NDC Talks Education Benefits, Recruitment, and Veterans with Congressman Burgess Owens
National Defense Committee was honored to host Congressman Burgess Owens today for a discussion on Education Benefits, Recruitment, and Veterans at the Republican National Convention.
Congressman Owens is a tireless advocate for active-duty military members and veterans—America’s heroes—and has worked hard in Washington to protect educational choice. Last month he introduced the Ensuring Distance Education Act, which seeks to uphold access to career colleges, online programs, and other non-traditional higher education options.
Veterans’ educational benefits are earned benefits—benefits they should have the freedom to decide how to use. Yet, the Department of Education and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs are putting restrictions on where and when benefits can be used, limiting veterans’ choice in higher education.
Students’ ability to freely decide their higher education path fosters innovation and development, and “that’s where we get the best products and the best services,” Congressman Owens explained.
Federal regulations including the 90/10 Rule, the Gainful Employment Rule, and Financial Transparency only apply to non-traditional schools, NDC Executive Director Bob Carey noted. “The Department of Education is trying to protect traditional schools” and is “stacking the books against” options that don’t conform to the conventional higher education model.
The federal government’s restrictions on education benefits also contributes to the military’s recruiting crisis. Many potential enlistees are not able to pass basic entrance exams, which owes to “inadequacies in the K-12 education system,” Mr. Carey noted.
“Education is a national security issue,” Congressman Owens agreed. U.S. military personnel are the “best of the best… and we should have a high bar to ensure those who serve are buoyed by respect and compensated in a way that they can provide for their families and be prepared to enter the workforce” when they leave the military.
Federal regulators acting as “legislature, executive, and judiciary,” as Mr. Carey put it, is “frustrating,” Representative Owens added. “We always thought the Department of Education was there for our kids, but they are there for traditional [higher ed] institutions… It’s time to take the power back and enact generational change. And we have an opportunity to do that.”
