Student Veteran groups are taking a closer look at colleges and Universities across the country.  Daniel Cook, student Veteran at University of Michigan says, "Some colleges claim they support Veterans, but that may not actually be the case."  Cook goes on to share that one student veteran group with 417 chapters across the country has suspended a number of colleges, because they failed to provide Veteran friendly services.  

Cook is referring to the Student Veterans Association, which has 417 campus chapters, said it would not name the schools while the investigation is underway.   The group is suspending chapters at 40 colleges, saying it's concerned the colleges were not genuine in their efforts to appeal to veteran students who carry lucrative government tuition benefits.

The Associated Press reported last week on concerns about the credibility of "military friendly" and "veterans friendly" college rankings and the role they play in the aggressive recruiting battle among colleges — both traditional and for-profit — for veterans.

An estimated $9 billion in taxpayer dollars will be spent this year on veterans' education under the new Post 9/11 G.I. Bill.  Colleges have been especially aggressive recruiting veterans, not only for the federal education benefits they carry, but also because they don't count toward a limit called the federal 90-10 rule. That rule requires colleges to receive at least 10 percent of their revenue from sources other than the federal government, but students enrolled under the new G.I. Bill don't count toward the limit.

The schools may be creating what are essentially fake Student Veterans of America chapters to help them qualify for lists of "military friendly" or "veterans friendly" colleges that are proliferating in guidebooks and online, SVA executive director Michael Dakduk said Thursday. On some lists, the existence of an SVA chapter at a school figures into the formula.

The SVA discovered numerous chapters listing as contacts people were later identified as school employees, not student veterans, and that chapter websites simply redirected anyone interested to the colleges' pages.  One of SVA's main activities is facilitating peer-to-peer guidance for veterans. Dakduk said the credibility of that guidance could be threatened if the supposed veterans groups on campus aren't run by veterans.