STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Veterans advocates have been fighting for decades to close a loophole in the GI Bill. It made veterans a target of for-profit universities. Vets often used up all their education money and found themselves with worthless degrees. The law finally changed in 2021, but deep inside President Trump's big budget and tax bill, there is language to open that loophole again. NPR veterans correspondent Quil Lawrence reports.
QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: At issue is the 90/10 rule. It's what's called a market test to help the government avoid funding bad schools. If a university can't get private citizens or employers to pay a minimum of $0.10 out of every dollar the school takes in, well, the government shouldn't be funding that school. But the loophole was that GI Bill money used to count in that 10% as if it were private money. So for-profit schools could get federal funds if they could enroll vets, like these three.
TOMA BARTLETT: I will tell you the university was heavily, heavily marketing towards active duty and veterans at that time.
APHOSIA BLACK: They knew the maximum amount of benefits that they can kind of suck out of my veterans programs, and they made sure that they were doing that.
DOUG DENIS: It was my understanding going into the program that it was going to be full-time and that it would lead to certifications in the courses that I took.
LAWRENCE: Meet Coast Guard vet Toma Bartlett, Army vet Aphosia Black and Air Force vet Doug Denis. They all lost their GI Bill money to for-profit schools that recruited them hard.
BLACK: It was very stressful. It's a very high-pressure sales pitch.
BARTLETT: They touted, like, we have 100% job guarantee placement and all of these things, and none of those came to fruition.
DENIS: So all that money was lost, never mind 12 months of my life.
LAWRENCE: Veterans groups protested this loophole for years, and Congress finally killed it in 2021. But now it's back, in the House Republican version of the budget bill. Thirty-one veterans and military groups recently signed a letter against it. Carrie Wofford is with Vets Education Success.
CARRIE WOFFORD: It's just a complete giveaway to otherwise failing colleges that can't get a dime of private money.
LAWRENCE: The sponsor of repealing the 90/10 rule in the House bill is Michigan Republican Tim Walberg. He declined an interview request, but sent a statement that he finds it, quote, "insulting to imply that Americans who decided to fight for our country can't be trusted to decide where they go to school."
Quil Lawrence, NPR News.
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