8/3/2019 VetsFirst DOD MOU Letter

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December 6, 2011

The Honorable Leon E. Panetta

Secretary of Defense

Washington, DC 20301

Dear Secretary Panetta:

As you know, the Department of Defenses Tuition Assistance (TA) program is an important tool for

providing our nations service members with professional development opportunities. TA is not only

critical in ensuring the development of our service members but it is also important in ensuring the

readiness of our armed forces.

VetsFirst, a program of United Spinal Association, understands that the Department of Defense has

issued a deadline of January 1, 2012, for institutions of higher education to sign a new Memorandum

of Understanding (MOU) in order to become or remain eligible for participation in the TA program.

Although we appreciate your effort to create an MOU that will ensure the success of the program, we

respectfully request that you delay the implementation of the MOU. Delaying the implementation of

the MOU will allow for the initiation of a process to improve it and avoid unintended consequences.

Although the new MOU contains some essential, common-sense consumer protections, we are

concerned that it fails to address many important areas, including disclosure, student outcomes,

programmatic accreditation and transfer of credits, recruitment and marketing, and support and

career services. VetsFirst believes that the MOU could be improved though input from the Secretaries

of Education and Veterans Affairs, as well as educational experts, leaders of high-quality educationalinstitutions, and other stakeholders, including veterans and military service organizations.

We are concerned that many low-quality schools are lining up to sign the MOU, while many reputable

schools are refusing or hesitating to sign it. We certainly would not want to see a future in which

service members were unable to attend the nations high-quality public and private universities using

their TA dollars, and were instead restricted to selecting from schools with poor practices and

outcomes.

VetsFirst respectfully requests that you delay the implementation of the MOU to avoid significant

disruption in the educational benefits provided to service members, and institute a process to improve

its content. If you have any questions, please contact Heather Ansley, Vice President of VeteransPolicy, at (202) 556-2076, ext. 7702 or by e-mail at hansley@vetsfirst.org.

Sincerely,

Heather L. Ansley, Esq., MSW

Vice President of Veterans Policy

VetsFirst, a program of United Spinal Association