Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Report Cautions NYC Veterans About Enrolling in For-Profit Schools

March 10, 2020

• Are for-profit schools targeting NYC veterans?
• Are for-profit schools serving the needs of NYC veterans?
• Are for-profit schools a sound investment for NYC veterans?

Key Findings:

• For-profit schools have a history of targeting veterans, with veterans who come from low-income backgrounds, students of color, students with children, and older students being even more vulnerable.
  • NYC veterans are nearly twice as likely to attend a for-profit school than other comparable students—12 percent of independent students across New York City attended a for-profit degree-granting school in the 2016-2017 school year, while 21 percent of GI Bill recipients attended a for-profit school in 2018.
  • Black veteran students in NYC, like Black students generally, are more likely than their white counterparts to enroll at for-profit schools—35 percent compared to 16 percent.


• To answer how well New York City for-profit schools serve veterans’ needs, DCWP examined completion rates, whether schools accommodate timely degree completion by offering school credit for military training, and earnings, specifically whether students earn more than they would have without having studied at these institutions.
  • For-profit schools underperform nonprofit and public schools when it comes to on-time degree completion, with only 36 percent of students attending four-year degree granting for-profit schools having graduated within six years, compared to 48 percent and 62 percent at public and nonprofit schools, respectively.
  • Private undergraduate degree-granting schools that NYC veterans attend—both nonprofit and for-profit—offer credit for military service at a rate 17 to 20 percentage points lower than the public institutions that serve NYC veterans. Facilitating degree completion by crediting the work experience of veterans is an important way to reduce the opportunity costs of higher education for veterans and help them more expeditiously join the civilian workforce.
  • At 19 percent of for-profit schools attended by NYC GI Bill recipients in 2018, median earnings were equal to or less than the median earnings for comparable high school graduates who had not attended college.


• To evaluate the stability of New York City schools that serve veterans, DCWP looked at three metrics: the share of schools that have lost access to GI Bill funding, the share that have closed, and the share of schools attended by NYC veterans that have received a “caution” from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs signaling fiscal or regulatory issues.
  • For NYC GI Bill recipients studying in 2014, 5 percent of for-profit and private schools they attended were no longer eligible for GI Bill funding in 2019, compared to just 1 percent of public schools.
  • Another 15 percent of the for-profit schools they attended had closed within the same five-year period, compared to 1 percent of nonprofit schools and less than 1 percent of public schools.
  • In 2018, 15 percent of for-profit schools attended by GI Bill recipients had received a “caution.” These schools educated 21 percent of NYC GI Bill recipients attending a for-profit in 2018. This means that one out of every five NYC GI Bill-receiving for-profit students attended a school with serious operational or financial issues. If history is a predictor, a good chunk of these schools will either close or lose access to GI Bill funding in the coming years.