PoE: Outcome Measures for Assessing
Military/Veteran Student Success
ROBERT M. WORLEY II
DIRECTOR, EDUCATION SERVICE
VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION
February 13, 2014
CCME
OVERVIEW
• Long Term Solution
• Claims Processing Highlights
• Principles of Excellence
– Centralized Complaint System
– Comparison Tool
– Outcome Measures
VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION
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Long Term Solution (LTS) Supplemental
Automation Summary
VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION
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FY13 Claims Processing Highlights
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4,513,286 total education claims processed (28% more than FY12)
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561,139 original claims (14% more than FY12)
3,952,147 supplemental claims (31% more than FY12)
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Payment processing accuracy rate at 98.7%
– Exceeded the target of 98%
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58% reduction in pending claims volume in FY13
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Pending claims at the end of FY13 was 89,331 (FY12 was 213,590
claims)
Exceeded claims processing timeliness goals (average days to
complete)
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Original claims at 26.2 days compared to 30.5 in FY12
(14% improvement)
Supplemental claims at 9.7 days compared to 16.5 in FY12
(41% improvement)
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Principles of Excellence – Centralized Complaint System
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VA and DoD created a complaint system for students to register complaints
against educational institutions for fraudulent, deceptive, and misleading
practices that will be tracked to the educational institution and responses
provided to the complainant
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Developed a system with DoD to accept complaints through a webform and
the Education Service national call center
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Launched on January 30, 2014
285 complaints received within the first 24 hours across agencies (VA, DoD,
Dept. of Ed)
There were 8,719 Complaint System landing-page views and 2,145 further logins
to the actual Complaint System through the last report on 2/6/14.
671 complaints were submitted as of 2/7/14.
Slightly over 50% of the complaints received were benefit related questions
The top two benefits cited were:
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Post-9/11 GI Bill (39%)
VRAP (26%)
The remainder was spread across other benefits.
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Principles of Excellence – Comparison Tool
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GI Bill Estimator/Comparison Tool; allows Veterans and family members to
calculate estimated GI Bill benefits and research approved educational
institutions.
•
Website - http://benefits.va.gov/gibill/comparison
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Phase I – Launched February 4, 2014
• Value of their GI Bill benefit at a particular school (estimator)
• School indicators (similar to college scorecard)
• Veteran indicators (e.g., PoE, Yellow Ribbon, GI Bill beneficiaries)
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Phase II
• Calculates GI Bill Benefits
– Tuition / Fees (pre-populated from ED’s database)
– In-State vs. Out of State
• School Indicators (PL Requirements)
– Retention rate
– Accreditation
• Veteran Student Outcomes Measures
– During School (Retention Rates, Persistence Rates, Course Completion Rates)
– Graduation (Transfer Rates, Graduation Rates, Certificate Completion)
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Principles of Excellence – Veteran Student Outcome Measures
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VA, DoD, and ED have developed Veteran student outcome measures
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Purpose of outcome measures:
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To ascertain success among Veterans in utilizing the GI Bill program
To identify what Veterans/Servicemembers need to know when choosing a school
To identify what the Federal government should know to ensure an education program is
appropriate
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Agencies continue to analyze data sources to determine course of action to obtain
Veterans and Servicemember student outcome measures and cohort information from
existing systems
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The list has been vetted with VSOs and higher education organizations
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Retention rate
Persistence rate
Course completion rate
Transfer-out rate
Graduation rate
Certificate completion
Number of years to complete
degree/certificate
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Number of institutions attended to
complete program
Median Federal student loan
borrowing
Federal student loan default rate
Average salary
Unemployment rates
Employment in field of study
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Outcome measures and definitions published on College Navigator (ED’s website)
on November 8, 2013 (http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/)
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DoD will develop alternate measures for DoD population
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EDU Realignment

VBA realigned authority over the planning and management of education claims processing
from the Office of Field Operations (OFO) to Education Service (EDU) on October 1, 2013
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The realignment only affects managerial staff at the four Regional Processing Offices (RPO). It
does not impact the day-to-day work of RPO claims processing staff.
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The realignment enhances VBA’s effectiveness by establishing a direct line of authority to EDU to
enhance responsiveness between staff responsible for production and staff involved in policy,
training, and regulations.
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EDU established a new organizational structure to include an Operations Division
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Key Operations Issues
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National workload management strategy
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Updated performance standards
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Organization structure
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Reporting requirements.
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CONTACT US
WEBSITE: www.benefits.va.gov/gibill
TELEPHONE: 1-888-GIBILL-1
(1-888-442-4551)
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BACK UP SLIDES – Centralized Complaint System
The top schools based on number of complaints received are:
UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX
DEVRY UNIVERSITY
ITT TECHNICAL INSTITUTE
COLORADO TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
STRAYER UNIVERSITY
NEW HORIZONS CLC
FLORIDA STATE COLLEGE AT JACKSONVILLE
AMERICAN COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY
PIMA MEDICAL INSTITUTE
PIMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE
MIAMI DADE COLLEGE
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