VA Student Financial Aid: Management Actions Needed to Reduce Overlap in Approving Education and Training Programs and to Assess State Approving Agencies
Highlights
In fiscal year 2006, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) paid approximately $2.1 billion in education assistance benefits to more than 470,000 beneficiaries and about $19 million to state approving agencies (SAA) to assess whether schools and training programs offer education of sufficient quality for veterans to receive VA education assistance benefits when attending them. Qualified individuals--veterans, service persons, reservists, and certain spouses and dependents--receive benefits through a number of education assistance programs for the pursuit of various types of programs, such as a degree program, vocational program, apprenticeship, or on-the-job training. The Departments of Education (Education) and Labor (Labor) also assess education and training programs for various purposes, primarily for awarding student aid and providing apprenticeship assistance. In 2006, under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, Education provided nearly $77 billion in student aid in the form of both grants and loans. The Department of Education assesses and certifies postsecondary institutions for participation in Title IV programs through various oversight functions to ensure that these schools meet federal administrative and financial requirements and that they are accredited and licensed. Similarly, under the National Apprenticeship Act of 1937, the Department of Labor is authorized to formulate and promote the furtherance of labor standards to safeguard the welfare of apprentices. Given each agency's role, the potential of duplicative efforts among federal agencies has been a congressional concern. In 1995, GAO reported on this matter and concluded that there was a substantial amount of overlap between the efforts of SAAs and the other federal agencies. In light of continued congressional interest in this issue, we have now answered the following questions: (1) What changes have occurred in state approving agencies' duties and functions since 1995? (2) To what extent does the SAA approval process overlap with efforts by the Departments of Education and Labor? (3) What, if any, additional value do the SAA approval activities bring to VA education benefit programs?
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Veterans Affairs | To help ensure that federal dollars are spent efficiently and effectively, the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs should take steps to monitor SAA spending and identify whether any resources are spent on activities that duplicate the efforts of other agencies. The extent of these actions should be in proportion to the total resources of the program. Specifically, VA should require SAAs to track and report data on resources spent on approval activities such as site visits, catalog review, and outreach in a cost-efficient manner. | VA prepared a recommendation for concurrence by VA's General Counsel that adds language to the FY08 State Approving Agency (SAA) contract that addresses this recommendation. This language adds provisions that: (1) SAAs furnish written reports of outreach visits; (2) all visit reports must include travel time and time spent on the visit; (3) outreach expenses claimed on invoices will be supported by visit reports, travel vouchers, and receipts; and (4) SAAs shall include in the notice of approval the length of time spent reviewing and evaluating official school publications. In May 2007, legislation (S.1290) was introduced to address concerns this recommendation raises, then referred to... the Committee on Veterans' Affairs for further action. In July 2009, VA reported that it had worked with the National Association of State Approving Agencies to revise the SAA contracts to include a reporting system for SAA approval activities such as tracking their their time and expenses related to outreach efforts. These changes were incorporated into the SAA FY 2009 final contracts and were sent to them on October 24, 2008.
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | To help ensure that federal dollars are spent efficiently and effectively, the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs should take steps to monitor SAA spending and identify whether any resources are spent on activities that duplicate the efforts of other agencies. The extent of these actions should be in proportion to the total resources of the program. Specifically, VA should collaborate with other agencies to identify any duplicative efforts and use the agency's administrative and regulatory authority to streamline the approval process. | VA met with representatives from the Department of Labor in March 2007 to discuss areas of possible overlap between the DOL and VA. Talks will continue with DOL as needed to insure that no unnecessary overlap is occurring. VA is in the process of establishing a meeting with the appropriate staff at the Department of Education to discuss areas of possible overlap. In May 2007, Senate Bill, S. 1290 was introduced to address concerns this recommendation raises. The legislation was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs for further action. In July 2009, VA reported that it developed a legislative proposal for 2011 to change section 3672 of title 38 U.S.C. to give VA more discretion...
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs should establish outcome-oriented performance measures to assess the effectiveness of SAA efforts. | VA reported that the agency is developing measures to assess the effectiveness of the State Approving Agency (SAA) efforts and they expect to implement the measures in FY 2008. In July 2009, VA reported that it had collaborated with the National Association of State Approving Agencies (NASAA) to develop outcome-oriented performance measures to assess the effectiveness of SAA efforts, and these measures were incorporated into the SSA FY 2009 contracts. However, when we reviewed their business plan, we determined that the measures still focused on outputs rather than outcome-oriented measures, such as completion rates of beneficiaries that would measure the impact of SSA approval...
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