Carper Statement on Announcement that DeVry Will Voluntarily Close the 90/10 Loophole

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), a retired Navy captain and former naval flight officer who used the GI Bill to earn his MBA at the University of Delaware, released the following statement today after DeVry Education Group announced it would voluntarily close the 90/10 loophole by limiting the total amount of federal education dollars it accepts, and include veteran and military benefits in that total. 

“For too long, for-profit colleges have targeted our veterans and their generous GI Bill benefits to exploit the 90/10 loophole, which allows for-profit institutions to evade the intent of Congress and be 100 percent reliant on federal funds. Today, DeVry has voluntarily committed to close the 90/10 loophole by counting veteran and military educational benefits as federal dollars. This is welcome news. I hope that DeVry will now take the next logical step and publicly support closing this indefensible loophole across the industry and embrace commonsense reforms to better protect veterans and taxpayers, like my legislation to close the 90/10 loophole – the Military and Veterans Education Protection Act.

“Today’s announcement, while significant and a step in the right direction, remains a voluntary commitment. Only Congress can enact permanent solutions to this problem. Only Congress can demand consequences when schools fail our veterans and taxpayers. Most important, only Congress can hold all for-profit colleges accountable by closing the 90/10 loophole. We must not wait any longer to protect military and veteran students, as well as taxpayers, from the negative impacts of schools closures and poor educational outcomes.”