing expenses. VA does provide some information on its break pay 

policy in the certification and award letters that VA sends to student 

veterans,32 as well as some information on the GI Bill website,33

Student veterans also faced multiple challenges when they attempted to 

contact VA with questions about their benefits or payment status. Student 

veterans we spoke with reported waiting an hour or more to speak with a 

representative whenever they called VA’s toll-free call center (1-888-

GIBILL-1). When we attempted to call the toll-free number between 

October and December 2012, 19 of 51 calls could not be processed due 

to high call volume, 27 were given an estimated wait time of 33 to 50 

minutes, and the remaining 5 calls reached a message saying that they 

were connected, but may wait 20 minutes or more to speak to an 

operator. VA officials pointed to an increase in education benefit claims 

as one driver of greater call volume: call volume increased 142 percent 

from October 2011 to October 2012 at the same time as the number of 

claims submitted by veterans and schools increased. VA data on its 

but 

students in one of our focus groups told us they were surprised the first 

time they received a smaller housing allowance payment. They did not 

know why the payment was smaller until they either called the VA call 

center or found out about the break pay policy from classmates or school 

officials. Some students, because of the delays in receiving their initial 

housing allowance checks and book stipends, told us they did not know 

what their regular benefit amount should be because they were getting a 

different amount every month.

 

32 The award letters that VA sends to student veterans mention that beneficiaries will 

receive prorated payments for months in which semesters begin or end, but the letters do 

not say that other breaks, such as spring break, may also trigger smaller payments, if 

those breaks are more than seven days long.

33 The GI Bill website (gibill.va.gov) includes a paragraph describing the end of break pay 

on its main page for the Post-9/11 GI Bill (as of April 8, 2013). However, there is no 

mention of break pay policy on the page describing the housing allowance policy, or on a 

link that directs veterans to “determine your [monthly housing allowance] for most 

circumstances” (as of April 8, 2013). Additionally, the “search frequently asked questions” 

function on the website does not address break pay or varied monthly housing payments 

(as of February 25, 2013). 
 

Page 18 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

education call center show that, for fiscal year 2012, 38 percent of 6.1 

million incoming calls to the system were blocked (meaning that the 

system did not have the capacity to process them) (see fig. 4). Among the 

calls that entered the system, 22 percent were abandoned, meaning that 

the caller hung up before reaching a representative.

Figure 4: GI Bill Call Center Volume (October 2011-December 2012)

We have previously issued recommendations to VA to address problems 

with call center operations, and VA has taken some steps in response. In 

our 2011 report, we assessed call center performance and noted 

concerns including long wait times and questions about the accuracy and 

consistency of information call center agents provided to students and 

schools. 34

 

34 See 

To address these concerns, we recommended that VA 

establish performance measures for the VA call center. VA officials said 

they have since developed draft performance measures for their call 

center and are in the process of finalizing them. In addition, VA officials 

said they have implemented several new initiatives to improve call center 

GAO-11-356R and GAO, VA Education Benefits: Actions Taken, but Outreach and 

Oversight Could Be Improved, GAO-11-256 (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 28, 2011).
 

Page 19 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

operations. For example, callers now have the option of having a call 

center operator call them back once they are available rather than waiting 

on hold. Additionally, callers can be routed to an automated system to get 

the amount of their most recent benefit check.

Despite VA’s recent effort to improve call center operations, the call 

center still has difficulty handling the large volume of calls it receives from 

student veterans. As illustrated in figure 4, the recent high rates of 

blocked calls are likely due to the large increase in call volume from June 

2012 through October 2012, the same time VA was processing fall 

semester benefits. The high call volume may be a symptom of the lack of 

benefit information available to veterans. Since VA does not provide 

information in advance to student veterans about payment delays or 

amounts, veterans must contact the call center to get answers to their 

basic questions. In our focus groups, student veterans said they 

attempted to contact VA’s call center for information on the status of their 

benefits processing and to ask about missing or late benefit payments. 

Since veterans may not know how long it typically takes VA to process 

benefits, they may be more likely to contact the call center at the 

beginning of the academic term to inquire about their benefits. In 

commenting on a draft of this report, VA reported improvements in call 

center performance, with average caller wait times falling to less than 2 

minutes in April 2013. However, it remains to be seen whether these 

improvements can be maintained when call volumes increase during the 

peak fall benefit processing period.
 

Page 20 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

VA has begun some efforts to improve support services for student 

veterans, though these are currently limited to a small number of 

campuses. Begun in 2008, VetSuccess on Campus is a pilot program that 

places VA counselors on a school campus to provide opportunities for 

direct interaction with student veterans and school staff. The VA 

counselors work in tandem with the school’s existing resources for 

veterans to provide counseling to student veterans and connect them to 

existing support services from VA, the school, and community 

organizations.35 Two of the schools that we visited have VetSuccess 

counselors on campus, and school officials at those schools noted that 

the presence of VetSuccess counselors provided an opportunity for the 

universities to increase their outreach efforts to student veterans on 

campus. Currently, VA has established VetSuccess counselors at 32 

institutions, and the agency plans to dedicate an additional 129 full-time 

equivalent counselors to VetSuccess on Campus to expand to more 

schools in fiscal years 2013 and 2014.36

In addition to VetSuccess on Campus, VA has made some other services 

available to student veterans. VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and 

Employment program offers educational-vocational counseling to 

veterans who are eligible for VA education benefits.

A Vocational Rehabilitation and 

Employment official said that VA would like to eventually serve all schools 

with 500 or more student veterans enrolled. Despite this expansion, 

VetSuccess counselors will still only be available at a small fraction of the 

over 5,800 institutions that enroll student veterans.

37 This counseling 

includes psychological testing and a discussion of employment and 

education goals. Additionally, student veterans are eligible to apply for 

financial assistance to pay for academic tutoring,38

 

35 The VetSuccess on Campus program is operated through VA’s Vocational 

Rehabilitation and Employment division, but the counselors’ services are generally 

available to all student veterans.

and student veterans 

may work at their schools in VA work study jobs while receiving GI Bill 

36 VetSuccess dedicates approximately one full-time counselor to each participating 

school, but some schools have multiple counselors, and some counselors work with 

multiple schools.

37 38 U.S.C. § 3104(a)(1) and (2).

38 38 U.S.C. §§ 3314 and 3492.

VA Provides Limited 

Support to Veterans 

on Campus and 

Schools are Generally 

Building Services for 

Veterans Without 

Guidance from VA
 

Page 21 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

benefits, as long as the students are working in direct support of the 

school’s veteran services.39

Many of the schools we visited are also taking steps to improve the 

support services they provide to student veterans; though these efforts 

varied in size and scope. According to school officials, and as illustrated 

in figure 5, most of the schools we visited have created a range of 

veteran-specific services including providing additional dedicated staff 

positions or even full offices that provide counseling, academic advising, 

or other assistance to student veterans.40

 

39 38 U.S.C. §§ 3104(4) and 3485.

Additionally, officials from 

several schools we visited said they support student veteran 

organizations on campus, offer a dedicated lounge space or networking 

opportunities for student veterans to offer peer-to-peer support, hold 

events on campus to raise the visibility of student veterans, or help 

student veterans assimilate into the larger university community through 

new student orientation for student veterans. Officials at schools that 

have experience providing veteran support said that it is important to 

customize services to meet veterans’ needs because veterans may face 

challenges accessing general campus support services, such as 

spending limited time on campus. Feelings of isolation and cultural 

differences can also make veterans reluctant to seek out available 

support services. Many officials at the schools we visited told us that 

student veterans are used to self-reliance, and may not seek out or 

accept assistance from general campus resources for their needs, 

whether academic, health-related, or financial. Veterans in some of our 

focus groups said they prefer to seek out other student veterans as a 

source of strength and support. To address these concerns, school 

officials we met with told us they needed to tailor some support services, 

such as engaging student veteran groups in promoting services or 

creating some peer-to-peer support mechanisms, to make them more 

appealing to veterans. These customized support services might entail 

newly-created services or resources, such as veteran-specific academic 

or psychological counseling, or they may tailor their outreach to student 

veterans to show how veterans can benefit from existing campus 

services. Schools that did not offer a service specific to veterans often 

40 All schools are required to designate at least one person who is responsible for signing 

enrollment certifications and other documents relating to VA benefits. 38 C.F.R. § 

21.4266(a)(2) (2012).
 

Page 22 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

told us that they have general services, such as academic or career 

counseling, that are available to all students, including veterans.

Figure 5: Examples of Support Services Selected Schools Are Providing Specifically for Veterans

Schools are generally building their own on-campus support services and 

resources for veterans without any guidance or assistance from VA. VA’s 

strategic plan recognizes that leveraging these types of partnerships to 

reach veterans is critical in order for the agency to achieve its 

programmatic goals and fulfill its mission to serve veterans. VA partially 

depends upon individual schools to provide veterans with the support 

services they need to pursue and achieve their educational goals; 

however, VA has not sought opportunities to provide schools with 

information that could help schools improve on-campus services for 

student veterans. As we have previously reported, schools are concerned 

about the challenges of supporting emerging student populations, such as 

veterans with disabilities.41

 

41 GAO, Higher Education and Disability: Education Needs a Coordinated Approach to 

Improve Its Assistance to Schools in Supporting Students, 

In these cases, the federal government can 

GAO-10-33 (Washington, D.C.: 

Oct. 28, 2009).
 

Page 23 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

play an important role in disseminating information about best practices 

that have wide applicability across schools. VA officials said they have 

generally relied on higher education associations such as the American 

Council on Education to fill this knowledge gap by providing schools with 

information and resources for building student support services. 42

However, these organizations may not reach schools outside their 

traditional membership base.43 Another potential resource for schools is a 

new VA proposal, still being developed, that VA officials said would 

provide grants to selected large schools, or those with large student 

veteran enrollments, to demonstrate and share results of their student 

veteran support services. VA officials said this proposal, which grew out 

of a White House task force, is still working its way through the agency’s 

approval process, and the scope and timeframe for this effort have not yet 

been approved and finalized. If it is implemented, this initiative could 

provide additional information on veteran support services, but by 

focusing solely on schools with large veteran populations, it may not 

address the needs of smaller institutions and those with smaller student 

veteran enrollments, which collectively serve many student veterans. 44

 

42 The American Council on Education is one example of a higher education association 

that has developed guidance for schools building veteran support services. Its Toolkit for 

Veteran Friendly Institutions highlights a variety of best practices and profiles student 

veterans programs from across the country. Also see American Council on Education, 

From Soldier to Student II: Assessing Campus Programs for Veterans and Service 

Members (Washington, D.C.: July 2012).

Smaller schools may not have the resources like larger schools to create 

dedicated staff positions or offices, and therefore may require different 

approaches to strategically respond to the increasing number of student 

veterans on campus and effectively meet veterans’ needs. However, 

these institutions could still benefit from additional guidance and best 

practices for leveraging community partnerships and connecting veterans 

with existing resources. Because student veterans could benefit from a 

range of resources and services including those offered by their schools, 

by VA, and by other organizations, many schools would be well-served by 

hearing about various promising practices employed by different types of 

43 Although the American Council on Education represents over 1,800 institutions, there 

were more than 5,800 schools that enrolled Post-9/11 GI Bill beneficiaries in 2011. 

44 Almost 40 percent of beneficiaries of the Post-9/11 GI Bill in fiscal year 2011 attended 

schools that enrolled fewer than 250 veterans. These schools with small veteran 

populations accounted for 91 percent of the schools that enrolled Post-9/11 GI Bill 

beneficiaries in fiscal year 2011.
 

Page 24 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

schools. Without this type of knowledge sharing, VA is forgoing an 

opportunity to leverage the resources of individual schools to better meet 

the needs of the student veteran population.

Although VA has been providing education benefits since 1944, there is 

not currently a robust source of national data on student veterans’ 

postsecondary outcomes. Existing studies from VA and Education on 

student veteran outcomes are generally limited to prior generations of 

veterans and do not capture the increase in beneficiaries under the Post9/11 GI Bill.45

 

45 The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports data on veterans’ educational attainment 

and employment rates, but these data include all veterans rather than just those who 

enrolled in postsecondary education after they left the military. These data indicate that 74 

percent of veterans who served at any time since September 2001 have taken at least 

some college courses, compared to 57 percent of nonveterans age 25 years and older. 

These data also show that in February 2013 the monthly unemployment rate for veterans 

who have served at any time since September 2001 was 9.4 percent compared to 7.9 

percent for nonveterans 18 years and over.

In addition, it is challenging to evaluate postsecondary 

outcomes for any type of student since there is no single measure that 

fully captures educational achievement or success. Researchers have 

traditionally used measures such as graduation rates and employment 

outcomes to assess educational outcomes. However, the traditional 

graduation rate used by Education focuses only on first-time, full-time 

students and therefore excludes veterans that may have taken college 

Veterans’ Academic 

Success is Unclear, 

and VA Lacks a Plan 

For Using New Data 

Collection Efforts to 

Improve Its Education 

Programs

Little is Known about 

Veterans’ Postsecondary 

Outcomes
 

Page 25 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

courses prior to or while they were in the military.46 Other measures of 

student outcomes used by schools and researchers, such as completion 

rates, are applicable to all types of students and can shed some light on 

student veteran outcomes; however, available information is incomplete.47

VA’s existing study of student veterans suggests that degree completion 

rates may vary among VA’s various educational benefit programs, but 

although this study will be expanded to include the Post-9/11 GI Bill, data 

is not yet available on VA’s largest benefit program. VA has contracted 

with the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit central repository for 

student enrollment and degree data, to conduct annual studies since 

2010 comparing degree completion rates for veterans receiving VA 

education benefits with other students.48 The most recent 2011 report 

indicates, that for the sample of veterans identified in the National Student 

Clearinghouse database, Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty beneficiaries 

have lower completion rates than comparable students, while 

Montgomery GI Bill-Selected Reserve beneficiaries have higher 

completion rates.49

 

46 Education’s standard graduation rate measure is calculated using the number of 

students entering the institution as full-time, first-time, degree/certificate-seeking 

undergraduate students in a particular year (cohort), by race/ethnicity and gender; the 

number completing their program within 150 percent of normal time to completion; and the 

number that transfer to other institutions if transfer is part of the institution’s mission.

These differences in completion rates among VA’s 

education benefit programs may be attributable to the fact that each 

program targets different types of veterans. For instance, completion 

rates for the Montgomery GI Bill-Selected Reserve program may be 

different than the Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty program due to 

47 Completion rates are defined in this report as the percentage of students who received 

a degree, diploma, or certificate within a certain time period. This can include students that 

are not first-time, full-time students.

48 The National Student Clearinghouse, established by the higher education community in 

1993, serves as a central repository and single point of contact for the collection and 

exchange of enrollment, degree, diploma, and certificate records on behalf of participating 

postsecondary and secondary institutions. VA’s National Student Clearinghouse studies 

currently include data on participants in the Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty, Montgomery 

GI Bill-Selected Reserve, and Reserve Educational Assistance Program. In January 2013, 

VA announced that it was working with the National Student Clearinghouse and Student 

Veterans of America, a coalition of student veterans groups, to begin researching 

completion rates for Post-9/11 GI Bill beneficiaries.

49 For the comparison groups, the National Student Clearinghouse used a random sample 

of students with age ranges that mirrored those of the beneficiaries in each of VA’s 

education benefit programs.
 

Page 26 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

demographic differences between service members on active duty or in 

the reserves. The existence of these variations makes it difficult to 

estimate probable completion rates for beneficiaries of other programs 

like the Post-9/11 GI Bill that were not captured in the study. In addition, 

VA officials said they have not published these studies because they are 

concerned that the results from this sample of veterans are not 

generalizable to the entire veterans’ population. This is because some 

schools do not voluntarily submit student data to the National Student 

Clearinghouse database. Although the institutions that participate in the 

National Student Clearinghouse represent over 90 percent of the national 

enrollment, many for-profit schools do not participate.

The most recent data from Education indicate that more than a third of 

veterans who initially enrolled in the 2003-2004 academic year had 

completed a degree within 6 years, but this survey included a relatively 

small number of veterans and pre-dates the passage of the Post-9/11 GI 

Bill. Although it was not designed to specifically track student veterans, 

the survey—Education’s Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal 

Study—included some veterans in the sample of first-time students it 

tracked from academic year 2003-2004 through 2009.50 In addition to the 

estimated 41 percent (the 95 percent confidence interval is from 26-55 

percent) of the student veteran population who attained a degree or 

certificate, an estimated 20 percent (confidence interval is from 10-30 

percent) were still enrolled 6 years after they started postsecondary 

education, while the remaining 40 percent (confidence interval is from 28-

51 percent) had left school without attaining a degree.51

 

50 The Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study is conducted by Education 

and follows students who first begin their postsecondary education. These students are 

asked questions about their experiences during, and transitions through, postsecondary 

education and into the labor force.

When compared 

to similar nonveteran students, veterans were statistically less likely to 

have left school without a degree, although the percentage of veterans 

51 Percentages do not add up to 100 percent due to rounding. All estimates from 

Education’s Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study are subject to 

sampling error. Because Education followed a probability procedure based on random 

selections, the sample is only one of a large number of samples that might have been 

drawn. Since each sample could have provided different estimates, confidence in the 

precision of any particular sample’s results is expressed as a 95 percent confidence 

interval. This is the interval that would contain the actual population value for 95 percent of 

the samples that could have been drawn. The margin of error associated with the 

confidence intervals of the survey estimates is no more than plus or minus 15 percentage 

points at the 95 percent level of confidence.
 

Page 27 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

that attained a degree or were still enrolled in school was not significantly 

different from nonveterans.52 Education also includes student veterans in 

other surveys it conducts, such as the annual Integrated Postsecondary 

Education Data System surveys, but these studies do not collect separate 

student veteran outcome data.53

VA has initiated several recent efforts to collect new outcome information 

on student veterans, which will eventually shed light on the extent to 

which veterans are achieving successful postsecondary outcomes. A key 

part of these efforts is VA’s ongoing coordination with Education and 

DOD to develop outcome measures for service members and veterans, 

including those participating in the Post-9/11 GI Bill. This coordination 

was initiated as a result of the April 2012 Executive Order mentioned 

earlier, “Establishing Principles of Excellence for Educational Institutions 

Serving Service Members, Veterans, Spouses, and Other Family 

Members.” The Executive Order required VA, Education, and DOD to 

develop common student outcome measures that would permit 

comparisons across various service member, veteran, and other federal 

education programs, as well as allow comparisons across individual 

institutions and types of institution. Officials from VA and Education said 

they have convened a working group to develop these common 

measures and expect to release their proposal this summer.

 

52 We compared completion rates for self-reported veterans to the rates for nonveteran, 

independent students. Veterans are considered independent students for Title IV aid 

purposes. Independent students also include, for example, those who are married, 

supporting children, or at least 24 years of age. Among nonveterans, an estimated 33 

percent attained a degree or certificate, 15 percent were still enrolled 6 years after they 

started postsecondary education, and 53 percent had left school without a degree. The 

difference between the percentage of veterans and nonveterans that left school without a 

degree is statistically significant at the .05 level of confidence.

53 The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System is the federal government’s core 

postsecondary data collection program. Every college, university, and career and 

technical institution that participates in federal student financial aid programs is required to 

complete this group of annual surveys on a variety of topics including enrollments, 

graduation rates, staffing, finances, and financial aid. 20 U.S.C. § 1094(a)(17). Education 

is also planning to incorporate additional information on veterans into these surveys 

starting in 2014, but this will likely focus more on veterans’ enrollment characteristics (e.g., 

number of undergraduates and graduate student veterans enrolled, number of 

undergraduates receiving Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits) and school policies and services 

(e.g., course credit for military training, existence of a student veteran organization) rather 

than outcomes.

VA Is Coordinating with 

Other Federal Agencies to 

Develop Student Outcome 

Measures and 

Implementing Multiple 

Efforts to Collect New 

Data on Student Veterans
 

Page 28 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

VA is using multiple approaches to collect student outcome data over 

both the short- and long-term. Since there is no single best way to 

measure student outcomes, VA’s multifaceted approach should provide 

the agency with a more complete picture of the student veteran 

population. For example, VA recently started an initiative to begin 

documenting the number of beneficiaries who complete an academic 

program. Beginning in 2011, VA officials said they requested that schools 

begin voluntarily reporting back to VA whenever a current beneficiary 

completes a degree or certificate program.54 VA officials said they will use 

these data to track completions for cohorts of veterans based on when 

they left the military. 55 They expect initial data to be available by 2015, 

after veterans that started using their benefits in academic year 2011-

2012 have begun exhausting their 36 months of benefits.56 Although this 

new voluntary reporting mechanism will not capture all student veterans, 

including those who complete degrees after exhausting their benefits, the 

initiative will provide VA with real-time data on degree completions for 

veterans that are currently receiving education benefits.57

VA is also developing a long-term study that will track student veteran 

outcomes over the next 20 years. Although VA has already begun one 

component of the study—tracking beneficiaries receiving Vocational 

Rehabilitation and Employment services—officials expect the survey of 

 

54 VA officials said they lack statutory authority to require all school to report completion 

data to VA.

55 In addition to reporting completions to VA, some postsecondary institutions are also 

using other measures to track veteran outcomes for their own internal use. Four of the 11 

schools in our study were already using alternative measures such as student veteran 

retention rates and grade point average to track student veterans’ progress and outcomes.

56 Although it generally takes full-time students 4 years to complete a bachelor’s degree 

(36 months of classes spread over four, 9-month academic years), students can complete 

an associate degree in 2 years or even a bachelor’s degree in 3 years if they are 

continuously enrolled or have prior academic credits. However, veterans are eligible for 

Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for 15 years after they leave the military. 38 U.S.C. § 3321.

57 VA is also statutorily required to start reporting to congress annually on appropriate 

student outcome measures, such as the number of beneficiaries that complete a degree 

or certificate program. Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune 

Families Act of 2012, Pub. L. No. 112-154, § 402(a), 126 Stat. 1165, 1188-89 (codified at 

38 U.S.C. § 3325).
 

Page 29 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Post-9/11 GI Bill beneficiaries to start in 2013.58 The Post-9/11 GI Bill 

study will follow three cohorts of veterans who started receiving benefits 

in fiscal years 2010, 2012, and 2014 and survey them annually about 

their educational progress, employment status, and use of other federal 

benefit programs. The survey will also ask respondents to assess the 

effect that their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits had on their ability to gain 

employment. VA officials said these studies will allow them to examine a 

broad range of outcome measures such as graduation rates, income 

growth, and home ownership. Since the first cohort of veterans began 

receiving benefits in 2010, it will be a year until initial outcome data is 

available on survey participants. Beneficiaries have 36 months of benefits 

if they are eligible for the full benefit (equivalent to four academic years), 

so VA officials said initial data will not be available on their educational 

outcomes until 2014. VA plans to use the first few years of the study to 

develop a solid base of demographic data that they can build on with 

outcome data over the 20-year study period. Although VA officials 

cautioned that the study findings may not be generalizable beyond the

three cohorts of beneficiaries surveyed, this study could allow VA to 

analyze the long-term impact of education benefits on veterans’ economic 

wellbeing.

VA has not developed a plan for using emerging data on student veteran 

outcomes to improve its education benefit programs. VA’s new efforts to 

collect additional data on student veteran outcomes present an 

opportunity for VA to better understand the extent to which it is meeting 

its broad goals for the education programs: producing a better-educated 

and more productive workforce.59

 

58 The Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment component of the longitudinal study, 

which commenced in fiscal year 2010, was mandated by the Veterans’ Benefits 

Improvement Act of 2008 (Pub. L. No. 110-389, § 334, 122 Stat. 4145, 4172-73 (codified 

at 38 U.S.C. § 3122)), and the second annual report, which focused on initial participant 

characteristics and changes in participant status, was issued in July 2012. The Post-9/11 

GI Bill component of the study was not included in the mandate. As of January 2013, the 

proposal for the Post-9/11 GI Bill component of the study was still being reviewed by the 

Office of Management and Budget.

VA officials said the new data they are 

collecting on student veteran outcomes could eventually help veterans 

make informed educational decisions; however, VA officials said they 

have not yet determined exactly how they will use the new data they are 

59 VA, Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Submission (Washington, D.C.: 2012).

VA Does Not Have a Plan 

for Using New Student 

Veteran Outcomes Data to 

Improve Its Education 

Programs
 

Page 30 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

collecting or decided if they will publicly release the data in a format that 

is useful for student veterans or policy makers. VA is already making a 

significant investment of time and resources to collect these new data on 

student veterans, with the longitudinal study scheduled to last for 20 

years at an initial cost of $1.7 million over the first 3 years for the Post9/11 GI Bill component of the study. However, without plans on how to 

use the new data, VA will forgo an opportunity to ensure it is collecting the 

most appropriate data, improve management of education benefit 

programs, help veterans make informed academic choices, and facilitate 

student veterans’ academic success.60

VA’s current strategic planning and performance measures focus on 

benefit processing and other administrative processes, such as claims 

processing time and accuracy, but not on student veteran outcomes. VA 

officials said they focus on process measures because their primary role 

is to provide veterans with education benefits, not to be responsible for 

veterans’ individual academic performance and goals, which may not 

include degree attainment. In 2012, VA began to move beyond a focus on 

process measures by administering a satisfaction survey on education 

benefits to veterans.

Used effectively, these data could 

also provide VA with a tool for assessing the impact of its education 

benefit programs and the extent to which these programs help VA 

achieve its mission of caring for veterans as they transition to civilian life, 

pursue their academic goals, and join a well-educated and competitive 

workforce.

61

To facilitate the use of outcome information, the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) has provided guidance to help agencies implement 

Nonetheless, without a plan for using emerging 

outcome data, VA has limited ability to assess outcomes achieved by 

student veterans, determine the extent to which the federal investment 

has helped student veterans achieve academic success, and target 

management attention and resources to mitigate challenges student 

veterans face in achieving their educational goals.

 

60 We have previously reported that data on student outcomes can also shed light on the 

quality of education provided by institutions. See GAO-12-143. 

61 The new “Voice of the Veterans” client satisfaction survey will capture information on 

veterans’ satisfaction with VA’s various benefit programs, including how well their benefits 

are helping support their educational needs. VA expects to receive about 3,000 survey 

responses. VA officials said this survey will provide them with information on how well it is 

meeting veterans’ needs. 
 

Page 31 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

performance management systems that articulate clear statements of 

what the agency wants to achieve to advance its mission and address 

relevant national problems, needs, challenges, and opportunities.62 The 

importance of developing and monitoring programmatic outcomes has 

also been acknowledged in government-wide legislation. For example, 

the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 introduced planning and reporting 

requirements that seek to shift the focus of federal management and 

decision making from a focus with the number of program tasks or 

activities completed or services provided to a more direct consideration of 

the results of programs.63 The act was an effort to improve federal 

program effectiveness, accountability, and service delivery. In addition, 

managing outcomes is essential to the proper stewardship of federal 

funds. As we have previously reported, it is critical for federal agencies to 

demonstrate the impact of their work and ensure the efficient use of their 

resources.64

In contrast to VA’s process-oriented performance measures, Education 

uses several student outcome-based performance measures to help 

strategically manage its federal student aid and other postsecondary 

education programs. Education’s strategic plan for 2011-2014 sets 

national student outcome goals for increasing postsecondary attainment, 

such as increasing the number and percentage of students who complete 

a bachelor’s degree within 6 years and the number and percentage of 

students who complete an associate’s degree or certificate within 3 years. 

According to Education officials, knowing the extent to which students are 

achieving stated outcome goals helps the department manage its 

programs at the macro level and provides a high level view of how its 

various programs are performing in combination with each other. For 

example, information on student outcomes helps Education broadly 

assess its full array of programs.

 

62 OMB Circular No. A-11 (pp. 545 and 547).

63 Pub. L. No. 111-352, §§ 2-4 and 10, 124 Stat. 3866, 3866-73 and 3880-81 (2011). The 

act amended the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. Pub. L. No. 103-62, 

107 Stat. 285.

64 GAO, Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1

(Washington, D.C.: November 1, 1999). 
 

Page 32 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Student veterans continue to face long delays and other administrative 

challenges almost 4 years into the implementation of the Post-9/11 GI 

Bill. These veterans have honorably served their country, and they should 

be able to expect that the federal government will efficiently provide them 

with the benefits they earned. However, payment delays have created an 

undue financial challenge for student veterans and hindered their ability to 

pursue their academic goals. VA has recently reported reductions in 

processing delays, but it is important to monitor VA’s efforts to ensure 

such progress is sustained.

The negative consequences of VA’s payment delays are compounded by 

the lack of benefit information available to student veterans about 

payment timelines and policies. If veterans must continue to navigate 

their transition into higher education without sufficient information about 

VA benefits or other available federal financial aid, they may not be able 

to effectively budget for payment delays and variations in their housing 

allowance during school breaks. VA’s payment delays also limit the 

financial options available to student veterans by making it difficult for 

some veterans to access other federal sources of financial aid in a timely 

manner. Without timely access to other federal sources of grants and 

loans, veterans may continue to take on unnecessary credit card and 

personal loan debt to cover their living expenses while they await their 

benefit payments from VA. Such financial stress may make it more 

difficult for student veterans to achieve their educational goals.

Although VA has placed counselors on some campuses and is 

developing plans to support veteran services at a few, mostly large 

institutions, the vast majority of schools that enroll veterans do not receive 

guidance or assistance from VA about developing support services. 

Some of these schools are beginning to build their own on-campus 

support services for veterans, but schools are concerned about the 

challenges of supporting this emerging student population. Some higher 

education associations are already developing guidance to help schools 

build support services for veterans, but these efforts could benefit from 

VA’s direct lines of communication to every school that enrolls veterans. If 

VA continues to provide only limited support for schools that are 

attempting to build or enhance their own support infrastructure, it will 

forgo an opportunity to leverage the resources of individual schools to 

better meet the needs of the student veteran population.

It is critical for VA to not only collect outcome data but also plan how it will 

use such data to improve management of its education benefit programs. 

Without a plan for effectively using new outcome data, it will be difficult for 

Conclusions 
 

Page 33 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

VA to identify challenges that impact student veterans’ academic pursuits, 

ensure schools’ accountability, help veterans make informed decisions 

about their academic programs and institutions, and inform policy makers 

about the value veterans are receiving for the government’s substantial 

investment.

To improve VA’s administration of the Post-9/11 GI Bill and other 

education benefit programs and help veterans achieve their education 

goals, we recommend that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs take the 

following actions:

• Develop materials or processes to inform student veterans about 

education benefits before they enroll in school, including expected 

payment timelines, housing allowance policies, and other financial 

resources such as the availability of grants and loans provided by 

Education. For example, VA could provide veterans with current 

information on expected processing times when they submit their 

original applications for VA education benefits, and more clearly 

highlight in online and printed resources VA’s housing allowance 

policies and the availability of federal grants and loans to help 

veterans financially prepare for school breaks.

• Work with postsecondary schools to identify the types of information 

that would help facilitate more timely access to other sources of 

federal financial aid during the VA benefit processing period.

• Leverage the experience and best practices of those schools and 

organizations that are currently providing support services to student 

veterans, for example, by hosting an online forum or raising 

awareness of existing resources from higher education associations 

and veteran service organizations.

• Develop a plan for using new sources of data on student veteran 

outcomes as they become available to improve program management 

and help student veterans achieve their academic goals.

We provided a draft of this report to the Departments of Veterans Affairs 

and Education for review and comment. VA generally agreed with our 

conclusions, concurred with our recommendations, and stated that it has 

taken action or developed plans to address certain issues we identified in 

the report. VA’s comments also included targeted dates for when it 

expects to complete the specified actions to address each of our 

Recommendations for 

Executive Action

Agency Comments 

and Our Evaluation
 

Page 34 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

recommendations, ranging from as early as May 31, 2013 to no later than 

September 30, 2013. In concurring with our recommendation to work with 

schools to facilitate earlier access to other sources of federal financial aid, 

VA noted that it has taken actions to better inform veterans about college 

costs and available financial aid options. Although these efforts will likely 

help students make better informed decisions, VA should still take steps 

to work with schools to identify the types of information that would help 

schools facilitate more timely access of other federal grants and loans to 

veterans while they are awaiting their benefits from VA. In regards to our 

findings, VA expressed concerns with a statement in our report about the 

information it provides to veterans about benefit policies and processes. 

We have revised this sentence to clarify that we are referring specifically 

to information on benefit processing times and housing allowance policies 

during school breaks. In response to our findings about benefit payment 

delays and long education call center wait times during the fall 2012 

enrollment period, VA acknowledged these issues but stated that our 

report should have more fully highlighted its recent progress in each of 

these areas. We included the information about fall 2012 benefit payment 

delays and call center wait times in our report because one of our 

research objectives was to examine the challenges students face pursing 

their education, and payment delays and call center wait times were a 

major challenge student veterans cited during the focus groups we 

conducted from July 2012 to January 2013. VA’s comments also included 

new information on claims processing timeliness and education call 

center wait times from April 2013 (updating the February 2013 data we 

had previously included in the report) as well as new information about its 

programs and initiatives. We have incorporated the updated information

on claims processing timeliness and call center wait times into our report, 

and encourage VA to build on its current initiatives to improve its program 

management and address the key challenges veterans face pursuing 

higher education.

VA’s comments have been reprinted in appendix IV. 

Education did not provide any comments on our report.
 

Page 35 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional 

committees; the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; the Secretary of 

Education; and other interested parties. In addition, the report is available 

at no charge on the GAO website at http://www.gao.gov. 

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact 

me at (617) 788-0534 or emreyarrasm@gao.gov. Contact points for our 

Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on 

the last page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions to this 

report are listed in appendix V.

Melissa Emrey-Arras

Director, Education, Workforce, and

 Income Security 
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 36 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

The objectives of our report were to examine: (1) What challenges, if any, 

do veterans face in pursuing higher education; (2) How does VA support 

student veterans on campus? and (3) To what extent are veterans 

achieving successful academic outcomes and how does VA use data on 

student outcomes to improve its education benefit programs? While our 

scope included all of VA’s active education benefit programs, we focused 

on the Post-9/11 GI Bill program because it is the largest of these 

programs. We limited our scope to institutions of higher learning, defined 

as institutions offering postsecondary academic instruction leading to an 

associate’s or higher degree. We did not include other types of training 

programs approved under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, such as on-the-job 

training and flight training.

For our first two objectives, we selected 11 institutions at which students 

were receiving VA education benefits for interviews with school officials 

and focus groups with student veterans. We selected this nongeneralizable sample of schools to capture diverse perspectives on the 

various challenges student veterans may face by including a mix of 

program lengths and sectors (public, private not-for-profit, and private forprofit), traditional classroom-based and online schools; institutions with 

student veteran populations ranging from less than 200 to nearly 40,000; 

schools with and without VA counselors on campus; and schools in 

different parts of the county. We also included some schools that were 

recommended by higher education associations and veteran service 

organizations because they provide strong veteran support services (see 

table 2 for the list of institutions included in the study).

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology 

Student Veteran 

Challenges and Services
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 37 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Table 2: Institutions Included in Study for Interviews with Officials and Student Focus Groups

School Name Location Institutional Sector Program Length

American Military University Charles Town, WVa private, for-profit 4-year

George Mason University Fairfax, VA public 4-year

George Washington University Washington, DC private, not-for-profit 4-year

Northern Virginia Community College Annandale, VA public 2-year

Our Lady of the Lake University San Antonio, TX private, not-for-profit 4-year

Palo Alto College San Antonio, TX public 2-year

Saint Leo University Saint Leo, FL private, not-for-profit b 4-year

Southwest Florida College Fort Myers, FL private, for-profit Primarily 2-year

University of Phoenix Phoenix, AZ private, for-profit c 4-year

University of South Florida Tampa, FL public 4-year

The University of Texas at San Antonio San Antonio, TX public 4-year

Source: GAO analysis of institutional data.

a

Although headquartered in West Virginia, American Military University offers its courses exclusively 

online.

b

Saint Leo University is headquartered in Florida, but also operates education centers at several 

military installations in various states.

c

We interviewed school officials from the University of Phoenix headquarters in Phoenix, but veterans 

attend classes in multiple physical locations, or online.

We conducted eleven focus group sessions with a total of 64 student 

veterans at the schools in our sample to learn about the various 

challenges veterans face pursuing their education. These sessions 

involved structured small-group discussions with between 3 and 10 

participants. We worked with officials at each of the institutions to recruit a 

diverse group of student veterans for the focus groups. We asked these 

school officials to send an email to all of the student veterans on campus 

inviting them to participate. We allowed each student veteran who 

showed up for the focus groups to participate. The participants were all 

receiving benefits through various VA education benefit programs, 

including the Post-9/11 GI Bill, Montgomery GI Bill, and Vocational 

Rehabilitation and Employment programs. We conducted each focus 

group in person, except those with students from American Military 

University and University of Phoenix, which we conducted online using 

video conferencing.

Focus groups are not designed to provide generalizable or statistically 

reliable results; they are instead intended to generate in-depth information 

about the reasons for the focus group participants’ attitudes on specific 

topics and to offer insight into their concerns.
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 38 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Each focus group covered several major topics, including challenges 

experienced by student veterans, services provided by schools or VA to 

address those challenges, and suggestions for how services could be 

improved. We followed a protocol for each discussion to ensure 

consistent coverage of key topics among all 11 focus groups. We pilot 

tested the protocol to ensure it covered relevant topics and asked clear 

questions. A GAO moderator led each discussion to keep participants 

focused on the specified issues within discussion time frames. With 

participants’ consent, we recorded each discussion and documented the 

perspectives raised by student veterans in each focus group.1

• All represents all 11 groups;

We 

summarized the information collected and identified common themes. 

Because our questions were open-ended and designed to allow 

participants to discuss any challenges they may have experienced, we 

cannot determine whether the absence of a particular concern or 

challenge by a group of student veterans is an indication that they did not 

experience the concern or that they did not raise it when asked broadly 

about the topic. We use the following terms to characterize how 

frequently an idea was raised by participants in our 11 focus groups.

• Most represents 6 to 10 groups;

• Some represents 3 to 5 groups;

• One or two represents that number of groups.

To inform our early work and to supplement the testimonial evidence from 

our interviews and site visits, we reviewed relevant literature to determine 

what student veteran challenges have been explored by researchers and 

practitioners in recent years. We identified 52 peer-reviewed articles 

published since 2002 and reviewed them to identify challenges 

addressed, in four categories: nontraditional student challenges, health 

and disability challenges, social and cultural challenges, and 

administrative challenges.

We reviewed relevant federal laws and regulations as well as various 

policies, procedures, and other program documents related to VA’s 

 

1

Information that could identify any participant was left out of written documentation of 

each focus group to protect participants’ privacy.
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 39 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

administration of its education benefit programs. We reviewed VA’s 

performance metrics for claims processing and for VA’s education call 

center. We assessed the reliability of this data by reviewing information 

about the data and the systems that produced them and by interviewing 

knowledgeable agency officials. We determined the data were sufficiently 

reliable for the purposes of this report. We also interviewed key officials 

from VA as well as officials from relevant higher education associations 

including the American Council on Education and the American 

Association of Community Colleges, postsecondary institutions including 

University of Maryland-University College and Purdue University, and 

veteran service organizations including Student Veterans of America and 

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. We contacted associations of 

higher education and veteran service organizations known for their 

involvement with student veteran issues.

To address our third objective, we reviewed existing data collected by VA, 

Education, and other federal sources. These included VA’s contracted 

study with the nonprofit National Student Clearinghouse, Education’s 

Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study, and the Current 

Population Survey sponsored jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the 

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We interviewed officials from VA and 

Education about the potential uses and limitations of using these surveys 

for analyzing student veterans’ outcomes. We assessed the reliability of 

this data by reviewing existing information about the data and the studies 

that produced them and interviewing knowledgeable agency officials. We 

determined that the data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this 

report.

We reviewed documents from VA about their plans for collecting 

additional data on student veterans. These included methodological 

documents and information collection proposals submitted to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB). We also interviewed officials from VA 

and Education about their data collection and their efforts to implement 

relevant sections of Executive Order 13607, “Establishing Principles of 

Excellence for Educational Institutions Serving Service Members, 

Veterans, Spouses, and Other Family Members.” We also interviewed 

officials from each of the 11 schools in our sample about their efforts to 

collect outcome data on student veterans.

In addition, we analyzed VA’s strategic plan, performance and 

accountability report, and budgetary documents to identify relevant 

performance measures for the education benefit programs. We reviewed 

Student Veteran Outcomes
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 40 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

existing guidance on federal performance measures, including the 

Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), GPRA 

Modernization Act of 2010, OMB Circular No. A-11, and prior GAO 

reports. We also interviewed officials from VA and Education about the 

selection of performance measures for their education benefit programs 

and related program management efforts.

We conducted this performance audit from April 2012 to May 2013 in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 

sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Appendix II: Title IV Programs Administered By 

Education

Page 41 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Title IV Student Aid 

Program Program Details Annual Amounts

Pell Grants Grant amounts are based on the student’s 

enrollment status and the difference between the 

expected family contribution and cost of attendance, 

up to the maximum Pell Grant allowed under the 

Higher Education Act.

For the 2013 – 2014 school years, 

undergraduates can receive from $555 to 

$5,550.

Federal Supplemental

Educational Opportunity

Grants 

Schools administer grants to undergraduate 

students with exceptional financial need, with a 

priority given to students who receive Pell Grants. 

Schools are generally required to provide at least 25 

percent of the grant funds.

Undergraduates can receive up to $4,000 per 

year (up to $4,400 for students participating in 

an approved study-abroad program). The 

minimum award amount is $100.

Federal Work-Study Schools administer federal funds and make parttime employment available to undergraduate, 

graduate and professional students with federally 

defined financial need. Participating schools or 

nonprofit employers generally contribute at least 25 

percent of the student’s earnings (50 percent in the 

case of for-profit employers).

No specific limits. Net earnings may not exceed 

the student’s financial need.

Federal Perkins Loans Loans are made to undergraduate, graduate and 

professional students with priority given to those with 

exceptional financial need. Schools administer funds 

for the low-interest (5 percent) loans, comprised of 

federal capital contributions and school matching 

funds (at least one-third of federal contributions). 

Repayment is made to the school.

Undergraduates can borrow up to $5,500 

annually, up to a total of $11,000 for 

undergraduates who have not completed two 

academic years and $27,500 for 

undergraduates who have completed two 

academic years.

Graduate or professional students can borrow 

up to $8,000 annually, up to a total of $60,000, 

including loans borrowed as an undergraduate.

Federal Direct Stafford

Loans

Loans are made to undergraduatesa on the basis of 

financial need. The federal government pays the 

interest on loans while the student is in school at 

least half-time,b

Eligible students can borrow between $3,500—

the maximum available in their first year—and 

$5,500 annually, up to a total of $23,000.

and during subsequent periods if 

needed.

Federal Direct Unsubsidized 

Stafford Loans

Loans are made to undergraduate, graduate and 

professional students not qualified for Federal Direct 

Stafford Loans, but students are responsible for 

interest throughout the life of the loan. There is a 6-

month grace period when students are not required 

to begin repaying the principal on their loans once 

they are no longer in school at least half-time. 

Annual and aggregate borrowing limits are reduced 

for each student by the amount of any Federal Direct 

Stafford Loans they may have.

Undergraduate students and graduate or 

professional students can borrow between 

$5,500 and $20,500 annually, depending on 

their year of schooling and dependent status 

(including any Federal Direct Stafford Loans 

received for the same period).

Aggregate limits are $31,000 for undergraduate 

dependent students, $57,500 for undergraduate 

independent students, and $138,500 for 

graduate or professional school students.

Students completing coursework in certain 

health professions can borrow an additional 

amount between $12,500 and $26,667 

annually, up to an aggregate amount of 

$224,000.

Appendix II: Title IV Programs Administered 

By Education

c
Appendix II: Title IV Programs Administered By 

Education

Page 42 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Title IV Student Aid 

Program Program Details Annual Amounts

Direct Federals (PLUS) Loans Loans are made to parents of dependent 

undergraduates and to graduate and professional 

students with repayment beginning 6-months after 

students are no longer in school at least half-time. 

Borrowers are subject to a credit check for adverse 

credit history and may be denied a loan. Borrowers 

are responsible for paying all interest on the loan.

There are no fixed annual or aggregate loan 

limits for PLUS loans. Parents, graduate 

students, and professional students can borrow 

up to the cost of attendance minus any financial 

aid the student receives.

Source: GAO analysis of applicable federal laws, regulations, and Education guidance.

a

The Budget Control Act of 2011 terminated loans to graduate and professional school students 

under this program. Pub. L. No. 112-25, § 502, 125 Stat. 240, 266.

b

The Budget Control Act of 2011 severely restricted authority previously used to permit loans under 

the program not to accrue interest during the 6-month grace period when students are not required to 

begin repaying the principle on their loans once they are no longer in school at least half-time. § 503, 

125 Stat. 267-68.

c

This aggregate is reached through additional loans in the amount of up to $80,000. 42 U.S.C. § 

292b(a).
Appendix III: Status of Prior GAO 

Recommendations on VA’s Education Benefit 

Programs

Page 43 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Recommendations for Executive Action Status 

Veterans’ Education Benefits: Enhanced Guidance and Collaboration Could Improve Administration of the Post-9/11 GI Bill 

Program. GAO-11-356R, Washington, D.C. May 5, 2011.

To improve VA’s administration of the Post-9/11 GI Bill program 

and address ongoing challenges, the Secretary of Veterans 

Affairs should:

• Take steps to provide for schools to receive more critical 

program information such as a student’s eligibility for 

benefits or how payments have been calculated, for 

example, to enable certifying officials, financial aid officials, 

and business office administrators to effectively administer 

the program and deliver benefits.

Closed – Implemented

VA distributed an official handbook for school certifying officials that 

provides guidance on standard benefit program reporting 

processes. 

• Collaborate with the Department of Education and the higher 

education community, leveraging their experiences in 

administering aid. These collaborations should include 

assessing the applicability and viability of adopting 

processes and actions taken by the Department of 

Education, where practical, such as returning overpayments 

of program funds or reconciling benefit payments.

Closed - Implemented

VA met with Education officials to discuss the processes used by 

each agency to deliver and recoup funds issued for educational 

assistance. VA determined that statutory and technical differences 

prevent VA from adopting any of Education’s processes. 

GAO, VA Education Benefits: Actions Taken, but Outreach and Oversight Could Be Improved, GAO-11-256, (Washington, 

D.C.: Feb 28, 2011)

To improve VA’s outreach and support for eligible service 

members and veterans, communication with school officials, and 

oversight of its education benefit programs, the Secretary of 

Veterans Affairs should:

• Increase efforts to make school certifying officials aware of 

available training opportunities, including VA’s online training 

module, and consider providing information for school 

certifying officials on working with servicemembers and 

veterans with disabilities.

Closed – Implemented

VA has updated its website to provide additional resources for 

school officials, including information on training and conferences.

• Provide more timely, accessible, and comprehensive 

education program policy information. This could include 

developing and maintaining an online policy manual for the 

Post-9/11 GI Bill and providing e-mail updates to school 

certifying officials nationwide.

Closed – Implemented

VA distributed an official handbook for school certifying officials that 

provides guidance on standard benefit program reporting 

processes.

• Establish performance measures for the quality of 

information provided by VA’s toll-free hotline and for the 

timeliness and quality of its Right Now Web service.

Open

VA is in the process of finalizing performance standards for its call 

center and web service.

• Develop outcome-oriented performance measures for 

outreach to service members and veterans who are seeking 

VA education benefits. This could include measures of VA’s 

success in reaching out to target populations, including 

service members and veterans with disabilities, and in 

addressing areas where more information about education 

benefits may be needed.

Open

VA is deploying an early communication tool to inform service 

members about their eligibility for education benefits and will 

develop performance measures to determine its effectiveness.

Appendix III: Status of Prior GAO 

Recommendations on VA’s Education Benefit 

Programs
Appendix III: Status of Prior GAO 

Recommendations on VA’s Education Benefit 

Programs

Page 44 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Recommendations for Executive Action Status 

• Undertake a systematic review of VA’s and State Approving 

Agencies’ (SAA) oversight of schools, focusing on 

opportunities to improve resource allocation, adopt riskbased approaches, consider cost-effective ways to oversee 

foreign schools, and evaluate the results of its oversight 

activities on a routine basis.

Closed – Implemented

VA submitted recommended legislative changes to the SAAs’ 

activities that Congress enacted as part of Public Law 111-377. 

These changes, allow VA to rely on accreditations already in place 

by the Department of Education, freeing up SAA staff to assist VA 

staff with outreach, training, and oversight of schools.

Source: GAO. 

Note: The status of GAO recommendations are classified as:

Open-Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned, 

or actions that partially satisfy the intent of the recommendation have been taken

Closed-implemented-Actions that satisfy the intent of the recommendation have been taken
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Veterans Affairs

Page 45 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Appendix IV: Comments from the 

Department of Veterans Affairs
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Veterans Affairs

Page 46 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Veterans Affairs

Page 47 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Veterans Affairs

Page 48 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Veterans Affairs

Page 49 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Veterans Affairs

Page 50 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits
Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

Page 51 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Melissa Emrey-Arras, (617) 788-0534 or emreyarrasm@gao.gov

In addition to the contact named above, individuals making key 

contributions to this report were Tranchau Nguyen, Assistant Director; 

Jacques Arsenault; William Colvin; and Mark Ward. In addition, key 

support was provided by James Bennett, Deborah Bland, Holly Dye, 

Brenda Farrell, Justin Fisher, Kirsten Lauber, David Lewis, Michelle A. 

Sager, Michael Silver, Michelle StPierre, Andrew Stavisky, and Craig 

Winslow.

Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments 

GAO Contact

Staff 

Acknowledgments 
Related GAO Products

Page 52 GAO-13-338 Veterans' Education Benefits

Higher Education: Use of New Data Could Help Improve Oversight of 

Distance Education. GAO-12-39. Washington, D.C.: Nov. 17, 2011.

Managing for Results: GPRA Modernization Act Implementation Provides 

Important Opportunities to Address Government Challenges.

GAO-11-617T. Washington, D.C.: May 10, 2011.

Veterans’ Education Benefits: Enhanced Guidance and Collaboration 

Could Improve Administration of the Post-9/11 GI Bill Program.

GAO-11-356R. Washington, D.C.: May 5, 2011.

VA Education Benefits: Actions Taken, but Outreach and Oversight Could 

Be Improved. GAO-11-256. Washington, D.C.: Feb. 28, 2011.

Higher Education and Disability: Education Needs a Coordinated 

Approach to Improve Its Assistance to Schools in Supporting Students.

GAO-10-33. Washington, D.C.: Oct. 28, 2009.

Transfer Students: Postsecondary Institutions Could Promote More 

Consistent Consideration of Coursework by Not Basing Determinations 

on Accreditation.GAO-06-22. Washington, D.C.: Oct. 18, 2005.

Managing for Results: Enhancing Agency Use of Performance 

Information for Management Decision Making. GAO-05-927. Washington, 

D.C.: Sept. 9, 2005.

Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government.

GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1. Washington, D.C.: Nov. 1, 1999.

Related GAO Products

(131166)
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