Efforts Focus on Helping Veterans Find the Right College

To reach more college-bound service members, Szoldra created CollegeVeteran.com, an advising website, and started a Change.org petition for a ranking of colleges that best provide for veterans. Currently, misleading marketing targeted at veterans pervades the Internet, he says, and may persuade those on the GI Bill to choose schools, including some for-profit institutions, that may not be right for them.

It's a cause President Obama has taken a stand on as well. According to a press release from the White House in late April, deceptive marketing includes recruiting "veterans with serious brain injuries and emotional vulnerabilities without providing academic support and counseling; encourag[ing] service members, veterans, and their families to take out costly institutional loans rather than encouraging them to apply for Federal student aid first; ... and not disclos[ing] meaningful information that allows potential students to determine whether the institution has a good record of graduating service members, veterans, and their families and positioning them for success in the workforce."

In an executive order, Obama announced a plan to target those types of online recruiting and to more effectively provide veterans with good information, such as true college costs and financial aid options, and with a centralized complaint center if issues arise. Among other mandates, Obama's order "will require that colleges participating in the military and veterans education benefit programs do more to meet the needs of military and veteran students by providing clear educational plans for students [and] academic and financial aid counseling services with staff that are familiar with the VA and D[epartment] o[f] D[efense] programs."
http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/06/08/efforts-focus-on-helping-veterans-find-the-right-college