For seven degree programs at the San Diego campus of the for-profit University of Phoenix more than 85% of students are veterans, which is apparently too high for California regulators to stomach.

The regulators believe the campus is specifically targeting veterans for admissions because their educations are federally-funded and therefore their tuition costs fully covered.

It seems that the one place where the federal and state governments have an interest in cost-cutting is in paying for veterans’ educations: According to the Wall Street Journal, the federal government pays twice to send a veteran to a for-profit college than it does to send them to a public one.

Ben Kesling and Douglas Belkin of the Wall Street Journal:

California Cracks Down on University of Phoenix’s Veteran Enrollments The state of California has banned the San Diego campus of the University of Phoenix from enrolling additional veterans in seven of its programs, joining a growing list of government agencies cracking down on for-profit colleges. A state veterans’ watchdog took the unusual action in June after an audit conducted by the group found that veterans eligible for federal funding made up more than 85% of the students in the programs. The group said that violated a federal rule aimed at stopping schools from targeting former military personnel. The university, a subsidiary of Apollo Education Group Inc., APOL -1.86%, disputes the results of the audit and said that it expects the audit to be revised. The results of the audit were earlier reported by the Center for Investigative Reporting. In early July, Corinthian Colleges Inc., based in Santa Ana, Calif., announced it would largely cease operations after the for-profit school came under scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Education for its marketing practices, dropout rates and loan defaults. Additional investigations into the business practices of for-profits are under way by several state attorneys general, as well as a host of federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.

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