DOD Proposes New Rule on Institutions Receiving Tuition Assistance Students

By Debbie Gregory.

The Tuition Assistance Program offers essential resources and support for Active Duty Service Members who are going back to school to earn their college degree.

MilitaryConnection.com is dedicated to assisting active duty personnel, Veterans and their families in finding the college or university that fits their personal criteria, as well as the specifications of certain military educational benefits that can be confusing and overwhelming. MilitaryConnection.com strives to make the transition from Service Member to student easier by offering a user friendly school directory.

On August 14, 2013, the Department of Defense (DOD) published a notice of proposed rulemaking for its voluntary education programs that included the newest draft of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for comment. The DOD has proposed a draft rule that will affect Veteran schools, Veteran colleges, military schools, military colleges, Veteran education benefits and military education benefits.

The DOD has drafted a new rule of final requirements that colleges must meet if they want to enroll active duty members through a federal student-aid program. Under the new change, an institution will be required to disclose its credit-transfer policies, any academic residency requirements, and basic information about a program’s total cost, before a student’s enrollment. The colleges will also be required to provide the perspective student with access to an institutional financial-aid adviser before his or her enrollment.

The new agreement also requires all institutions to ban incentive compensation for its recruiters, financial aid advisers, and admissions counselors. Colleges must also “refrain from high-pressure recruitment tactics,” which include “making multiple unsolicited phone calls” to prospective students. The new rule requirements seem to be aimed squarely at the for-profit colleges that receive half of all tuition assistance money.

The draft rule is a result of a Congressional investigation into the mismanagement of millions of dollars being awarded through the Tuition Assistance Program by the DOD.