Initiative to Protect Student Veterans

CalDog · Oct 1, 2012

The University of San Diego, which is a non-profit B&M Catholic university, has a new program for veterans facing issues with online schools:

A former Camp Pendleton military law judge is spearheading a University of San Diego effort aimed at helping veterans resolve disputes with online colleges who may have targeted them for their military education benefits.

...

"Our focus is to assist any student veterans who may have been harmed by the predatory practices of online education companies," said retired Marine Col. Patrick Uetz of Carlsbad, who's heading up the USD program. "We're reaching out to people in part to tell them that if they know someone or they themselves have lost some or all of their GI Bill to these online colleges to come in and see us."

Uetz is director of the university's "Initiative to Protect Student Veterans," which formed to "protect our military veterans from the misleading practices of some for-profit educational institutions and lenders."

Far too many veterans around the nation have reported problems, Uetz said. USD's Veterans Legal Clinic, launched in August, stands ready to help with free assistance for those in disputes with the colleges.

Services range from simple advice to identification of potential claims to representation in litigation or arbitration.

...

[Uetz] said USD officals don't think that all the non-traditional colleges and schools are simply out to make a buck and don't care about student outcomes.

"We certainly don't believe that every for-profit education company is doing a poor job," he said. "We're focusing on where we perceive there are problems."

Getting veterans, particularly Marines, to step forward is the first challenge in making the initiative he's heading a success, according to Uetz.

"Many military individuals are reluctant to come forward admitting they may have made a mistake by signing up with one of these schools," he said. "Sometimes we (veterans) can't admit that we need some help with things ---- we get embarrassed and say or think we did something wrong and instead just try and put it behind and move forward.

"We're here to say we can help, and we are willing to talk to people who want to remain anonymous."
Click to expand...

CalDog · Oct 1, 2012

The home page for the USD Veteran's Clinic is here.

They also represent veterans and military family members in disputes with high-interest lenders, as well as with for-profit schools.

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Initiative to Protect Student Veterans

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