In 2010, veterans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces after 2001 received an update to their education benefits. The update was signed into law under the Post 9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2010, also referred to as the Post-9/11 GI Bill.
The Post-9/11 GI Bill was designed to expand education opportunities for veterans by allowing them to use their education benefits at non-college-degree institutions, like career technical education (CTE) centers. Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill was enacted in 2010, CTE centers across Oklahoma have worked with hundreds of veterans to help make them career-ready and ease their transition back into civilian life.
The Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE) recently contacted U.S Rep. Markwayne Mullin (OK-02) and Oklahoma U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford to discuss a new barrier Oklahoma veterans are facing when they pursue a certificate degree from a CTE center.
ACTE told Mullin and the Oklahoma senate offices that in Feb. 2016, CTE centers in Oklahoma were notified that veterans would no longer be able to use their GI benefits for courses that include an online or distance learning component. This new restriction has led to veterans being denied access to over 200 CTE programs in Oklahoma.
On April 28, 2016, Mullin, Inhofe, and Lankford sent a letter to Danny Pummill, Acting Under Secretary for Benefits at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), asking why these programs have now been ruled ineligible after six years.
In the letter they wrote, “We would like to know why these programs are ruled arbitrarily ineligible, despite the fact that the certificate programs including online education at these institutions are accredited. These programs are integral to the industry and workforce development needs of communities and states, as well as to the higher education systems in such states where non-degree-granting higher education institutions exist. Under the current rules, a student is able to use their veteran’s benefits for certificate programs with online learning components at a community college or degree-granting proprietary institution, but the exact same program offered in the same way at an area CTE center is now being deemed ineligible.”
Mullin, a graduate of the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology, hopes that the VA will use its authority to reverse the limitation. If not, he is prepared to offer legislation to restore veterans’ access to all accredited CTE programs.
Mullin said, “Career technical education plays a huge role in higher education in Oklahoma. This restriction that the VA has put on veterans’ education doesn’t make any sense. I’m hopeful we will receive a prompt response from the Acting Under Secretary, and my team and I are prepared to take the necessary steps to fix this problem.”
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