VA Education Benefits: Actions Taken, but Outreach and Oversight Could Be Improved

In September 2014, VA reported that it began sending email messages about GI Bill benefits to servicemembers and veterans, at certain points in their career or triggered by life events. VA is able to track the percentage of these messages that are delivered and opened and how many recipients click through to the GI Bill website. According to VA, it has sent 6,500 emails so far and achieved a 42-percent open rate and a 5-percent click-through rate. VA will use these data as the baseline for its monthly GI Bill emails going forward. In addition, VA reported that it will be able to use these data to determine how many of these servicemembers and veterans utilize their education benefits.

VA has established national performance standards for its Education Call Center staff and, in April 2013, VA reported that the standards have been issued to its field offices. These performance standards include five elements, including elements for quality and timeliness. For example, according to the performance standards, VA will review a 5 percent sample of each employee's calls per month and assess whether they are providing complete and accurate information to callers. In addition, there is a client contact management element, which states that employees will provide good customer service but will also control the length of phone calls and keep in mind that undue delays cause long hold times for waiting callers. Staff are expected to complete calls in 8 to 9 minutes. There is another performance element for Right Now Web service. This element states that employees, when assigned to answer Right Now Web inquiries, must complete an average of at least four inquiries per hour. While this addresses the timeliness of Right Now Web inquiries, it does not address quality. We urge VA, in moving forward, to measure the quality of Right Now Web inquiries. Measuring the quality of responses to Right Now Web inquiries, such as by monthly reviewing a sample of responses for accuracy, could help VA achieve greater balance among its performance standards and ensure that staff are not sacrificing quality in order to meet timeliness standards.

On June 3, 2011, VA issued a School Certifying Officials Handbook which serves as the comprehensive standardized school certifying officials' manual for all VA education benefits. The handbook is posted on VA's GI Bill website, on the School Resources page. The handbook includes information on recent legislative changes to the Post-9/11 GI Bill and supersedes any locally produced VA material regarding VA education benefits (such as policy handbooks created by VA regional processing offices). VA plans to update the handbook as needed. In addition, the School Resource page of VA's GI Bill website includes a news section. School certifying officials and others can subscribe to be notified when this news section is updated.

On June 22, 2011, VA announced changes to its website to help school certifying officials find key information. The GI Bill website now has a School Resources page for news, training and other resources specifically for schools. For example, the website has information on online training as well as upcoming conferences for school certifying officials. The website also includes a link to a report on ways that schools can accommodate student veterans with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, VA is working on a series of informational training videos for school certifying officials which will be included on the School Resources page of the GI Bill website. VA expects to release the first of these videos in fall 2011.

With respect to the role of State Approving Agencies (SAA), VA submitted recommended legislative changes to the SAAs' activities that Congress enacted as part of Public Law 111-377. These changes, effective August 1, 2011, allow VA to rely on accreditations already in place by the Department of Education, freeing up SAA staff to assist VA staff with outreach, training, and oversight of schools. In addition, VA contracted for an independent assessment of SAAs' activities. In terms of VA oversight of schools, VA compared its available resources (including VA and SAA staff) against statutory requirements and determined that it has appropriate resources for oversight and compliance. VA also reported that it has begun using a risk-based approach to its fiscal year 2012 oversight activities by prioritizing compliance visits at for-profit institutions and schools with more than 300 veterans. However, VA noted that its fiscal year 2012 compliance goals may be impacted by delays in getting security clearances and required training for SAA staff, as well as the additional complexity of conducting compliance visits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Regarding oversight of foreign schools, VA has not yet conducted compliance visits of foreign schools, but intends to complete compliance reviews remotely in fiscal year 2013. The schools will mail VA the required documentation, and VA expects this approach will require one full-time equivalent staff member and a dedicated telephone line. Finally, VA noted that it reviews monthly reports that VA and SAA staff submit on the results of their compliance activities, which include face-to-face interviews with veterans at for-profit schools. VA has also mandated monthly reports to analyze program withdrawals and suspensions made by SAAs. In addition, pursuant to Executive Order 13607 which instructs the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to submit a plan to the president to strengthen enforcement and compliance mechanisms for schools serving service members, veterans, and their family members, VA reported that it has collaborated with the Department of Defense to produce two 90-day progress reports that are pending submission to the president, as of September 2012.