Making the G.I. Bill Work for Veterans Today's veterans have faced incredible challenges, but have also received extraordinary opportunities - like the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. Each year, it helps tens of thousands of veterans attend college by helping pay for tuition and living expenses. Through this program, many veterans have been able to transition successfully from combat back to civilian life. Simultaneously, the 9/11 G.I. Bill has also benefited the for-profit education industry. Through aggressive recruiting practices, the appeal of an isolated online education, and enormous marketing budgets, for-profits have attracted many veterans' hard earned G.I. Bill benefits. The majority of for-profit schools have opportunistically targeted transitioning veterans because these schools view the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill as a lucrative source of guaranteed student tuition. Many, including Holly Petraeus, assistant director for service member affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and wife of David H. Petraeus, the retired general and current C.I.A. director, have highlighted this problem. Many for-profit schools do not have rigorous educational standards. As a result, employers do not value their degrees and veterans graduating from these programs face the job market with new student loan burdens and few new skills. A central selling point of these schools is flexibility with online degrees. Courses, however, are just one piece to the college or university experience. Another significant aspect of post-secondary education for veterans is plugging into a community, developing relationships with professors and classmates, and learning how to work and operate in a civilian setting. As for-profit colleges become more popular with veterans, many, including traditional non-profit colleges, government officials, and veterans have voiced concern about their educational standards, low graduation rates, and ability to deliver the knowledge and skills veterans need to successfully transition to the civilian sector. President Obama and some veterans groups have spoken out against unscrupulous for-profit schools. In April, the president signed an executive order that forces for-profit colleges to disclose more information about student outcomes and financial aid. While Washington can do more, the military, traditional universities and veterans need to act to fill the gap. The military needs to do a better job of preparing service members for the transition to civilian life, traditional universities can increase their veteran outreach efforts, and veterans who have made the transition need to continue to offer a helping hand. First, the military needs to do a better job of preparing service members who are transitioning to post-secondary schooling. Each branch of the military has a transition assistance program, but this assistance is almost solely focused on employment opportunities. A larger portion of this program should be spent on providing veterans with information on how to make the transition to colleges and universities that have proven track records. For example, the Marine leadership scholars program should be replicated to other services and scaled to accommodate more veterans. Campus officials not affiliated with for-profit schools can help solve this problem by broadening their outreach to veterans and encouraging veterans to attend their schools. Columbia University is a great example of a first-class university that recruits at military bases and understands the value and untapped potential of many veterans. Veterans who are at schools that meet the above criteria can help by ensuring that their veteran student organizations are prepared to provide prospective veteran applicants information regarding their schools. Further, veterans who have successfully made the transition to a university or college should seek to immerse themselves in their campus communities and do well academically. These actions can provide firsthand examples to university officials of the value add that veterans provide in regards to leadership and community involvement, and can also debunk the stereotype that veterans are not academically equipped to tackle challenging concepts discussed in class. The number of combat veterans entering civilian life will greatly increase in the next few years as the military downsizes and the war in Afghanistan draws to a close. If the American people and Washington truly care about reintegrating veterans, then they should take steps to ensure that Post 9/11 G.I. Bill resources provide the educational and career benefits that were intended. Washington can help fix this problem, but involvement by schools, success stories of veterans at these schools, and additional support from veteran and nonprofit organizations can also help to ensure that veterans successfully transition to the civilian work force. Gus Giacoman is a 2004 graduate of West Point and former Army infantry captain with two deployments to Iraq. He recently graduated from NYU's Stern School of Business, where he was active in Veteran's admission activities. Tim Hsia was the first soldier to contribute to the At War blog. A 2004 graduate of West Point and a former Army infantry captain, he is a Tillman Military Scholar and is pursuing a J.D./M.B.A. at Stanford. He is currently in the Army Reserves as an R.O.T.C. instructor at Santa Clara University, which offers training for Stanford cadets. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense or the United States government.