GI Bill a Boon to For-Profits?

That's the subject of a recent Chronicle article (subscription required):

According to data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the for-profit giant enrolled 17,221 veterans during the past fiscal year, making [the University of Phoenix] the top recipient of federal aid for military veterans. Two other for-profit institutions, American InterContinental University and American Public University, ranked second and third, with about 3,700 veterans each.

Today Inside Higher Ed has an article about the GI Bill update today as well. Their reporting reveals that the new benefit would place a greater emphasis on part-time or online college enrollment.

“I have a feeling that University of Phoenix will always be the number one recipient of GI Bill benefits, in part because they make themselves so incredibly accessible to veterans throughout this country,” said Patrick Campbell, legislative director for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

There's no doubt that the way the current GI bill is insufficient, but we should be making a full-time option equitable to a part-time one. There are plenty of veterans out there for whom part time and online options are the only real options available, especially if they have families with small children or live in rural areas far from colleges or universities.