Student veterans applying for the VA’s Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship program face high rates of denial according to a recent GAO report.
A U.S. Government Accountability Office, or GAO, study published on Sept. 29 outlines critical barriers student veterans face regarding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Edith Nourse Rogers STEM Scholarship program.
Since 2019, over 130,000 veterans have used their Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits while pursuing STEM degrees. Veterans who exhaust their GI Bill benefits in the process can apply for the VA’s STEM scholarship program to complete their degrees. However, the GAO found that the VA denies 63% of applicants, yet fails to collect “data to understand application denial trends” that could suggest denial trends.
The GAO’s own analysis shows that black veterans and women veterans are denied at higher rates than white and male veterans, but the lack of VA data doesn’t allow for any assertions to be drawn.
Additionally, the GAO report says the VA does not “offer clear information to veterans about their applications for the scholarship.” More specifically, VA letters “lack clear information” on how to apply for the program, possibly leading veterans to incorrectly assume they do or do not qualify for the scholarship requirements.
As such, the GAO made several recommendations to the VA to improve its STEM scholarship program to help and encourage more veterans to complete their degrees. Most notably, the GAO recommends that the VA clarify program materials and begin the data collection process for denied applications.
As of Oct. 3, the VA has yet to make a formal response. By law, government agencies are not strictly beholden to the GAO or its recommendations. However, the VA has typically addressed GAO concerns in the past.
The full text of the GAO report can be found here.
Author: Christian Southards
Coming from a family with a proud military background and wanting to contribute his writing skills to a worthy cause, Christian began writing for the California American Legion in August of 2020. His father is a 25-year Army Veteran and his grandfather served in the Navy during Vietnam.