Among VA’s several educational benefit programs, the Post-9/11 GI Bill program, which took effect on August 1, 2009, has become the largest (see fig. 1). In fiscal year 2013, the Post-9/11 GI Bill program had 754,529 participants and accounted for about $10.2 billion in obligations, representing the majority of participants and funding of all VA education programs. This program provides benefits generally to veterans who For served on active duty for at least 90 days after September 10, 2001.those who served on active duty for 36 months, VA will pay the full tuition and fees at an in-state public school and up to an annual maximum amount at nonprofit and for-profit schools ($19,198 in academic year 2013-14). Veterans may also receive payments towards housing and other expenses, such as books. Veterans attending participating nonprofit or for-profit schools, or public schools as out-of-state students, may receive additional benefits to cover tuition and fees through the Yellow Ribbon G.I. Education Enhancement Program (Yellow Ribbon Under this program, schools enter into voluntary agreements Program).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. VA education benefits, including Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits, may be used at different types of postsecondary schools. Veterans may use these benefits at schools from any of the three sectors: (1) public schools, which are operated and funded by state or local governments; (2) nonprofit schools, which are owned and operated by nonprofit organizations whose net earnings do not benefit any shareholder or individual; and (3) for-profit schools, which are privately owned and whose net earnings can benefit individuals or shareholders. Additionally veterans may use benefits for a variety of schools and degree programs, including 4-year colleges and universities that typically offer bachelor’s degrees or higher, community colleges that typically offer associates degrees, and vocational and technical schools that offer certificates, but typically not degrees. Lastly, students may participate in a program on a physical school campus, through online programs, or both. To receive education benefits through the Post-9/11 GI Bill, students submit applications to VA, schools certify students’ enrollment in classes, and VA processes claims and payments. VA then pays schools directly for tuition and fees and sends payments for housing allowances and book stipends to students who are eligible for these payments. VA conducts compliance reviews to assess whether schools that receive VA education benefits adhere to applicable laws and regulations. VA’s central office develops policies for these reviews, which are implemented by compliance personnel in VA’s regional offices, along with state approving agencies. To conduct these reviews, compliance personnel at VA and state approving agencies visit schools, examine school records, and interview school officials and students to check, for instance, if a school is enrolling beneficiaries in approved courses and making payments properly. Compliance personnel must also review whether a school’s advertising, sales, or enrollment practices are erroneous, deceptive, or misleading, under existing law. Additionally, existing law mandates that compliance reviews be conducted annually at all schools with 300 or more students who receive VA education benefits and at all schools that receive benefits and do not award college degrees; however, VA has the authority to waive these reviews for schools with a demonstrated record of compliance. Executive Order 13607 and Public Law 112-249 require VA to take additional steps to oversee schools and inform student veterans about their education choices (see table 1). The executive order, issued in April 2012, aims to better protect veteran and military students from inappropriate school behavior, as well as provide these students with useful information on their school choices. For instance, the executive order required VA and other agencies to establish “Principles of Excellence,” calling on participating schools to end fraudulent and unduly aggressive recruiting practices and provide students, prior to enrollment, with a personalized form covering the total cost of an education program, among other things. Although schools receiving VA education benefits are not required to adopt the Principles of Excellence, VA strongly encourages schools to do so and posts lists of participating schools on the GI Bill website. Public Law 112-249, enacted in January 2013, focused on improving outreach and transparency of information to veterans and has elements similar to the executive order. It required VA to develop a comprehensive policy to include, for example, a public feedback system on schools and expand its outreach on its educational counseling service. This free service is available, upon request, to all individuals who are eligible for VA education benefits and can help them explore their career and educational goals and consider options for attaining those goals. Officials from all of the nine schools we interviewed told us that their schools engaged in recruiting efforts specifically focused on attracting student veterans. For instance, three schools had a separate department for military relations or services, which handled all of the recruiting and outreach for veteran and military students and coordinated with the school’s marketing and admissions departments. Four other schools did not have a separate office, but designated an admissions director or other official whose role was to oversee recruiting efforts for veteran and military students. Officials from five of the nine schools also said that they were actively trying to increase their military or student veteran population through their recruitment efforts. For example, officials at a nonprofit school said that in recent years it has placed a higher priority on adult students and online learning, in part, to increase enrollment and meet the needs of the veteran and military student population. Similarly, officials at a public community college near several military bases said that it wanted to increase its student population, with a specific focus on student veterans because they were a large and growing part of their local community. Officials at one nonprofit and one for-profit school said that they were interested in attracting student veterans for a variety of reasons, including a desire to meet the needs of this population and the availability of VA benefits to pay for tuition costs. Examples of Criteria Used by External Organizations to Designate Schools as Military Friendly Simplified, expedited, or flexible enrolment processes for veteran or military students. Proportion of veteran or military students of all enrolled students. Credit transfer policies that minimize loss of credit and avoid duplication of course work, including academic credit for military training or experience. Campus support services, such as full-time veteran counsellors at the school, mentoring, networking events, clubs and associations, and veterans’ lounges and centers. Flexible policies for veteran or military students, such as availability of evening, weekend, and online academic programs or accommodating needs of military students who are deployed. Military student outcomes, such as graduation rates or employment rates for veteran and military students. Participation in VA and Department of Defense programs, including the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the Yellow Ribbon Program, and Department of Defense’s education benefits program for servicemembers. Selected schools’ websites also demonstrated a focus on recruiting veteran or military students, as 29 of the 30 school websites we reviewed included sections dedicated to veteran or military students. Over half (19) of these schools had a direct link on their home page to a veteran or military student section that included information on veterans’ benefits, the school’s Yellow Ribbon Program, or information to help veterans apply to the school (5 public, 7 nonprofit, 7 for-profit). Moreover, seven schools featured veterans or military servicemembers prominently on their home page when we reviewed their websites, such as by posting photos of students in military attire or promoting the school’s veteran scholarship programs. As part of their focus on the prospective veteran and military student population, eight of the nine schools we interviewed promoted themselves as “veteran friendly” or “military friendly,” and 14 of the 30 schools whose websites we reviewed (4 public, 6 nonprofit, 4 for-profit) used these or similar terms. Schools generally cited ratings from external organizations, such as GI Jobs’ MilitaryFriendlySchools.com, as sources for their designation as a military friendly school. These organizations rate schools on various criteria, such as the availability of veteran or military support services or academic credit for military training or experience (see sidebar). Officials at one public school stated that they use such criteria to guide them in considering additional ways to support veterans and servicemembers at their school. Officials from eight of the nine schools we interviewed reported advertising to some extent in print or online media dedicated to military audiences (see fig. 2). For instance, eight schools advertised in print media, ranging from national military publications to local military base newspapers. Officials from one for-profit school said that their school advertised in about 20 military base newspapers across the country, typically at bases where the school is regularly invited to speak. Some of the schools we interviewed also advertised to veteran or military students through social media, such as Facebook© and Twitter©, and online advertising, such as banner advertisements on military-affiliated websites. In addition to broad advertising, officials from all nine schools we interviewed reported conducting in-person recruiting activities, such as participating in education fairs, where they could interact with prospective veteran and military students. For instance, all nine schools participated in education or career fairs specifically for veteran or military students, with one school participating in around 70 such events a year. Officials at seven schools said that they made recruiting visits on military bases to which they were invited, generally those that were located near their campuses. For example, officials from one nonprofit school said that they did recruiting visits at the 18 military bases where they had a campus, as well as other bases to which they were invited. Officials from one for-profit school said that it visited about 30 military bases in a year, generally through education fairs held on bases. This school also routinely held office hours for military students currently enrolled in the school, and these office hours also provided opportunities for school representatives to meet prospective students who had heard about the school through word of mouth. Beyond military bases, several schools participated in education or career fairs sponsored by veterans service organizations or held campus visits specifically for veteran or military students, such as on Veterans Day. Two recent studies conducted large surveys of schools and similarly found that many schools use recruiting practices that are focused on veteran and military students. In February 2014, Education published a study based on a nationally representative survey of schools that enrolled veterans, military service members, or their dependents in the 2012-2013 academic year. It found that 63 percent of these schools provided information at college admissions fairs for veterans and servicemembers, 32 percent provided information at events held on military bases, and 28 percent held campus admissions events customized for prospective veterans or military students. Another recent study conducted a survey of schools that offered services and programs designed for veteran and military students and found that almost two-thirds of responding schools reported engaging in similar recruiting efforts specifically designed to attract veteran or military students. To communicate with individual students, selected schools identified a prospective student’s veteran or military status in various ways. Seven of the nine schools we interviewed explicitly asked if a prospective student was a veteran or affiliated with the military. While two of these schools asked this on the application, five schools asked this earlier in the recruiting process. For instance, officials at two for-profit schools said that one of the first questions asked of prospective students is whether they are affiliated with the military—in order to transfer these students to specialized recruiters who are familiar with VA and military education benefits. Officials at two nonprofit schools said they do not explicitly ask if a prospective student is a veteran, but can ascertain their status in other ways, such as when veterans discuss their background on the phone or because the contact was made at a veteran or military event. Officials at these schools also said that they know whether a prospective student is military affiliated based on the website through which the student came to them (e.g., a banner advertisement on a military site) or if they were on the veteran or military section of the school’s website. In addition, officials at four of the schools we interviewed said that they work with military-affiliated “lead generator” websites that identify students who have submitted their contact information and agreed to be contacted by schools that may match their interests. Officials at one nonprofit school noted that it used a lead generator for one campus near a military base and was considering using it with other campuses. Officials from a public school’s online program said the school used several lead generator companies to identity potentially interested students, including prospective veteran or military students. Two nonprofit schools that used lead generators also purchased military-affiliated names through other means. One school purchased a list of addresses for military residents in an urban area with a heavy military presence to send direct mailings, and another school purchased a list of e-mails of subscribers to a military magazine. Although not veteran specific, some of the 30 school websites we reviewed used techniques focused on encouraging students to provide their contact information or engage directly with the school at the start of their website search. For example, 10 of the 30 schools’ websites we reviewed (8 for-profit schools and 2 nonprofit schools) had a separate advertising link that appeared at the top of search engine results. This link opens up a separate “home page” for the school that includes a prominent request for a person’s contact information and much less information about the school than the school’s official home page. Also, some school websites encouraged students to engage with them right away. Specifically, 9 of the 30 schools (6 for-profit schools and 3 nonprofit school) used prominent pop-up chat windows or links to “live chats” on their traditional home page to respond to questions from prospective students about the school. Once a veteran is identified, officials from most of the nine schools we interviewed said that they contacted veterans directly, such as by phone or email, and their school made special efforts to customize the individual communication. Officials from six schools said that they contacted prospective veteran or military students by phone. For instance, officials at one for-profit school said that they had around 400 admissions advisors who made individual contacts with prospective students, and about 60 were dedicated to communicating with military-affiliated students. Similarly, the recruiting official at a public school’s online program said that 6 of their 15 enrollment advisors were specifically designated to respond to inquiries from prospective veteran or military students, and that they did not have designated enrollment staff for any other student population group. Also, six schools sent veteran-focused e- mail messages and four schools sent veteran-focused direct mailings, communicating information such as the military-friendly nature of the school or information on veteran or military benefits. For example, officials of one public school said that while they send a general “thank you” e- mail to all students who apply, they send a second e-mail to veterans that encourages them to contact their office of veteran and military support services or seek out the school’s former-military peer advisors to respond to inquiries. Officials at most of the nine schools said that they did not make any contacts with students who had not first indicated interest or requested information. For instance, officials at all of the schools said that they did not make “cold calls,” or calls to someone who had not previously expressed interest in the school or provided their contact information. Officials from seven of the nine schools we interviewed said that they did not send any e-mails or direct mailings to individuals who had not previously expressed interest or agreed to be contacted. Many of the student veterans we surveyed relied on school communication and information when deciding where to enroll. For instance, 73 percent of our survey respondents reported direct communications with school personnel as extremely or very important in their school selection. Veterans cited this as one of the highest rated factors in their school selection decision, along with school location and financial considerations. Also highly rated was a school’s military friendliness—a characteristic that schools promote to appeal to veteran and military students. Additionally, about half of veterans rated schools’ websites as an extremely or very important factor in their school selection and almost three-fourths of veterans requested more information after visiting a school website. The majority of veterans reported being exposed to school advertisements—an indirect form of school communication—which, although not rated as important in their final school selection, may have influenced the schools they considered in the first place. About 64 percent of student veterans reported seeing some type of advertisement for the school they enrolled in and other schools they considered, most commonly on television or the Internet. While a small percentage of veterans indicated that advertising was an extremely or very important factor in their ultimate school selection (12 percent), advertising may influence their decision to consider a particular school. According to a study by Public Agenda, a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization, advertisements are one of the most common ways that students learn about college choices after having spent some or many years away from school. Veterans who use VA education benefits are often nontraditional students, in that they are typically older and have families and did not go to college immediately after high school. Our survey results indicate that veterans generally had positive experiences regarding the amount and nature of communication from schools; however, almost a quarter reported receiving unwanted school contacts. The majority of veterans felt that they received the right amount of email and phone contacts from schools. When asked about school actions they found helpful, a number of student veterans said that the prompt e-mail replies they received and the conversations they had with school recruiting personnel who were aware of VA benefits and veteran needs were particularly helpful in deciding where to attend school. In contrast, however, about 23 percent—or an estimated 15,200 veterans when generalized to the population of veterans receiving Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits—said that they felt the contacts they received from schools were excessive, generally from schools they considered but did not ultimately attend. Specifically, about 4 percent of student veterans reported feeling that the school they chose to attend contacted them excessively, while 19 percent reported excessive contacts from other schools they considered. Further, approximately 1 in 10 student veterans—or an estimated 6,900 veterans when generalized to the population—also reported feeling pressure from a school to enroll. In open-ended comments, a few students explained that their experiences included receiving “constant” or “daily” e-mails or phone calls, even after they informed the school that they were no longer interested or had enrolled in another school. In one instance, a student said that a school both called and e-mailed her for a month after she requested an information packet, and then encouraged her to attend a campus out of state after closing down the campus that was nearest to her. Another student said that his school called him repeatedly after he had finished classes to encourage him to enroll in more classes, even though he was not ready to do so at that time. Although most student veterans we surveyed considered the information they received from their schools—such as on financial issues or credit transfer policies—to be accurate, almost a quarter reported receiving inaccurate information. About 23 percent of student veterans—or about 16,500 veterans when generalized to the population—reported receiving generally inaccurate information in at least one of the 13 topic areas in our survey. For example, about 12 percent reported that the information they received on their estimated student loan debt upon graduation was generally inaccurate. Similar rates of inaccuracy were reported for job placement rates, the acceptance of military experience for academic credit, and the extent to which VA funds would cover total school costs (see fig.3). Some veterans we surveyed were not able to assess the accuracy of the information they received from their school, with up to a third reporting that they were not sure if the information in each of the areas was accurate or inaccurate. Student veterans may report receiving inaccurate information when schools provide misleading or incorrect information, but students may also do so if they do not understand the information provided, even if the information is accurate. Given the complexities of higher education information, some veterans may not fully understand the school information they obtain and a lack of familiarity or experience with higher education issues can make it difficult to assess the accuracy of information. For example, while most veterans reported that they obtained information on a school’s accreditation, representatives from several schools and veterans service and higher education organizations we interviewed said that veterans sometimes lacked a clear understanding about the importance of accreditation and how different types of accreditation could affect their ability to transfer credits to other schools. If a veteran cannot transfer credits earned previously at a different school, he or she may have to take additional courses, incur additional tuition charges, and possibly use all of his or her VA education benefits before completing the educational program or degree. Reports of inaccuracy can be useful in highlighting areas that warrant additional attention, as selecting a school based on inaccurate information or an incomplete understanding of available information can adversely affect a veteran’s education or career plans. For example, representatives from one veterans service organization said several veterans told them that they were led to believe by school staff or marketing materials that successfully completing their chosen program would allow them to work in a certain occupation (e.g., information technology) or obtain a certain type of job (e.g., police officer); however, these veterans later discovered that potential employers generally did not hire graduates of their program or required additional job experience. One of these veterans said that he was unable to obtain a job in his chosen field and was left with tens of thousands of dollars in debt and no remaining VA education benefits. When commenting on the accuracy of the information he received from his school, a veteran we surveyed said that although he received credits for his military training, he did not expect that they would be counted as elective credits and would not satisfy the required credits he needed to earn the degree in his program. If veterans do not have accurate or complete information on the ability to obtain credit for past military experience, they may need to take additional classes to complete their degree and may not be able to accomplish their educational goals in the time frame they had anticipated. Many veterans also reported that they would have liked more information from schools about each of the 13 topic areas on our survey, suggesting that students may not obtain all the information they would like during their school search. For instance, more than 60 percent of student veterans—or about 37,300 veterans when generalized to the population—reported wanting more information on veteran support services from schools (see fig. 4).wanted additional information included financial issues, such as financial aid eligibility and the extent to which VA benefits cover school costs, as well as job outcomes, such as job placement rates and employment opportunities in their field. For example, one student in an open-ended survey comment wrote that he thought it would have been helpful if his school had told him that a veteran receiving VA benefits can also receive other types of financial aid. Veterans who do not have complete information on possible financial aid options may face challenges Other key areas in which veterans financing their education and may have to incur personal loan debt. Further, in our review of 30 school websites, a key source of information cited by most of our survey respondents, we also found that information veterans want may be difficult to locate in some cases. For instance, when we looked for information on costs and fees, tools to help a student calculate out-of-pocket costs, and graduation rates, in several cases we found this information under sections called “Consumer Information,” “Program Disclosures,” or “Regulatory Disclosures.” Headings such as these may not be obvious to, or may be easily overlooked by, a prospective student. In some cases, veterans may not actively seek information on job or educational outcomes associated with schools or programs. For example, about 35 percent of student veterans reported on our survey that they did not seek or obtain information on job placement rates. According to the study by Public Agenda, barely half of adult students look for information on a graduate’s average debt from a particular school or a typical graduate’s success in the labor market before deciding to attend. The study found that many prospective nontraditional students do not think these types of information are essential in selecting schools, even though their primary goal in seeking education is often to advance their careers. Representatives from several veteran and higher education organizations noted that some veterans could benefit from greater access to independent and objective advice from knowledgeable individuals, who could help them sort through all the factors they must consider to make well-informed education decisions and navigate the higher education system. A representative from one higher education organization noted that more traditional students have access to high school guidance counselors to guide them through their decision-making process. Many of the nontraditional students surveyed by Public Agenda said that they would benefit from personal contact with experts who could help them weigh their options and navigate the college process. A representative from a veterans service organization noted that many veterans are first generation college students, who may not necessarily know how to distinguish between different types of schools and may be more susceptible to “hard sells” from aggressive recruiters. A representative from another veterans service organization also explained that some veterans may not be aware of the differences in the quality of education provided by different schools; as a result, they can end up with a degree that does not help them obtain the kind of job they want. In response to the Executive Order and recent legislation, VA is taking steps to help veterans more easily obtain information on schools to support their decision making. For example, starting in the 2013-2014 school year, VA required schools that have formally agreed to the Principles of Excellence (see sidebar) to provide prospective students with a personalized form that contains information on total school costs. This form, known as the “Financial Aid Shopping Sheet,” provides information on a school’s tuition, fees, and other expenses; personalized information on available grants and loans (based on the student’s federal financial aid application), and a school’s graduation rate and loan default rate, among other information. The Financial Aid Shopping Sheet is meant to help prospective students calculate how much they would have to pay out-of-pocket at different schools and compare costs and outcomes across schools. More recently, VA launched the “GI Bill Comparison Tool” on its website that provides an interactive way for veterans to obtain school information, as well as estimates on how much they can receive in Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits. Over the longer term, future phases of this tool are meant to provide more customized and veteran-specific information, as such data become available and as required by the executive order. The current comparison tool, a preliminary version of which was launched in February 2014, allows veterans to: estimate education benefits they may be eligible for under the Post-9/11 GI Bill (previously this information was not readily available until after a veteran applied for benefits); obtain information on a school’s participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program and the Principles of Excellence; and access graduation rates, default rates, and median borrowing for a school’s student body as a whole, as well as access to further information about a school through a link to Education’s College Navigator database. VA is planning future versions of the comparison tool that are intended to allow veterans to: more precisely calculate personalized Post-9/11 GI Bill and other VA education benefits, as well as out-of-pocket costs for tuition and fees; obtain information on veteran-specific outcome measures (e.g., a school’s graduation rate for veterans, specifically), whether a school provides credit for military experience, a school’s dedicated point of contact for veteran support services, and other veteran- related information as these data become available (data collection is estimated to start in the 2014-2015 school year); and more easily search for schools and compare information across multiple schools. VA officials said that the Comparison Tool is intended to provide veterans with school information collected from multiple sources in one central location. It also supplements the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet, which provides a student with more personalized information on loans and grants available from the Department of Education, but not on how much a veteran may be able to receive in VA education benefits. Both the Comparison Tool and the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet facilitate access to information that may be hard for students to find on some schools’ websites and may help respond to the needs of veterans who reported wanting more information on issues such as finances, outcomes, and veteran support services. Our survey results indicate student veterans want this information from VA and not just from schools themselves. More than half of student veterans reported that they wanted more information from VA on VA education benefits, federal financial aid, or out-of-pocket costs. Similarly, about half of the veterans we surveyed reported wanting more information from VA about school graduation rates and employment outcomes. In addition to providing more accessible information on schools, VA also expanded access to CareerScope, an online tool that allows veterans to assess their interests and aptitudes and help them develop their career goals. The tool also helps veterans determine if they are ready for college or other postsecondary training opportunities or if they need additional preparation. Public Law 112-249 required VA to make available an off- the-shelf tool to help veterans determine if they are ready for college. VA previously offered the Career Scope tool only to veterans with service- connected disabilities as part of its Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program, but now offers it to any veteran who is eligible for VA education benefits. According to VA officials, many more veterans have used CareerScope since VA more prominently featured the tool on its GI Bill website and expanded veterans’ access to it. VA officials said that CareerScope and the Comparison Tool are intended to allow veterans at different stages of their decision-making process to more easily access the information they need. VA has taken some steps to increase awareness of its educational and vocational counseling services, which have not been widely used. Veterans who are eligible for VA education benefits are also eligible to apply for free education counseling. This service offers one-on-one, objective advice from knowledgeable counselors and can help veterans formulate their career and educational goals and plans. Less than 2 percent of eligible veterans, however, have applied for this service in the last few years. Servicemembers learn about VA’s educational counseling services as one of many VA-offered benefits and services when they are transitioning out of the military. However, about half of student veterans we surveyed said that they did not start thinking about schools until after leaving the military. As a result, many veterans may not know about educational counseling services or may not remember them when they decide to return to school, according to several veteran groups and schools we interviewed. To improve awareness of these services among veterans, VA officials told us that VA has encouraged schools participating in its VetSuccess on Campus program to remind veterans on their campuses of these services.working with VA’s vocational rehabilitation staff nationwide to increase the visibility and use of counseling at schools without the VetSuccess on Campus program. In addition, VA provides information about counseling services on its GI Bill website, on the CareerScope web page, and through social media platforms to increase awareness. VA officials also stated that they are working to finalize a communications plan for educational counseling that includes additional outreach to schools, veterans service organizations, and government agencies. See VA, Factors to Consider When Choosing a School: A guide before using the GI Bill® SECOND EDITION, (Washington, D.C.: August 2013). The web version of this guide can also be found on VA’s website: http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/choosing_a_school.asp. that prospective student veterans would be expected to use when considering a return to school. According to officials from one school we interviewed, the most effective way to facilitate veterans’ use of VA services is to make information accessible to veterans when they are looking for it and in resources they will turn to for guidance. The need for more effective outreach to prospective students is underscored by our survey results and the recent law, which calls for more comprehensive outreach. Almost half of the veterans we surveyed, or an estimated 33,000 veterans when generalized to the population, were not aware of VA’s educational counseling services when they were considering schools.awareness of its counseling services through efficient and effective ways, as mentioned above, VA is overlooking some simple ways to inform prospective students about these services. Veterans who are considering school, but not yet enrolled are a critical group for counseling outreach, according to various veterans groups, higher education organizations, and schools we interviewed. While some veterans may be able to successfully navigate the higher education decision-making process on their own, others may need additional assistance. Officials from veteran and higher education organizations emphasized the need for veterans to take advantage of VA’s educational counseling services before enrolling in a school that does not meet their needs and possibly exhausting their GI Bill benefits (and expending taxpayer dollars) without achieving their educational and career goals. While Public Law 112-249 calls on VA to increase Even if veterans are aware of VA’s educational counseling, they may be deterred by the current paper application process. In contrast to many of VA’s other services for which veterans can apply online, the process for obtaining educational counseling involves finding the application form online, printing a hard copy, filling it out, and mailing it to a VA office. Officials from a higher education organization and several veterans service organizations noted that the cumbersome application process can deter veterans from using these services. According to officials, VA has not yet automated the application—a simple 2-page form that primarily asks for basic identifying information and dates and branch of service— due to limited information technology resources. Yet, VA indicated in its April 2013 report to Congress that it would prioritize creating an online application for its counseling services, and Public Law 112-249 required VA to develop an outreach policy that includes effective and efficient methods to inform individuals of education counseling.its current strategic plan, VA has emphasized the importance of providing Additionally, in benefits and services to veterans through automated and paperless processes, with the goal of reducing the burden for veterans and meeting their needs in a timely way. Data on service timeliness and other program elements VA lacks key data to manage its educational counseling program, including the extent to which it provides counseling services in time to meet veterans’ needs. For instance, even when veterans complete the application process, many do not follow through with the counseling itself. After veterans mail in their application form, they must wait for VA to contact them to set up a counseling session. In fiscal year 2013, VA closed almost half its counseling applications as incomplete because it attempted to contact applicants, but was unable to do so. Such data suggest that counseling services may not be offered in time to be useful. While VA officials managing the program did not know why the agency was unsuccessful in these attempts, they stated that one reason could be that some individuals no longer needed counseling services by the time VA contacted them. Additionally, several veteran groups we interviewed noted that the length of time it takes to receive services can be an impediment to veterans’ use of VA’s counseling services. Our survey results also indicate that some veterans are making school-related decisions in a relatively short window of time, often starting and completing their school search within 2 months. VA officials told us that they are developing a new performance measure to gauge how quickly the agency administratively processes counseling applications—from receipt of an application to closure of the file. However, VA does not have plans to measure how quickly counseling services are actually offered or provided to veterans, due to limitations with its case management system. Despite these limitations, this lack of customer-focused performance data is not aligned with one the agency’s guiding principles outlined in its strategic plan: to provide client-centered services to best meet the needs of veterans. Moreover, VA’s lack of knowledge about whether they are providing counseling services in a timely way prevents VA from conducting efficient and effective counseling outreach, as required by Public Law 112-249. VA does not collect or have readily available data on counseling applicants and users, which hinders it from conducting effective outreach. While the current application form asks for some information about applicants, such as what VA education benefits they have applied for, it is not collected or stored in a way that allows VA to use or track the information. As a result, officials told us that they are not able to identify, for example, how long after leaving military service veterans generally apply for counseling or what percentage of counseling applicants are Post-9/11 GI Bill beneficiaries. Additionally, VA does not collect information on why veterans seek counseling, such as to obtain help determining career goals, selecting a school, or completing a degree. Officials said that while it might be possible to collect some of these data through the addition of a few questions when VA develops a new online application, they have not developed any plans to do so. The lack of basic data on counseling applicants and users prevents program managers from being able to understand service trends and gaps. Without such operational information, managers are unable to assess if program goals are being met and resources are being used effectively, according to federal internal control standards for effective program operations. Further, without a better understanding of when and why veterans are applying for counseling services, VA’s ability to conduct effective counseling outreach is hindered, as is its ability to provide services in a client-focused way, as laid out in its strategic plan. In January 2014, VA launched its new system to allow veterans to file complaints about abusive and misleading school recruiting and other violations of the Principles of Excellence, as required by the Executive Order. The new system is the first to systematically track veterans’ complaints about aggressive or misleading school recruiting actions. Previously, VA had only anecdotal information about this type of school behavior, which had been difficult to identify through its regular school compliance reviews. Under the system, students receiving veteran education benefits can submit a brief description of the complaint and VA will work with the school and veteran to come to a resolution. VA will forward these complaints to a central database operated by the Federal Trade Commission and the complaints will be accessible to other relevant federal agencies, as well as state and local law enforcement. This new coordinated system should allow agencies to more easily identify complaints involving individual schools across agencies or patterns of complaints across school chains. To create awareness of the new complaint system, VA featured it on its GI Bill website and used social media platforms to announce it. As of March 2014, VA officials said that they had received over 1,000 complaints through the system and about 12 percent were related to recruiting and marketing practices. VA has also taken some initial steps to develop a related system to publish student feedback on schools’ recruiting practices, quality of instruction, and postgraduation employment outcomes, as required by Public Law 112-249. In contrast to the complaint system, this feedback can be positive or negative and will be made public so that veterans can use it in making their education decisions. VA has yet to determine key aspects of the feedback system, such as how to categorize the feedback (e.g., using stars, grades, or reviewer comments); how schools would verify feedback; and how to determine what feedback should be made available to the public. VA officials said that when the feedback system is completed, it will ultimately be integrated with the complaint system. VA has also taken steps to strengthen its school oversight by enhancing its existing compliance process and policies, as required by the Executive Order. Risk-based reviews: VA has established a new process to identify high-risk schools for compliance reviews, specifically schools that are considered at high-risk of failing to comply with the Principles of Excellence, including employing aggressive or deceptive recruiting practices. To identify schools as high-risk, VA is using information from its new complaint system and prior compliance reviews, as well as external data from other federal agencies and publicly available information. For instance, VA’s risk factors include: complaints that a school is inappropriately inducing students to enroll, large increases in tuition and fees or in veteran attendance, whether a school is close to being out of compliance with the 90/10 rule. Principles of Excellence checklist: VA has added a checklist of questions on school compliance with the Principles of Excellence to its existing compliance review protocols, including a specific question about fraudulent or unduly aggressive recruiting. While VA’s existing protocols contain a review of school marketing information to identify potentially deceptive advertising or enrollment practices, the existing compliance reviews have generally emphasized identifying payment issues, according to officials from several state approving agencies. New training to identify inappropriate recruiting practices: VA has begun training compliance staff to better identify “red flags” of potentially misleading, fraudulent, or unduly aggressive recruiting practices. The training, developed by the Department of Justice, helps staff identify a variety of possibly misleading statements or practices that might be made on school websites or recruitment materials, or identified through student interviews. Examples include: marketing materials stating that federal money, including GI Bill funds, will cover the entire cost of the program;lack of clarity about a school’s accreditation, such as not distinguishing between different types of accreditation; and endorsements by, or affiliation with, the military. According to VA officials, this training should help compliance staff, who are not investigators or enforcement officials, better identify problematic school practices and answer the new Principles of Excellence compliance question on fraudulent and aggressive recruiting. One official noted that the new training as well as other efforts to enhance school oversight under the Principles of Excellence would help bring recruiting issues to the forefront. GI Bill trademark: VA has protected the phrase “GI Bill” by registering it as a trademark to combat fraudulent use of the term and to prevent websites and others from implying VA endorsement. While VA has made progress implementing its multiple new oversight and information responsibilities based on the Executive Order and Public Law 112-249, VA’s plans have not consistently included realistic timeframes for achieving project goals. VA’s plans—including its revised plans—have frequently underestimated the amount of time needed to implement these complex efforts and achieve various goals by many months. For example: VA initially planned to launch the new online complaint system by November 2012. After learning about delays outside of VA’s control in June 2013, VA revised that date to November 2013. However, VA was not able to accept complaints—a key source of risk information for the risk-based review protocols—until January 2014. VA proposed to establish its targeted risk-based review program by August 2012, then estimated March 2013. While it had a draft policy in place by October 2013 and stated that it was implementing it for fiscal year 2014, VA did not finalize the policy until January 2014. VA also had not determined or documented the general data analyses it would conduct to assess risk by the start of the fiscal year. Although VA stated in an April 2013 report to Congress that it would prioritize efforts to allow veterans to apply online for its educational counseling service, almost a year later, VA officials said that they are just beginning to plan the steps required for this to occur. As recently as its January 2014 monthly report, VA was communicating that the next phase of the Comparison Tool would be implemented by April 2014. However, the next phase of the tool has not yet been implemented—it is still in preliminary planning stages, as VA officials said that they cannot develop a more detailed implementation plan before they have identified additional funding. VA has also not consistently documented accurate and detailed assessments of work to be done or accounted for resource constraints or other risks that can affect its ability to meet projected goals and deadlines. Although VA created plans for its new complaint system that identified the resources necessary to accomplish goals, planning for other key efforts has been more limited and has not included such information. For the risk-based review protocols and procedures, the educational counseling outreach, and the school Comparison Tool, for instance, VA relied mostly on monthly status reports to track work accomplished and tasks to be done the next month. While these monthly reports sometimes included future actions, they frequently did not lay out specific activities needed to achieve these goals and the associated timing beyond the next month. The monthly status reports, which are communicated to external shareholders, such as the White House, also frequently did not outline necessary resources, such as financial or personnel needs. Additionally, the reports did not identify potential internal or external risks that could create implementation delays—such as coordination with other internal efforts to update VA’s website or external approval for VA’s new complaint form—and ways to manage these risks. Key elements of sound planning include identifying specific activities needed to achieve project goals and realistic timelines that outline when activities will occur and how long they will take, according to project planning practices developed by GAO. According to these practices, sound planning also lays out resource issues or other potential internal or external risks that may affect the ability to meet project goals and deadlines. Effective management also requires documentation and communication of plans and progress to facilitate informed decision- making among stakeholders, based on federal internal controls for effective government management and strategic planning standards.Although VA officials said that their working groups met regularly to discuss implementation tasks, given the scope and complexity of the multiple initiatives VA must implement, the agency’s planning efforts have been insufficient. Without more realistic time frames and communication of more complete planning, Congress, other federal agencies, veterans, and the public lack complete and reliable information to be able to fully collaborate, assess VA’s plans and progress, and make informed decisions on resource allocation or other priorities. A sizeable number of veterans report experiencing problems with school recruiting and obtaining accurate information from their schools. Many others reported that they wanted more information about schools. When generalized to the entire student veteran population, our survey results indicate that tens of thousands of veterans are affected. Such numbers highlight the need for agency action to better protect and inform veterans and prevent them from squandering their educational benefits on programs that do not meet their educational or career goals. Along with efforts to enhance oversight, VA has taken steps to provide veterans with information to become better consumers of higher education. However, information alone may not be enough to help veterans navigate the complex decision-making process involved in selecting a school that will best meet their needs. VA provides individual counseling that can help veterans fully understand the higher education environment and make informed decisions, but it is missing opportunities to improve the effectiveness of its outreach and connect prospective student veterans with these services. Without easier and timely access to objective information and guidance, veterans may rely on readily available marketing materials and advice from school representatives, even the best-intended of which may not align with a veteran’s specific needs or goals. Further, while VA has made some progress in meeting the multiple and substantial goals for informing and protecting veterans that were laid out in recent executive and legislative actions, various obstacles have caused these initiatives to be delayed. Some of these obstacles have been out of VA’s control. However, VA has often moved forward without identifying realistic time frames based on sound planning practices— practices that are critical to ensure that VA can effectively implement the complex initiatives with which it has been tasked. Subsequently, stakeholders and policymakers have frequently lacked reliable information on VA’s progress in implementing measures that will better protect and inform student veterans. Such information is critical to ensure that VA implements these new initiatives as quickly as possible, given the many thousands of veterans using their GI Bill benefits now and in the coming years and the significant federal investment involved. To ensure that veterans’ education benefits are used effectively, we recommend that the Secretary of VA take the following actions: 1) Take additional steps to improve the outreach, accessibility, and usefulness of its educational counseling services, particularly for prospective student veterans, for example by featuring these services in resources intended for prospective students veterans; prioritizing efforts to enable veterans to apply for educational considering cost-effective ways to gather more information on applicants, users, and key program areas (such as the timeliness of service) to better identify service needs or gaps and to improve the effectiveness of future outreach. 2) More consistently develop, document, and communicate realistic timelines and goals for implementing VA initiatives based on federal requirements by identifying specific activities needed to achieve goals and associated implementation timelines, as well as resource issues or potential internal or external risks that may affect timing. We provided a draft copy of this report to VA and Education for review and comment. VA concurred with our recommendations. In agreeing with our recommendation related to its educational counseling services, VA noted that it has started making plans to develop an online application and is taking additional steps to enhance the outreach and delivery of these services. In concurring with our recommendation to use sound planning practices to implement its ongoing initiatives, VA acknowledged it was slow to use formal project management concepts when it began to implement Executive Order 13607. VA stated that it has since used more formal project management methods to implement Public Law 112-249, citing as evidence of its improved planning the use of interagency working groups to identify activities necessary to achieve goals, the development of a master schedule, and the anticipated timeframes for various initiatives outlined in its April 2013 report to Congress. In our report, we acknowledge the considerable new initiatives that VA was responsible for implementing and we note examples of VA’s working groups and the plans and timeframes outlined in VA’s April 2013 report to Congress. While VA’s more recent actions represent a step in the right direction, its overall efforts did not consistently produce sound planning activities and documents that included appropriate timeframes, specific identification of activities and resources needed, and risks that could delay implementation. We continue to believe that, moving forward, VA needs to improve its planning efforts to ensure that it implements the future initiatives required by the Executive Order and Public Law 112-249 as quickly as possible. For example, to mitigate risks and better establish realistic timeframes, VA could do more to develop implementation plans for the feedback system and the next phase of the comparison tool. VA’s comments are reproduced in appendix III. Education had no comments on our findings or recommendations, but outlined its efforts to help veterans and other students make informed educational choices and noted its collaboration with VA and other agencies to support implementation of the Executive Order. Education’s comments are reproduced in appendix IV. VA and Education provided technical comments that were incorporated, as appropriate. We also provided selected relevant portions of the draft to the Department of Defense and incorporated its technical comments, as appropriate. We are sending copies of this report to relevant congressional committees, the Secretaries of VA and Education, and other interested parties. In addition, this report will be available at no charge on GAO’s website at http://www.gao.gov. If you or your staffs 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. The objectives of our report were to examine: (1) how do selected schools recruit veterans; (2) what are the school search and recruiting experiences of student veterans; and (3) what actions has the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) taken to help veterans make informed education decisions and to identify inappropriate school recruiting? To address our first question, we interviewed officials from 9 schools and reviewed the websites of an additional 30 schools. To address our second question, we administered a national survey of student veterans. To address our third question, we reviewed pertinent federal laws, regulations, and requirements, as well as agency documents, and interviewed officials from VA and the Department of Education, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice. For all three questions, we also spoke with veterans service and higher education organizations. We conducted this performance audit from February 2013 to May 2014, 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. We conducted phone interviews with officials from nine schools to gather information on the extent and ways they reach out and provide information to veterans and military servicemembers (see table 1). We selected these schools for variation among sectors, degrees offered, and the amount of funds received from VA under the Post 9/11 GI Bill program. However, all of our selected schools received at least $2 million in total Post-9/11 GI Bill funds from fiscal years 2010 through 2011, the most recent data available when we selected our schools. We also chose schools with a relatively higher proportion of veterans in their student population. Finally, we sought to include some schools that had online programs or were near a military base. We also reviewed the websites of 30 additional schools to obtain basic information on how schools’ used their websites to provide information to veteran or military students.all schools in our website analysis received at least $2 million in total Post-9/11 GI Bill funds from 2010 through 2011. We selected 10 schools per sector, in which we randomly selected five schools that were in the top 10 percent of schools in each sector based on their Post-9/11 GI Bill funding amounts and five that were not. From each website, we determined whether the site included specific information for veterans and whether this information was featured on the home page, as well as other veteran-related communication. We also looked for the availability of certain information for students generally, such as costs and fees and graduation rates. The information gathered from our school interviews and website review is not generalizable to all schools, but is useful in illustrating a range of recruiting practices used among our selected schools. To obtain information on the factors that influenced student veterans’ school decisions, as well as their experiences with school recruitment, we administered a survey to a nationally representative sample of 900 recently enrolled student veterans (300 each in the public, nonprofit, and public sectors) and asked them about their school search and recruiting experiences, information they received from their current school, and their perspectives on relevant information and services from VA. All survey results presented in the body of this report are generalizable to the population of 73,000 student veterans who were receiving Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for the first time in 2012. Due to an insufficient response rate, we were not able to report results by sector. We administered the survey using mail and electronic distribution from July 2013 to November 2013. A copy of the full questionnaire and aggregate responses for all close- ended questions are included in appendix II. The practical difficulties of conducting any survey may introduce errors, commonly referred to as nonsampling errors. For example, difficulties in interpreting a particular question or sources of information available to respondents can introduce unwanted variability into the survey results. We took steps in developing the questionnaire, collecting the data, and analyzing them to minimize such nonsampling error (see below). Using data from VA, we identified the population of all veterans who were enrolled in postsecondary education for the first time between July and December 2012 and were using Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits to fund their education—approximately 90,000 student veterans. To stratify our random sample into three equal groups based on school sector (public, public, and for-profit), we merged data from the Department of Education on school sectors with our list of student veterans, using school identifier information in both data sets. While some veterans’ school information could not be matched to the existing information on school sector, we matched schools representing most of the veterans in our population, which resulted in a universe of approximately 73,000 veterans from which we drew our stratified random sample of 900 student veterans, 300 attending schools in each sector. To inform the design of our survey instrument, we met with individual veterans and veterans service organizations. We conducted seven pretests with veterans who attended schools across the sectors to ensure that survey questions collected the expected information, obtain any suggestions for clarification, and determine whether veterans were able to appropriately recall their experiences when they were selecting schools. We also discussed survey questions and administration modes with students from two veterans service organizations. To encourage survey participation, we conducted pre-administration and follow-up phone calls, sent survey instruments to both e-mail and mailing addresses, and took other measures. Before administering the survey, we contacted individuals in our sample for whom we had telephone or e-mail contact information to inform them about the survey, update their preferred contact information, and answer any questions or concerns they had. In addition, we included information from Student Veterans of America to help promote our survey. We administered the survey using both e-mail and mailing addresses. We sent a hard copy of our survey to individuals in our sample with a mailing address but without an e-mail address, and sent an e-mail message with a hyperlink to an online version of the survey to those for whom we had e-mail addresses. We also included a postcard with the hard copy survey that provided instructions on how to complete the survey online, for those who preferred to respond online. A few weeks after our initial request, we did a second round of hard copy mailings to all recipients who had not completed the survey online or by mail, so that all these recipients received at least one mailed survey. We also sent follow-up emails and conducted follow-up phone calls to encourage participation. Additionally, we requested updated contact information from VA and searched public records for additional contact information for a subset of those in our sample for whom we had returned mail or other indications that their contact information was incorrect. A total of 254 students responded to the survey, for an unweighted response rate of 28 percent. We conducted a nonresponse bias analysis to see if characteristics available from the sample frame for survey respondents correlated with the propensity to respond. We used logistic regression models with a binary response variable to test for this. Our non-response bias analysis indicated that our survey respondents did not reflect the age distribution of the sample frame population. Specifically, our respondents tended to be older than the population from which we selected our sample. To adjust for this, we post-stratified the sample weights by age so that the weighted age distribution of our sample respondents reflected the age distributions in the sample frame. All estimates presented in this report are weighted to reflect the sample design, a non-response adjustment, and post-stratification for age. Because we followed a probability procedure based on random selections, our sample is only one of a large number of samples that we might have drawn. Since each sample could have provided different estimates, we express our confidence in the precision of our particular sample’s results as a 95 percent confidence interval (e.g., plus or minus 7 percentage points). This is the interval that would contain the actual population value for 95 percent of the samples we could have drawn. Confidence intervals are provided along with each sample estimate in the report. We interviewed several veterans service organizations and higher education organizations to obtain their perspectives on key issues affecting recruitment of student veterans. These organizations included the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, American Association of Community Colleges, American Association of State Colleges and Universities, American Council on Education, The American Legion, Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, The Institute for College Access and Success, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, National Association of State Approving Agencies, NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, National Association of Veterans Program Administrators, Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges, Student Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and VetJobs. The questions we asked in our survey of student veterans are shown below. Our survey was comprised of closed- and open-ended questions. In this appendix, we include all survey questions and aggregate results of responses to the closed-ended questions; we do not provide information on responses provided to the open-ended questions. For a more detailed discussion of our survey methodology, see appendix I. 1. Have you received ANY GI Bill education benefits since July 2012? We are interested in all GI Bill benefits, including Post 9/11, Montgomery, and all other GI bill education benefits. 2. For use at what school did you most recently receive your GI Bill education benefits? 3. If known, where is the school located? 4. In what year did you first attend this school? 5. What degree or certificate were you working on during your most recent term of enrollment? Response Certificate program (less than 2 years) Professional degree (such as J.D., M.D.) 6. In addition to GI Bill education benefits, what other sources of financial aid did you use or are you using to finance your education at current or most recent school? (Check all that apply). Response Federal student loans (such as Direct Loans, Perkins Loans, and Stafford Loans) Response Other (such as state grants, employer education assistance, and scholarships from private entities) Section B: Enrollment Decisions 7. At what point did you make the decision to start looking at schools? (Check one response.) 8. How much time did you spend looking at schools? (Check one response.) 9. About how many schools did you consider attending? (Check one response.) Section C: Factors Affecting School Selection 10. Before deciding to attend your current or most recent school, do you recall going to a school fair either on or off a military base? (Check one response for each item.) 11. Before deciding to attend your current or most recent school, do you recall going on a campus visit to that school? (Check one response). 12. Before deciding to attend your current or most recent school, do you recall seeing advertising from any of the following sources for either the school you are attending or any other schools you were considering? (Check one response for current school and one response for other school(s) you considered.) 95 percent confidence interval – lower bound (percentage) 95 percent confidence interval – upper bound (percentage) Yes (current school) Yes (other schools) Yes (current school) Yes (other schools) Yes (current school) Yes (other schools) Yes (current school) Yes (other schools) Yes (current school) Yes (other schools) Response 12f. Social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.) 95 percent confidence interval – lower bound (percentage) 95 percent confidence interval – upper bound (percentage) Yes (current school) Yes (other schools) Yes (current school) Yes (other schools) Yes (current school) Yes (other schools) Yes (current school) Yes (other schools) Yes (current school) Yes (other schools) Yes (current school) Yes (other schools) If yes to 12k: What other type of advertising do you recall seeing either for the school you are attending or for any other school you considered? 13. How important, if at all, were each of the following factors in your decision to enroll in your current or most recent school? (Check one response for each item). Response 13a. School fairs 95 percent confidence interval – lower bound (percentage) 95 percent confidence interval – upper bound (percentage) 13b. Campus visits No basis to 13c. Direct communications with school personnel 9.3 95 percent confidence interval – lower bound (percentage) 95 percent confidence interval – upper bound (percentage) 13f. Recommendations from family, mentors, or friends 13g. Information from VA 13.2 95 percent confidence interval – lower bound (percentage) 95 percent confidence interval – upper bound (percentage) 13h. Characteristics of the school program (such as size, reputation, etc.) 13i. School location No basis to 13j. Financial reasons such as overall cost or availability of financial aid 10.8 95 percent confidence interval – lower bound (percentage) 95 percent confidence interval – upper bound (percentage) Response 13k. Military friendliness (such as active veterans organizations, or veterans services and programs) If yes to 13l: What other factor was important in your decision to enroll in your current school? Section D: Types of Contact with Schools 14. Before deciding to attend your current or most recent school, did you visit the school’s website? (Check one response.) 15. Did you request more information after visiting the website? (Check one response.) 16. Before you decided to attend your current or most recent school, about how many phone calls, emails, or text messages did you receive from the school encouraging you to enroll in the program? We would like you to consider only phone calls, emails, and text messages from the school you are currently attending. (Check one response on each row.) 17. Do you feel that you received too few, about the right amount, or too many phone calls, emails, and texts from the school encouraging you to enroll in the program? (Check one response for each item). 18. Thinking of the various ways schools contacted you about enrolling in the program and provided you with information, what, if anything, did you find helpful in deciding where to attend school? 19. We also are interested in contact you may have had with any schools other than the school you are currently attending. Do you feel that any schools, other than the one you are currently attending, contacted you excessively? (Check one response.) 20. On average for the schools that contacted you excessively, about how many phone calls, emails, texts or other types of contact did you receive? (Check one response for each item.) 21. Did you ever feel pressure from any school to enroll? (Check one response.) 22. If yes to 21: What type of pressure did you experience? Section E: Information Received from Schools 23. Do you think the following information you obtained from your current or most recent school was generally accurate or inaccurate? (Choose one response for each item.) I did not look for or obtain information I did not look for or obtain information 23k. Employment requirements for intended occupations (such as certification or licensure requirements) In the space below, please provide any additional details you would like on the accuracy of information obtained. 24. In which of the following areas, if any, would you have liked more information from your current or most recent school? (Check one response for each item.) If yes to 24n: What other type of information would you have liked? Section F: Information Received from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) 25. Did you use VA’s GI Bill website to learn more about your GI Bill benefits prior to deciding to attend your current or most recent school? 26. If yes to 25: How helpful was this website in providing you with information about your education benefits? 27. What, if any, suggestions do you have for improving VA’s GI Bill website? 28. VA provides educational and vocational counseling, available to all individuals who are eligible for VA educational benefits. Were you aware of this service while considering schools? The VA educational and vocational counseling is not part of any exit briefing that you may have received. 29. Did you apply for education and vocational counseling services from VA? 30. If no to 29: Which of the following reasons, if any, best describes why you did not apply for educational and vocational counseling services from VA? (Check all that apply.) 31. If yes to 29: If you received VA’s educational and vocational counseling: How satisfied, if at all, were you with the educational and vocational counseling you received from VA? Response I did not receive counseling 95 percent confidence interval – lower bound (percentage) 95 percent confidence interval – upper bound (percentage) 32. What, if any, suggestions do you have for improving VA’s educational and vocational counseling services? 33. VA provides resource to veterans looking to go to school. Which of the following types of information, if any, did you obtain from VA about the schools you considered? (Check one response for each item.) If yes to 33g: What other information did you obtain? 34. If yes to any of questions 33a through 33g: how helpful was the information from VA when choosing where to attend? (Check one response for each item.) If yes to 34g: What other information was helpful? 35. In which of the following areas, if any, would you have liked more information from VA about the schools that you considered to help you make a choice about where to attend? (Check one response for each item.) If yes to 35j: What other information would have been helpful? 36. If you have any additional comments for us, please include them in the space below. Melissa Emrey-Arras, (617) 788-0534 or emreyarrasm@gao.gov. In addition to the contact named above, Michelle St. Pierre (Assistant Director), Carl Barden, Deborah Bland, Kathleen van Gelder, Mark M. Glickman, Nathan Gottfried, Kirsten Lauber, Theresa Lo, Ashley McCall, Sheila McCoy, Amanda Miller, John Mingus, Andrew Nelson, Mimi Nguyen, Anna Maria Ortiz, Carl Ramirez, Mark Ward, James Whitcomb, and Craig Winslow made key contributions to this report. Transitioning Veterans: Improved Oversight Needed to Enhance Implementation of Transition Assistance Program. GAO-14-144. Washington, D.C.: March 5, 2014. VA Education Benefits: Student Characteristics and Outcomes Vary across Schools. GAO-13-567. Washington, D.C.: July 25, 2013. VA Education Benefits: VA Needs to Improve Program Management and Provide More Timely Information to Students. GAO-13-338. Washington, D.C.: May 22, 2013. 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.: February 28, 2011. Transfer Students: Postsecondary Institutions Could Promote More Consistent Consideration of Coursework by Not Basing Determinations on Accreditation. GAO-06-22. Washington, D.C.: October 18, 2005.

Summary: In fiscal year 2013, VA provided over $12 billion in benefits for veterans' postsecondary education; however, questions have been raised as to whether some schools are receiving these funds as a result of inappropriate recruiting practices. GAO was asked to examine issues related to schools' recruitment of veterans. This report examines (1) how selected schools recruit veterans, (2) veterans' school search and recruiting experiences, and (3) VA's actions to help veterans make informed decisions and to identify inappropriate recruiting practices. For the first question, GAO interviewed officials from 9 schools and reviewed websites of 30 additional schools; both groups were selected for variation in sector (public, nonprofit, and for-profit) and other criteria. For the second question, GAO surveyed a nationally representative group of student veterans, producing results generalizable to the student veteran population. For the third question, GAO reviewed relevant federal requirements and agency documents and interviewed agency officials. GAO also spoke with veteran and higher education organizations. Selected schools used various practices, from mass advertising to individual outreach, to recruit and inform prospective student veterans. Eight of nine schools GAO interviewed reported advertising in print or online media dedicated to military audiences. Most of the nine schools contacted veterans directly by phone or email, sometimes with military-focused recruiters, to provide information on benefits or services or to highlight the school as “military-friendly.” Further, 29 of the 30 school websites GAO reviewed included a section specifically for veterans, some of which were featured prominently on the home page. Many surveyed veterans reported that school communication was important in selecting a school; however, nearly 23 percent (about 15,200 veterans when generalized nationally) reported excessive contacts from schools and an estimated 10 percent (about 6,900 veterans nationwide) said they felt pressure to enroll. In addition, while most surveyed veterans reported receiving generally accurate information from their school, about 23 percent (about 16,500 veterans nationwide) reported receiving some information they viewed as inaccurate, such as estimated student loan debt. Many veterans also wanted more information from their schools, such as on veteran support services (see figure below). Inaccurate or incomplete information can lead veterans to choose schools that do not meet their needs and exhaust their benefits before achieving their goals. Veteran and higher education groups said that greater access to independent and objective advice would help veterans with their education choices. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has taken steps to inform and protect student veterans, but some efforts have been insufficient. VA is developing tools to help veterans understand their education benefits and compare information on schools. VA has also taken some action to improve veterans' awareness of its free education counseling services, as required by law, but its efforts to expand awareness among prospective students and ease the application process have been limited. At the same time, almost half of surveyed veterans were not aware of VA's counseling when considering schools. To help identify misleading or aggressive recruiting, VA has launched a new complaint system, created a risk-based approach to oversee schools, and taken other steps. While VA has made some progress implementing federally required initiatives, its project planning has lacked realistic timelines and goals—in contrast to sound planning practices. As a result, Congress and others lack information on VA's progress implementing planned initiatives to protect and inform student veterans. GAO recommends that VA improve outreach and accessibility of its educational counseling services and more consistently develop and communicate realistic timelines as it implements initiatives based on federal requirements. VA agreed with GAO's recommendations and noted its current efforts to improve its outreach and planning efforts. The Department of Education had no comments on our findings or recommendations.