Educational Advisors Inc. - Accreditation and Compliance Guidance

September 21, 2011 ~ The Chronicle of Higher Education ~ Kelly Field

The Defense Department is stepping up its oversight of online learning, amid growing Congressional scrutiny of its tuition-benefit program.

On Thursday, Sen. Tom Carper, a Democrat of Delaware, will conduct a second hearing on the military's tuition-assistance program, six months after he questioned the department's ability to prevent abuse of the benefit.

The tuition-assistance program provides active-duty service members with up to $250 per credit hour, for a maximum of $4,500 per year. During the last fiscal year, 71 percent of courses paid for with tuition assistance were distance-learning courses. The 18 largest for-profit colleges received $175-million from Defense Department educational programs in 2010, according to a recent report by the Senate education committee.

Starting in January, the department will require distance-education programs receiving tuition-assistance benefits to submit to an independent, third-party review. Currently, only institutions operating at military installations are required to undergo a Military Installation Voluntary Education Review, or Miver.

The department announced its new policy on March 15, two weeks after the Government Accountability Office released a report that found major gaps in the Defense Department's oversight of the program. But the change had been in the works since 2005, when a department task force recommended expanding Miver reviews to distance-education programs.

The change does not appear to have assuaged Congress's concerns, however. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Senator Carper said he remained troubled by reports that some colleges were exploiting members of the military services.

"I believe we have a moral imperative and a financial imperative to ensure that the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Education are doing everything they can to prevent these kinds of abuses," he said.

Thursday's hearing is expected to draw attention to the large share of federal military and veterans benefits flowing to for-profit colleges. At a news conference before the hearing, Mr. Carper and two other senators will release data showing which colleges are receiving the most in veterans benefits.