New NDC Op-Ed: 90/10 Repeal Bill Would Restore Veterans’ Earned Benefits

For years higher education policy has been marked by regulatory double standards and discriminatory rules. The 90/10 Rule and Gainful Employment Rule, specifically, selectively target career colleges, cornering students into conventional public and private schools.

The PARITY Act, introduced recently by Senator Jim Banks, would permanently retire the U.S. Department of Education’s 90/10 Rule, restoring value and dignity to veterans’ earned benefits, National Defense Committee Executive Director Bob Carey writes in a new op-ed.

The 90/10 rule was framed as a mechanism to hold colleges more accountable for student outcomes. In truth, however, it was intended to drive career colleges—which were the only schools that were subject to the regulation—out of business and reinforce the higher ed status quo. 

One study found that 80 percent of public two-year colleges and 40 percent of public four-year colleges would run afoul of the 90/10 Rule, if it were applied uniformly across all types of post-secondary institutions. But the regulation was applied only to proprietary schools, even though they enroll less than 10 percent of U.S. students.

The rule requires that institutions count GI Bill benefits as federal student aid, rather than as earned compensation for military service. As a result, it prevents many veterans from using their education benefits at schools of their choosing.

“The 90/10 Rule was always discriminatory. Now, it is also obsolete,” Capt. Carey writes.

The One Big Beautiful Bill, which Congress passed and President Trump signed into law last year, establishes new, uniform accountability measures—including an “earnings premium” test— that apply to all types of post-secondary institutions.

All schools must now prove their programs’ worth, whether they are public, private, or proprietary. There is no need for an additional subset of rules for career colleges.   

“Senator Banks’ legislation will finally level the playing field and restore control to students and their families,” Capt. Carey concludes. “I hope and expect that… Congress will move it to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law.”

Read the Full Editorial Here.