Executive Order 13607

Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 2, 2012 / Presidential Documents

25861

Presidential Documents

Executive Order 13607 of April 27, 2012

Establishing Principles of Excellence for Educational Institutions Serving Service Members, Veterans, Spouses, and Other
Family Members
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, and in order to ensure that Federal
military and veterans educational benefits programs are providing service
members, veterans, spouses, and other family members with the information,
support, and protections they deserve, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. The original GI Bill, approved just weeks after D-Day,
educated nearly 8 million Americans and helped transform this Nation.
We owe the same obligations to this generation of service men and women
as was afforded that previous one. This is the promise of the Post-9/11
Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (title V, Public Law 110–252)
(Post-9/11 GI Bill) and the continued provision of educational benefits in
the Department of Defense’s Tuition Assistance Program (10 U.S.C. 2007):
to provide our service members, veterans, spouses, and other family members
the opportunity to pursue a high-quality education and gain the skills and
training they need to fill the jobs of tomorrow.
Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill became law, there have been reports of aggressive
and deceptive targeting of service members, veterans, and their families
by some educational institutions. For example, some institutions have recruited veterans with serious brain injuries and emotional vulnerabilities
without providing academic support and counseling; encouraged service
members and veterans to take out costly institutional loans rather than
encouraging them to apply for Federal student loans first; engaged in misleading recruiting practices on military installations; and failed to disclose
meaningful information that allows potential students to determine whether
the institution has a good record of graduating service members, veterans,
and their families and positioning them for success in the workforce.

emcdonald on DSK29S0YB1PROD with MISCELLANEOUS

To ensure our service members, veterans, spouses, and other family members
have the information they need to make informed decisions concerning
their well-earned Federal military and veterans educational benefits, I am
directing my Administration to develop Principles of Excellence to strengthen
oversight, enforcement, and accountability within these benefits programs.
Sec. 2. Principles of Excellence for Educational Institutions Serving Service
Members, Veterans, Spouses, and Other Family Members. The Departments
of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Education shall establish Principles of
Excellence (Principles) to apply to educational institutions receiving funding
from Federal military and veterans educational benefits programs, including
benefits programs provided by the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Tuition Assistance Program. The Principles should ensure that these educational institutions provide meaningful information to service members, veterans, spouses,
and other family members about the financial cost and quality of educational
institutions to assist those prospective students in making choices about
how to use their Federal educational benefits; prevent abusive and deceptive
recruiting practices that target the recipients of Federal military and veterans
educational benefits; and ensure that educational institutions provide highquality academic and student support services to active-duty service members, reservists, members of the National Guard, veterans, and military families.

VerDate Mar<15>2010

07:51 May 01, 2012

Jkt 226001

PO 00000

Frm 00001

Fmt 4790

Sfmt 4790

E:\FR\FM\02MYE0.SGM

02MYE0

25862

Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 2, 2012 / Presidential Documents
To the extent permitted by law, the Principles, implemented pursuant to
section 3 of this order, should require educational institutions receiving
funding pursuant to Federal military and veterans educational benefits to:
(a) prior to enrollment, provide prospective students who are eligible
to receive Federal military and veterans educational benefits with a personalized and standardized form, as developed in a manner set forth by the
Secretary of Education, working with the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans
Affairs, to help those prospective students understand the total cost of
the educational program, including tuition and fees; the amount of that
cost that will be covered by Federal educational benefits; the type and
amount of financial aid they may qualify for; their estimated student loan
debt upon graduation; information about student outcomes; and other information to facilitate comparison of aid packages offered by different educational institutions;
(b) inform students who are eligible to receive Federal military and veterans
educational benefits of the availability of Federal financial aid and have
in place policies to alert those students of their potential eligibility for
that aid before packaging or arranging private student loans or alternative
financing programs;
(c) end fraudulent and unduly aggressive recruiting techniques on and
off military installations, as well as misrepresentation, payment of incentive
compensation, and failure to meet State authorization requirements, consistent with the regulations issued by the Department of Education (34
C.F.R. 668.71–668.75, 668.14, and 600.9);
(d) obtain the approval of the institution’s accrediting agency for new
course or program offerings before enrolling students in such courses or
programs, provided that such approval is appropriate under the substantive
change requirements of the accrediting agency;
(e) allow service members and reservists to be readmitted to a program
if they are temporarily unable to attend class or have to suspend their
studies due to service requirements, and take additional steps to accommodate short absences due to service obligations, provided that satisfactory
academic progress is being made by the service members and reservists
prior to suspending their studies;
(f) agree to an institutional refund policy that is aligned with the refund
of unearned student aid rules applicable to Federal student aid provided
through the Department of Education under Title IV of the Higher Education
Act of 1965, as required under section 484B of that Act when students
withdraw prior to course completion;

emcdonald on DSK29S0YB1PROD with MISCELLANEOUS

(g) provide educational plans for all individuals using Federal military
and veterans educational benefits that detail how they will fulfill all the
requirements necessary to graduate and the expected timeline of completion;
and
(h) designate a point of contact for academic and financial advising (including access to disability counseling) to assist service member and veteran
students and their families with the successful completion of their studies
and with their job searches.
Sec. 3. Implementation of the Principles of Excellence.
(a) The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs shall reflect the
Principles described in section 2 of this order in new agreements with
educational institutions, to the extent practicable and permitted by law,
concerning participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program for veterans under
the Post-9/11 GI Bill or the Tuition Assistance Program for active duty
service members. The Department of Veterans Affairs shall also notify all
institutions participating in the Post-9/11 GI Bill program that they are
strongly encouraged to comply with the Principles and shall post on the
Department’s website those that do.
(b) The Secretaries of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Education, in consultation with the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB)

VerDate Mar<15>2010

07:51 May 01, 2012

Jkt 226001

PO 00000

Frm 00002

Fmt 4790

Sfmt 4790

E:\FR\FM\02MYE0.SGM

02MYE0

Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 2, 2012 / Presidential Documents

25863

and the Attorney General, shall take immediate action to implement this
order, and, within 90 days from the date of this order, report to the President
their progress on implementation, including promptly revising regulations,
Department of Defense Instructions, guidance documents, Memoranda of
Understanding, and other policies governing programs authorized or funded
by the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Tuition Assistance Program to implement
the Principles, to the extent permitted by law.
(c) The Secretaries of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Education shall develop a comprehensive strategy for developing service member and veteran
student outcome measures that are comparable, to the maximum extent
practicable, across Federal military and veterans educational benefit programs, including, but not limited to, the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Tuition
Assistance Program. To the extent practicable, the student outcome measures
should rely on existing administrative data to minimize the reporting burden
on institutions participating in these benefit programs. The student outcome
measures should permit comparisons across Federal educational programs
and across institutions and types of institutions. The Secretary of Education,
in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs, shall
also collect from educational institutions, as part of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and other data collection systems, information
on the amount of funding received pursuant to the Post-9/11 GI Bill and
the Tuition Assistance Program. The Secretary of Education shall make
this information publicly available on the College Navigator Website.
(d) The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in consultation with the Secretaries
of Defense and Education, shall provide to prospective military and veteran
students, prior to using their benefits, streamlined tools to compare educational institutions using key measures of affordability and value through
the Department of Veterans Affairs’ eBenefits portal. The eBenefits portal
shall be updated to facilitate access to school performance information,
consumer protection information, and key Federal financial aid documents.
The Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs shall also ensure that service
members and veterans have access to that information through educational
counseling offered by those Departments.
Sec. 4. Strengthening Enforcement and Compliance Mechanisms. Service
members, veterans, spouses, and other family members should have access
to a strong enforcement system through which to file complaints when
institutions fail to follow the Principles. Within 90 days of the date of
this order, the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs, in consultation
with the Secretary of Education and the Director of the CFPB, as well
as with the Attorney General, as appropriate, shall submit to the President
a plan to strengthen enforcement and compliance mechanisms. The plan
shall include proposals to:

emcdonald on DSK29S0YB1PROD with MISCELLANEOUS

(a) create a centralized complaint system for students receiving Federal
military and veterans educational benefits to register complaints that can
be tracked and responded to by the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs,
Justice, and Education, the CFPB, and other relevant agencies;
(b) institute uniform procedures for receiving and processing complaints
across the State Approving Agencies (SAAs) that work with the Department
of Veterans Affairs to review participating institutions, provide a coordinated
mechanism across SAAs to alert the Department of Veterans Affairs to any
complaints that have been registered at the State level, and create procedures
for sharing information about complaints with the appropriate State officials,
accrediting agency representatives, and the Secretary of Education;
(c) institute uniform procedures for referring potential matters for civil
or criminal enforcement to the Department of Justice and other relevant
agencies;
(d) establish procedures for targeted risk-based program reviews of institutions to ensure compliance with the Principles;

VerDate Mar<15>2010

07:51 May 01, 2012

Jkt 226001

PO 00000

Frm 00003

Fmt 4790

Sfmt 4790

E:\FR\FM\02MYE0.SGM

02MYE0

25864

Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 2, 2012 / Presidential Documents
(e) establish new uniform rules and strengthen existing procedures for
access to military installations by educational institutions. These new rules
should ensure, at a minimum, that only those institutions that enter into
a memorandum of agreement pursuant to section 3(a) of this order are
permitted entry onto a Federal military installation for the purposes of
recruitment. The Department of Defense shall include specific steps for
instructing installation commanders on commercial solicitation rules and
the requirement of the Principles outlined in section 2(c) of this order;
and
(f) take all appropriate steps to ensure that websites and programs are
not deceptively and fraudulently marketing educational services and benefits
to program beneficiaries, including initiating a process to protect the term
‘‘GI Bill’’ and other military or veterans-related terms as trademarks, as
appropriate.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) This order shall be implemented consistent
with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit,
substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party
against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers,
employees, or agents, or any other person.

THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 27, 2012.
[FR Doc. 2012–10715
Filed 5–1–12; 8:45 am]

VerDate Mar<15>2010

07:51 May 01, 2012

Jkt 226001

PO 00000

Frm 00004

Fmt 4790

Sfmt 4790

E:\FR\FM\02MYE0.SGM

02MYE0

OB#1.EPS

emcdonald on DSK29S0YB1PROD with MISCELLANEOUS

Billing code 3295–F2–P