DOD Education Benefits: Action Is Needed to Ensure Evaluations of Postsecondary Schools Are Useful
Abstract
Why GAO Did This Study. DOD s military Tuition Assistance Program includes partnership agreements with about 3,000 schools through which service members can pursue a postsecondary education. Through this program, service members tuition is paid directly to participating schools and in fiscal year 2013, the program spent $540 million. The program also provides service members with education advisors, and conducts evaluations of schools to assess quality. Congress mandated that GAO provide information on the role of these advisors and on the DOD contractor evaluations of schools participating in the program. GAO examined (1) the number of advisors and the type of advice they provide, and (2) the information collected through evaluations of schools participating in the military Tuition Assistance Program. For this work, GAO analyzed DOD data on the program from fiscal year 2011 through 2013; reviewed all DOD contractor evaluations for fiscal years 2012 and 2013; and interviewed officials from DOD and the military services, contractor staff responsible for the evaluations, and advisors at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. GAO visited this base because many of its service members participate in the program, and some of the participating schools were evaluated by DOD s contractor in 2013. What GAO Recommends. GAO recommends that DOD develop a plan for future school evaluations. DOD agreed with the recommendation.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA609035
Entities
People
- Craig Winslow
- Deborah Bland
- Holly Dye
- Jessica Botsford
- Kurt Burgeson
- Linda Siegel
- Melissa Emrey-arras
- Michael Silver
- Mimi Nguyen
- Sandra Baxter
- Sherri Doughty
- Susan Bernstein
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office