Educational institutions participating in the Principles of Excellence program agree to the following guidelines:

• Provide students with a personalized form covering the total cost of an education program.
• Provide educational plans for all military and Veteran education beneficiaries.
• End fraudulent and aggressive recruiting techniques and misrepresentations.
• Accommodate Servicemembers and Reservists absent due to service requirements.
• Designate a point of contact to provide academic and financial advice.
• Ensure accreditation of all new programs prior to enrolling students.
• Align institutional refund policies with those under Title IV, which governs the administration of federal student financial aid programs.

Foreign schools, high schools, on-the-job training and apprenticeship programs, residency and internship programs, and institutions that do not charge tuition and fees are not required to comply with the Principles of Excellence.

Complaint System

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Education, and Justice, along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, launched a new online complaint system for veterans. Designed to identify institutions of higher education engaged in deceptive, misleading practices, the centralized system collects servicemembers’, veterans’, and dependents’ reports of negative experiences with educational institutions. It then gives the federal government the information needed to identify and address unfair practices and ensure high quality academic and student support services. Students can submit a complaint if they believe their school is failing to follow the Principles of Excellence through the centralized online reporting system accessed via the Department of Defense and GI Bill^® website. When feedback is received, agencies will contact the school on behalf of the student and work towards a resolution.  

VA GI Bill^® Feedback System