Ranking Member Takano Delivers Keynote Address at the National Association of Veterans Program Administrators (NAVPA) Annual Conference
San Diego, Calif. – Acting Ranking Member Mark Takano delivered a keynote address at the National Association of Veterans Program Administrators’ annual conference. Below is a copy of those remarks, as prepared for delivery.
Thank you for that introduction and thank you for this invitation. I felt it was so important to be with you this morning. Let me start by telling you why.
I was a public school teacher for nearly 25 years in the Rialto Unified School District. It’s about an hour and half drive from here without traffic, so let’s say it’s really two and half hours away.
Many of the students in my classroom came from low-income families, a majority were either Latino or African-American, and it’s no coincidence that we had a robust JROTC program. In 2010, San Bernardino County, where I taught, and Riverside County, where I lived, produced the sixth and the eighth most military recruits in the country, respectively.
Did my students love this nation and the principles we stand for? Absolutely. They were willing to make incredible sacrifices to defend our freedom, and those men and women deserve every ribbon and every medal they receive. But patriotism wasn’t the only reason they were attracted to military service.
For some of those kids, raising their right hand also meant raising themselves out of poverty. It meant an opportunity to travel the world, learn new skills, and, of course, get an affordable education that would set them up for a successful career.
I’m here because the people in this room, myself included, bear responsibility for ensuring that their commitment to the country and their determination to break the cycle of poverty are rewarded when they come home. All of you understand the complexity and significance of their challenge.
When America’s veterans come home, they face a struggle as old as war itself: how do soldiers live a peaceful and rewarding life after they’ve witnessed atrocities on the battlefield. As an English teacher, I think it is telling that this question has troubled societies for thousands of years. In fact, it inspired two, centuries-old literary classics that I taught my students: the Iliad and the Odyssey.
The Iliad tells the story of the Trojan War, a brutal 10-year conflict that ends with the fall of Troy. The Odyssey picks up the story at the end of the war and follows the Greek warrior Odysseus on his difficult and wandering journey home. When he finally arrives back in Ithaca, Odysseus is unrecognizable to his former community and that community is unrecognizable to him.
That story should sound familiar.
America is now in the midst of a 15-year war, which, I’m sad to say, is not yet in its final chapter. The burden has fallen heavily on the less than one percent of Americans who serve in our all-volunteer force. When they come home, they carry both visible and invisible scars that can make them strangers to their family, and make them feel disconnected from their communities. Our modern day challenge is to help these soldiers find their way back home.
When we talk about supporting veterans, we often focus on meeting their health care needs, expediting disability claims, and reforming the VA. Of course, these are critical issues for us to solve. But we cannot underestimate the power of a good education in helping veterans find their footing.
For many of our nations’ veterans, the educational benefits provided by the GI Bill are the foundation on which they build their civilian lives. But as hard as you all work to support your student veterans, and I know your jobs can be emotionally and physically exhausting, there is still so much more we must do to ensure the promise of the GI Bill is fully realized.
I want to commend the organizers of this conference for its focus on challenges, because we must be honest about the obstacles facing veterans’ education. I want to share a few of the challenges that I hope we can solve together.
The first is the for-profit education industry’s aggressive recruitment of student veterans.
The Post 9/11 GI Bill is the most generous educational assistance program in our nation’s history. More than 1.4 million veterans have used it, and between 2009 and 2013, the U.S. government spent $30 billion on the new GI Bill. It is a powerful symbol of our commitment to supporting the brave men and women who volunteer to serve a nation at war.
It is also a target for for-profit universities and colleges.
In 2014, a Senate report identified the top 10 schools receiving Post-9/11 GI Bill money. Eight of the 10 schools were for-profit institutions, and they had captured a combined one-quarter of all GI Bill funds.
Now, if these schools were providing students with a quality and affordable education, we might celebrate their ubiquity. But, as we all know, this is not the case.
Seven of the eight for-profit schools listed in the Senate report had been under some form of state or federal investigation for unethical business practices. Two of those schools might sound familiar, ITT Technical Institute and Corinthian Colleges, both of which failed and shut down after collecting more than $1 billion dollars in Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.
The rapid growth of the for-profit industry is the product of a perfect storm. Students do not have reliable information to find a school that is right for them, and for-profit companies have the resources and incentive to fill the void.
The 2014 Senate report found that the for-profit industry spends more money attracting new students than educating existing ones. Community colleges and smaller schools simply do not have the resources or motivation to compete with the scale and intensity of the for-profit industry’s marketing.
I was elected to the Riverside Community College Board of Trustees for two decades. My constituents would never have allowed a situation in which we invested more in recruitment than instruction. At RCC, we prioritized affordability and value instead of recruitment and revenue, and the numbers tell the story.
In 2013, the tuition and fees for Riverside Community College were roughly $1,500 for in-state students. Some veterans tell me they actually saved their GI Bill benefits to attend graduate school because the community college was so affordable.
Meanwhile, Riverside residents who attended the University of Phoenix incurred costs of more than $11,000 in that same year.
I have a bill, which Republicans will never allow to progress, which would bar for-profit schools from using federal funds for marketing.
When it comes to deceptive marketing, student veterans are vulnerable. They are often not the most confident students, and many are the first in their family to attend college. They do not have the consumer education or self-assurance to ask the right questions of for-profit schools.
Aggressive outreach to students who are not in a position to ask direct questions is a tactic used by these companies.
When I was a teacher, many students who struggled in my classroom were being heavily recruited by for-profit schools. Those students were excited by the idea that a college wanted them to enroll, and did not stop to wonder why the school was so invested in recruiting them. Many of those students talked only to a for-profit recruiter before making a decision.
In the latter part of my teaching career, I led a remedial class for students who needed extra support to pass the high school exit exam. These students were also often heavily recruited by for-profit colleges, because these schools knew the students would not closely examine the honesty of their marketing pitch.
You can see how student veterans have many of the characteristics that for-profit companies look to exploit. These companies also have a financial and legal incentive. The 90/10 rule, which I’m sure you’re all familiar with, requires schools to demonstrate their value to students by earning at least 10 percent of their revenue from non-federal sources. This means that any institution of higher learning cannot receive more than 90 percent of its revenue from the federal government.
Although the GI Bill is a federal program financed by taxpayers, the revenue schools earn from GI Bill benefits count as non-federal funding, and can be used to satisfy the 10 percent quota. It is a gaping loophole in the law and it creates a system in which student veterans are valued targets. For every veteran a for-profit college enrolls, the institution can recruit nine non-veteran students receiving federal financial student aid.
This is the for-profit industry’s business model. Schools do everything they can to attract those who served.
Congressional and Department of Education investigations found that for-profit colleges often lie or greatly exaggerate to potential students about post-graduate job opportunities.
For example, they will tell a potential student that more than 95 percent of graduates will find jobs related to their field of study within six months of graduation. What they don’t tell these students is that these for-profits have a history of paying companies to hire graduates for a contracted 30 days, the minimum amount of time necessary for colleges to report that their graduates found jobs relevant to their field after graduation.
Put simply, they manipulate the data.
Now, if recruiters at for-profit schools were honest with prospective students, here’s what they would say:
Hi, I’m Mark from For-Profit U. I’m calling to thank you for your service and tell you that your GI Bill benefits are very valuable to us.
Enrolling in For-Profit U. is a decision that many of our students come to regret. Studies show that students graduating from schools like ours end up making less money after they earn their diplomas.
Now, this will be stressful for you because tuition at For-Profit U. is much more expensive than at public universities and community colleges. You are likely to be in significant debt when you leave.
There is also no guarantee that this school will remain open throughout your time here. And if we do close abruptly, the credits you’ve earned will have no value at other schools… and your basic housing allowance will also disappear, possibly leaving you out on the street.
If you graduate, you still may face crippling debt and disappointing job prospects.
And student debt will follow you to the grave, because it can never be discharged in bankruptcy proceedings… Please sign at the dotted line.
Of course, that is not the pitch most veterans hear.
Many of you have seen the pain students feel when they realize that the recruiting office was the most effective department at the school they chose.
Many of you have sat with a veteran and explained to them that your school cannot accept their credits from Corinthian Colleges or ITT Tech.
And I’m sure that all of you feel the same obligation to protect the students who risked their lives protecting us. It is time for us to crack down on schools that are failing to keep the promises they make to veterans.
Now, Congress deserves some partial credit for working to make public schools more attractive to veterans. A law called the Choice Act, passed in 2015, ensures that every veteran has access to in-state tuition. In a state like California, being able to enroll in a public college at in-state costs is a huge value for veterans. It ensures the public system is an extremely competitive option for students. But it ultimately does little to protect students from for-profit companies
To do that, we must close the 90/10 Loophole. I have introduced a bill in Congress that would eliminate the incentive for schools to target student veterans.
Now, I don’t say these words often, but I think Congress is moving toward action on this issue.
Just last month, Democrats and Republicans came together to pass an important fix for student veterans. The emergency measure, which President Obama signed into law, will help student veterans who are enrolled at a school that loses its accreditation.
As many of you know, the Department of Education will make a final decision this month on whether to revoke its recognition of ACICS, a major accreditor of for-profit schools. ACICS has a long track record of certifying poor performing schools, including ITT Tech and Corinthian Colleges, and I support any action taken against them.
However, revoking accreditation from 245 schools will have severe consequences for many veterans. Under the previous law, the VA was be forced to cut off student veterans’ benefits, including housing benefits, as soon as his or her school lost accreditation.
The new law gives the VA legal authority to delay cutting off benefits. This will allow these students the flexibility they need to avoid an immediate disruption in their education or housing.
It’s a vital step for the more than 30,000 student veterans at risk of having their benefits cut off next month. I believe Congress is prepared to go even further in defending the GI Bill from bad actors in the for-profit sector. And I will not stop pushing for action until every student veteran is protected from schools that fail to serve them.
But Congress is just one part of the solution. Educators and administrators across the country must work together to promote the benefits of public and non-profit institutions, which are proven to deliver a better education at a lower cost. I’m proud of what Riverside Community College and many other schools have done to educate student veterans about their options.
There is a stark difference between RCC, which is advising their students to save their GI Bill benefits for a graduate education, and the for-profit schools that are essentially begging students to access their full GI Bill benefits.
Now, I would love to tell you that Congress is preparing to provide more funding to help community colleges and public institutions connect with veterans, as well as implement the VA’s other educational goals.
But I can’t. And that brings me to the next challenge facing veterans’ education: Under the Republican Majority in the House and Senate, we remain in an era of austerity.
It is nearly impossible to find support for additional spending of any kind. And when I say any kind, I mean even the most basic humanitarian challenges.
Many of us have been stunned by Republicans’ reluctance to provide funding to stop the spread of Zika.
Many of us have been outraged that this Congress has not acted to end the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
Many of us were shocked during my first year in office when the Tea Party opposed funding the recovery after Superstorm Sandy.
Can you imagine if a devastating earthquake hit California, and we were forced to watch fiscal conservatives declare that helping us recover is not a priority? Austerity is a policy that affects every community across the country, but the impact is particularly acute for the Veterans community.
Let me explain why. The current policy of Republicans on the Veterans Committee is to reject any new spending on veterans programs, unless it is paid for by taking money away from other veterans’ programs. If we want more money for veterans’ education, that means less money for veterans health care, or housing benefits, or disability benefits. The country continues to be at war, but the Republican policy of austerity remains.
Veterans are a product of a war that Congress has permitted. Now is not the time to be stingy with veterans program.
This is a difficult environment for groups like NAVPA to push for increasing investments in veterans’ education programs, even if those investments are badly needed.
For example, I agree that School Certifying Officials need more funding to receive professional training. The rules governing veterans’ education programs are complex and always shifting in response to the VA’s concerns. Keeping up to date with those changes can be a full-time job in itself, and without well-trained administrators, veterans will not get the assistance they need to pursue a quality education.
However, reinstating the full VA Reporting Fee means finding a veterans’ program that deserves to be cut. In fact, the Reporting Fee itself has been reduced in each of the last two years to pay for other programs.
I share this with you not to discourage you from advocating for greater spending on VA’s education programs. Just the opposite, I hope it is a call to action to continue educating your elected officials about the challenges you face.
The issues with implementing the GI Bill affects more people than just
Veterans, it also affects American taxpayers. The federal government will spend approximately $12 billion on the post 9/11 GI Bill this year alone. We have to make the most out of that investment. Refusing to support the people who help veterans navigate the program is penny wise and pound foolish.
In the next Congress, I hope we can end the policy of forcing veterans’ programs to fight over the same slice of the pie. We should have the ability to find excess spending in other parts of the federal budget to honor our commitment to those who serve. We must address the obstacles that stand between veterans and a rewarding education.
The good news is that we are entering a period of change in our nation’s higher education system. Last year, Congress finally reformed K-12 education, an accomplishment which President Obama called the Christmas Miracle, and college affordability is Congress’s next priority.
I’m not going to play political pundit and predict who our next president will be… but whoever it is, I’m sure she will focus on making higher education more accessible for working families. Veterans’ education should be an important part of this discussion.
We know there are ways to streamline the process of certifying veterans who are using the GI Bill. We know there are innovative approaches being tested by schools across the country to improve the experience of student veterans. And we know there are better ways for schools and the VA to communicate and work together on veterans’ behalf.
The post-9/11 GI Bill was passed eight years ago, and while it has since been expanded, it has not been properly tweaked to ensure it’s working as intended. I hope we can find bipartisan support in Congress to make the changes that are necessary to address the challenges you face every day.
Finally, I want to close by talking about the greatest challenge we face in supporting veterans in our schools.
Even if we provide student veterans with the information they need to find the right school for them;
Even if they use that information effectively to make a good decision about their educational future;
Even if we’ve streamlined the process for certifying that veteran and making it easy for him or her to enroll;
Even if we’ve done all of those things, we will have failed our student veterans if we do not provide the tools and support they need to transition into their educational career.
Some veterans will come back fully prepared to integrate into civilian life. Others will not. Feelings of isolation, depression, and anxiety are common among the general school population, but student veterans are particularly vulnerable to mental health challenges. Studies show that between 20 and 25 percent of veterans will suffer from a mental health condition. We must make it absolutely clear that asking for help is a sign of strength, and then we must be ready to offer support when it’s needed.
Specialized orientations, peer-to-peer counseling, and training for educators on how to help veterans are all proven methods for giving students a better chance at success. These tools, and others that are being piloted across the country, are centered on one powerful idea: Community. We must surround student veterans with people that are sensitive to the challenges they face.
There’s a scene in the Odyssey in which Odysseus washes up to shore on an island far removed from the Trojan War. On that island, he attends a banquet where entertainers sing songs about the war. The people at the banquet love the songs, but they did not experience the war. In that moment, Odysseus feels isolated and alone. The other banquet guests do not understand how he experiences the songs in a profoundly different way.
Tim O’Brien, who many call the poet of the Vietnam War, put it another way in his book, “The Things They Carried.” He wrote: “They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried.”
While we can never fully understand what these men and women have carried, we can always create an environment where they feel supported and cared for.
Now, in the case of Odysseus, he does eventually make it home after a long and difficult journey… but he doesn’t do it alone. He needs help from his son, Telemachus, and his servants from before the war. He is also healed by the devotion and loyalty of his wife, Penelope. Only with their support is it possible for him to find the home he had lost.
There is a role for each of us in helping our veterans’ make the long trip home.
I thank each and every one of you for being a part of that journey for so many men and women. You are truly doing incredible and meaningful work.
Thank you for having me and I wish you all the best.
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