tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/gi-bill-of-rights-16719/articlesGI bill of rights – The Conversation2022-11-10T14:33:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1879002022-11-10T14:33:27Z2022-11-10T14:33:27ZRemembering the veterans who marched on DC to demand bonuses during the Depression, only to be violently driven out by active-duty soldiers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494229/original/file-20221108-26-o0msbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=935%2C352%2C4535%2C3453&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Bonus Army protesting on the U.S. Capitol steps on Jan. 2,1932.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/newspaper-report-of-the-bonus-army-made-up-of-unemployed-news-photo/1404441226?phrase=bonus%20army&adppopup=true">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/macarthur-bonus-march-may-july-1932/">Bonus Army March</a> is a forgotten footnote of American history.</p>
<p>It involved as many as 30,000 <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/bonus-expeditionary-forces-march-on-washington.htm">mostly unemployed veterans</a> who converged on Washington, D.C. in the spring and summer of 1932 to demand an early cash payment of a bonus they were promised for their volunteer service in World War I. </p>
<p>The bonus was due in 1945, but the Great Depression created financial panic across the country, and <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/bonus-army-march-4147568">the WWI veterans wanted their money</a> sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Bonus-Army">the U.S. Senate refused</a> to pass a bill to make the payments, many of the veterans returned home. But the great majority remained and set up camps and occupied buildings near the Capitol – much to the dismay of local police, who tried to evict the demonstrators from their makeshift campgrounds. </p>
<p>A riot ensued, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/marching-on-history-75797769/">leaving two demonstrators dead</a> and dozens injured. </p>
<p>At that point, on July 28, 1932, the police asked for federal help. In <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-about-the-bonus-marchers">a written statement</a>, President Herbert Hoover deployed his Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, to settle the matter.</p>
<p>“In order to put an end to this rioting and defiance of civil authority,” Hoover wrote, “I have asked the Army to assist the District authorities to restore order.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/07/28/the-veterans-were-desperate-gen-macarthur-ordered-u-s-troops-to-attack-them/">MacArthur’s orders</a> were to secure the buildings and contain the protesters by surrounding their campsite in Anacostia Flats located near the Capitol.</p>
<p>But as <a href="https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1051&context=history_honproj">MacArthur would do throughout his career</a> – most notably in Korea when his disobedience resulted in his firing – he exceeded his orders. </p>
<p>Late that afternoon, <a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/bonus-army-attacked/">historians have written</a>, nearly 500 mounted cavalry men and 500 infantry soldiers, with bayonets drawn, were accompanied were accompanied by six tanks and another 800 local police officers to Anacostia Flats. It didn’t take long before the protesters were chased out of the city and their encampments burned to the ground.</p>
<p>Aides to MacArthur would later say he <a href="https://explorethearchive.com/bonus-army">never received the orders</a> to simply contain the Bonus Army. </p>
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<img alt="Two white men dressed military uniforms are standing next to each other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494208/original/file-20221108-18-ax4heg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494208/original/file-20221108-18-ax4heg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494208/original/file-20221108-18-ax4heg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494208/original/file-20221108-18-ax4heg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494208/original/file-20221108-18-ax4heg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494208/original/file-20221108-18-ax4heg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494208/original/file-20221108-18-ax4heg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1002&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">After his troops had ousted the Bonus Army, General Douglas MacArthur, left, stands with his second-in-command, Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/after-his-troops-had-ousted-the-bonus-army-from-its-news-photo/515553566?phrase=mcarthur%20bonus%20army&adppopup=true">Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The Bonus Army March was one of the few times in American history when the U.S. military was used to shut down a massive demonstration of peaceful protesters. The debacle also came to symbolize Hoover’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/herbert-hoover/">perceived callousness toward the unemployed</a> during the Great Depression and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1932">led to his defeat</a> by Franklin Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election. </p>
<p>What the military response did not do was deter the Bonus Army demonstrators for long. </p>
<h2>The fight for bonus checks</h2>
<p>At the <a href="https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1946110600">end of the First World War in 1918</a>, the U.S. government wanted to provide bonus pay to the soldiers who volunteered to fight in the American Expeditionary Force.</p>
<p>The volunteers were given certificates promising a bonus in 1945. <a href="https://www.americanheritage.com/bonus-march">Under the agreement</a>, each veteran would receive US$1 for every day served at home, and $1.25 for every day served overseas. According to the <a href="https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1399.html">World War Adjusted Compensation Act</a>, a maximum of $625 plus compound interest per veteran was set.</p>
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<img alt="Groups of men are eating lunches as they sit and stand near dozens of tents." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494214/original/file-20221108-9155-acv2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494214/original/file-20221108-9155-acv2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494214/original/file-20221108-9155-acv2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494214/original/file-20221108-9155-acv2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494214/original/file-20221108-9155-acv2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494214/original/file-20221108-9155-acv2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494214/original/file-20221108-9155-acv2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Members of the Bonus Army are shown eating their lunches beside their tents in this May 12, 1932, photograph.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-the-bonus-expeditionary-force-also-called-bonus-news-photo/514685392?phrase=bonus%20army&adppopup=true">Bettmann/GettyImages</a></span>
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<p>But by the winter of 1931, many veterans, like most Americans, were desperately in need of cash. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/bonus_army/#.Y2u4JuzMLt0">Starting in Portland, Oregon</a>, about 300 of them <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2020/08/oregon-wwi-vet-led-20000-strong-bonus-army-in-1932-that-marched-on-nations-capital-met-brutal-resistance.html">decided to travel</a> to Washington to make their case to the government. Their journey gained national attention and prompted other veterans to travel to Washington as well. As time went on, families began to join the men.</p>
<h2>Congressional gridlock</h2>
<p>The Bonus Army became a problem for Hoover and congressional leaders as local authorities grew tired of an estimated 30,000 people camping out in their streets and squatting in city buildings. </p>
<p>But faced with a shrinking federal budget and precarious national economy, neither Hoover nor Congress <a href="https://www.americanheritage.com/bonus-march">wanted to authorize further depletion</a> of the national treasury. Estimates were as high as <a href="https://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1932092700">$2.3 billion for the federal government</a> to pay the bonuses. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Thousands of black and white men are seen cheering with their arms waving in the air." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494222/original/file-20221108-4292-r3ej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494222/original/file-20221108-4292-r3ej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494222/original/file-20221108-4292-r3ej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494222/original/file-20221108-4292-r3ej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494222/original/file-20221108-4292-r3ej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494222/original/file-20221108-4292-r3ej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494222/original/file-20221108-4292-r3ej3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In this June 16, 1932, photograph, thousands of Bonus Army demonstrators are cheering for U.S. Rep. Wright Patman, who demanded immediate payment of their promised bonuses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-bonus-army-a-demonstration-largely-made-up-of-world-war-news-photo/1243625943?phrase=bonus%20army&adppopup=true">FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Bonus marchers tried to pressure congressional leaders by having veterans in the waiting rooms of the offices of each member of the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees the federal budget. But they were losing the public relations war turning against them. </p>
<p>By that time, rumors spread by opponents of the marchers were flying among congressional leaders and military officials about the unsanitary conditions at the camp, as well as possible communist infiltration. </p>
<p>When the bill to pay the bonus was defeated in July 1932, an estimated 8,000 Bonus Army marchers were at the Capitol. With that many angry men surrounding the building, local police feared potential violence. </p>
<p>But instead of launching a violent attack, the marchers began singing “My Country Tis of Thee” and “America the Beautiful” as they walked back to their camp. </p>
<h2>Use of military force</h2>
<p>On July 28, 1932, the local and federal governments decided that time had run out for Bonus Army demonstrators. </p>
<p>Around 11 p.m., MacArthur called a press conference to justify his actions.</p>
<p>“Had the President not acted today, had he permitted this thing to go on for 24 hours more, he would have been faced with a grave situation which would have caused a real battle,” <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/marching-on-history-75797769/">MacArthur told reporters</a>. “Had he let it go on another week, I believe the institutions of our government would have been severely threatened.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="With the dome of the U.S. capitol in the background, a group of men are seated near the ruins of their camps." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494218/original/file-20221108-20-fkumk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494218/original/file-20221108-20-fkumk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494218/original/file-20221108-20-fkumk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494218/original/file-20221108-20-fkumk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494218/original/file-20221108-20-fkumk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494218/original/file-20221108-20-fkumk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494218/original/file-20221108-20-fkumk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In this 1932 photograph, a group of men huddle near the ruins of their Bonus Army camp.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/bonus-army-in-washington-d-c-united-states-washington-news-photo/535780959?phrase=bonus%20army&adppopup=true">Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>With MacArthur in command, shacks were set on fire, and even the tents loaned by the National Guard were destroyed. Tanks and soldiers blocked several bridges in order to prevent people from re-entering the city.</p>
<p>Images of children and women driven out by tear gas and flames shocked and appalled the American public when they were published by newspapers across the country. </p>
<p>Despite their apparent defeat, Bonus Army veterans continued to push for early payments. </p>
<p>Four years later, in January 1936, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-1932-bonus-army.htm">Congress passed the long-stalled Bonus bill</a> that called for payments of nearly $2 billion to the mostly men who volunteered their services during World War I. </p>
<p>Congress overrode Roosevelt’s veto and paid the veterans an average of $580 per man, which was slightly less than the $600 they would have received had they waited until 1945.</p>
<p>Today, the <a href="https://auislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/auislandora%3A12752">Anacostia field</a> is a largely overgrown meadowland and only has one very small sign marking that the Bonus Army was ever there.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187900/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannon Bow O'Brien does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Thousands of volunteers joined the military during World War I. But when the war ended and the Great Depression began, the volunteers wanted a bonus to be paid in 1932, not in 1945 as planned.Shannon Bow O'Brien, Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal ArtsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1412442020-08-13T19:26:38Z2020-08-13T19:26:38ZThe US economy is reliant on consumer spending – can it survive a pandemic?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352837/original/file-20200814-14-1nh0dnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C41%2C2269%2C1490&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The U.S. spends the most money on advertising in the world. Marketing and advertising spending in 2020 is projected to reach nearly $390 billion. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Mewing/Moment via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has radically affected the American economy, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/11/business/economy/coronavirus-us-economy-spending.html">reducing spending</a> by American households on materials goods, air travel, leisure activities as well as the use of automobiles. As a result, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/30/848307092/greenhouse-gas-emissions-predicted-to-fall-nearly-8-largest-decrease-ever">greenhouse gas emissions</a> have temporarily <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0797-x">fallen dramatically</a>. </p>
<p>While this may be a positive for the environment, the social price is high: Since the U.S. economy depends heavily on consumer spending, the country is experiencing <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/21/some-big-cities-are-hitting-great-depression-unemployment-levels.html">the highest unemployment rate</a> since the Great Depression, the <a href="https://community.solutions/analysis-on-unemployment-projects-40-45-increase-in-homelessness-this-year/">threat of homelessness</a> for tens of thousands of people and a failure of <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/08/major-companies-filing-for-bankruptcy-due-to-coronavirus.html">businesses large</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/21320361/small-business-closing-covid-coronavirus-ppp-entrepreneur-economy-stimulus-loans">small</a>. How did the U.S. arrive at the point whereby mass consumption – and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with it – is necessary for economic and social well-being? Are greenhouse gas reductions and a thriving economy incompatible? </p>
<p>A consumer society is a 20th-century construct. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream">American Dream</a> has become synonymous with buying material goods such as cars, houses, furniture or electronics, distorting its original meaning. Today, the spending habits of American households make up 70% of the U.S. gross domestic product, a measurement that describes the size of the economy. U.S. companies spend about <a href="https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/bolstered-by-digital-ad-spends-us-advertising-market-now-2-5-times-bigger-than-nearest-competitor/">US$230 billion</a> on advertising each year, half of all the money spent on advertising globally.</p>
<h2>Buy your dreams</h2>
<p>Today’s consumer society emerged after the end of World War I, fueled by the emergence of the modern advertising industry and facilitated by widespread adoption of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/29448/a-consumers-republic-by-lizabeth-cohen/">consumer credit</a>. Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, is generally credited with inventing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-manipulation-of-the-american-mind-edward-bernays-and-the-birth-of-public-relations-44393">field of marketing</a> during the 1920s. The essence of his approach was to tap into people’s desires to feel good, powerful and sexy instead of emphasizing the usefulness of a product. Bernays created the term <a href="http://classes.design.ucla.edu/Fall07/28/Engineering_of_consent.pdf">“engineering of consent”</a> and popularized the term “consumer” when referring to American people.</p>
<p>Mass consumption grew steadily until the onset of the Great Depression. But the deliberate creation of the present <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691159584/beyond-our-means">consumer society took off</a> in earnest during the 1940s and 1950s. When WWII ended, so did wartime industrial production. Industry leaders shifted their enormous production capabilities from the military to the civilian sector.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351627/original/file-20200806-18-fr2e40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351627/original/file-20200806-18-fr2e40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351627/original/file-20200806-18-fr2e40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351627/original/file-20200806-18-fr2e40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351627/original/file-20200806-18-fr2e40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351627/original/file-20200806-18-fr2e40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351627/original/file-20200806-18-fr2e40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351627/original/file-20200806-18-fr2e40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=584&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Many manufacturing jobs created by World War II were lost when the war ended.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/M96M9iBo69w">Photo by Science in HD on Unsplash</a></span>
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<p>At the same time, President Harry Truman was concerned with looming unemployment among returning veterans and saw <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/29448/a-consumers-republic-by-lizabeth-cohen/">mass production of consumer goods</a> as the solution. The 1944 <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Explore/Features/story/Article/1727086/75-years-of-the-gi-bill-how-transformative-its-been/">GI Bill</a> helped returning veterans purchase houses with down payments and government-guaranteed loans. Mortgage interest deductions and government-financed infrastructure – local utilities and roads, a national highway system – made suburban homeownership a logical financial plan for families, while Social Security provided relief from having to save for old age.</p>
<p>Labor unions, too, were vested in increasing wages for their members, so working families could afford houses, cars and household appliances. At this particular historical juncture, business, government and labor came together, united in their shared goal to increase household consumption as the <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/29448/a-consumers-republic-by-lizabeth-cohen/">bedrock of economic prosperity</a> and social harmony.</p>
<p>These developments took place in the context of the post-war euphoria over the uncontested power of the U.S., the post-Depression hunger for a better life, advances in cheap mass production and a demographic boom. Consumerism became a symbol of the superiority of the capitalist system over Soviet-style communism, as illustrated by the famous “Kitchen Debate” in 1959 at the <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/Fifty_Years_Ago_American_Exhibition_Stunned_Soviets_in_Cold_War/1783913.html">American National Exhibition</a> in Moscow. Standing among the sleek labor-saving appliances of a modern American kitchen, Vice President Richard Nixon demonstrated to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev the <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/1959-07-24.pdf">higher quality of life</a> of working people in the U.S.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XRgOz2x9c08?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The superiority of capitalism over communism, a debate between two world leaders, was symbolized by the splendid modern American kitchen.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The great transformation</h2>
<p>The results of this business-government-labor alliance were astonishing. National output of goods and services doubled between 1946 and 1956, and doubled <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/29448/a-consumers-republic-by-lizabeth-cohen/">again by 1970</a>. Mass-produced cheap and comfortable single-family homes, increasingly distant from city centers, became affordable. The iconic 1949 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/apr/28/levittown-america-prototypical-suburb-history-cities">Levittown</a> on Long Island, New York, was a model of the suburbs: uniform, convenient, segregated by race and dependent on the automobile. By 1960, 62% of Americans owned their homes, in contrast to 44% in 1940. <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-shopping-mall/">Suburban shopping malls</a>, uniform and racially segregated, became by default public gathering spaces, replacing city streets, cafes and places of commerce.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/29448/a-consumers-republic-by-lizabeth-cohen/">social transformation</a> occurred in a span of a single generation. Consumerism and a suburban lifestyle became the organizing principles of society and synonymous with fundamental values such as family well-being, safety, democratic political freedom and the American Dream.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351630/original/file-20200806-20-19oukyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351630/original/file-20200806-20-19oukyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351630/original/file-20200806-20-19oukyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351630/original/file-20200806-20-19oukyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351630/original/file-20200806-20-19oukyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351630/original/file-20200806-20-19oukyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351630/original/file-20200806-20-19oukyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351630/original/file-20200806-20-19oukyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Suburban housing development in Arizona.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/pJk4RRS7urs">Photo by Avi Waxman for Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Basics get bigger</h2>
<p>Since the 1950s, this version of a good life – shaped by advertising of what was necessary to live well – has been remarkably stable. But there is a twist: The notion of what represents <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/opinion/sunday/real-estate-housing-market-dream-home.html">basic comfort</a> has been steadily moving toward larger and more – SUVs and myriad <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/09/american-houses-big/597811/">conveniences and technologies</a>, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/upshot/houses-keep-getting-bigger-even-as-families-get-smaller.html?_r=0">bigger</a> and more <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525283">dispersed houses</a> filled with furniture and stuff and additional bathrooms and bedrooms, larger kitchens, media and exercise rooms and outdoor living rooms.</p>
<p>Today, the best predictor of household <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/carbon-footprint-calculator/">carbon footprint</a> is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800907004934">income</a>. This correlation holds true in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate3165?proof=true&amp;platform=oscar&amp;draft=journal">different countries</a>, regardless of political views, education or environmental attitudes.</p>
<h2>Rethinking consumption</h2>
<p>Consumption comes at a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate3165?">high ecological cost</a>. As the gross national product grows – driven largely by household consumption – so do greenhouse gas emissions. Many scientists and policy analysts believe that as technology increases energy efficiency and replaces fossil fuels with renewable energy sources, greenhouse gas emissions will be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/546593a">significantly reduced</a>. But despite the rapid advances in these technologies, there is no evidence that trends in greenhouse gas emissions are separate and independent from <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6468/950">economic growth trends</a>. Neither is there a basis for the idea that <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6468/950">green growth</a> will prevent the anticipated climate catastrophe that the world is facing.</p>
<p>At the same time, there is <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6468/950">little evidence</a> that Americans have become <a href="https://www.amacad.org/publication/how-not-buy-happiness">happier</a> in the last seven decades of growing consumerism.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351632/original/file-20200806-18-sv4628.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351632/original/file-20200806-18-sv4628.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351632/original/file-20200806-18-sv4628.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351632/original/file-20200806-18-sv4628.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351632/original/file-20200806-18-sv4628.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351632/original/file-20200806-18-sv4628.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351632/original/file-20200806-18-sv4628.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351632/original/file-20200806-18-sv4628.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Buying power is not the only measure of happiness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/M5Zix_4Jc4k">Photo by Conner Baker for Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This pandemic reveals to me the vulnerability of an economy heavily dependent on a single source of economic activity – consumption. From my perspective, the U.S. would be better off if the economy – our collective wealth – were more heavily weighted toward <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/business/investment-society-economic-public.html">public spending</a> on, and investment in, education, health care, public transit, housing, parks and better infrastructure, and renewable energy. Such an economy would contribute to human well-being, emit less greenhouse gas and be less vulnerable to sudden disruptions in consumer spending. </p>
<p>As I see it, it is time for an honest public conversation about the carbon footprint of our “basic” lifestyles and what Americans need rather than what they are told they need.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141244/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Halina Szejnwald Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Buy, buy, buy was a social directive after WWII.Halina Szejnwald Brown, Professor Emerita, Clark UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263942019-11-09T14:45:54Z2019-11-09T14:45:54ZGI Bill opened doors to college for many vets, but politicians created a separate one for Blacks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300913/original/file-20191108-194650-1ezk2z9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black servicemen from WWII faced limited options and denial as they sought GI benefits after the war.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.archives.gov/files/research/african-americans/ww2-pictures/images/african-americans-wwii-161.jpg">National Archives</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When President Franklin Roosevelt signed the GI Bill into law on June 22, 1944, it <a href="https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/history.asp">laid the foundation</a> for benefits that would help generations of veterans <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/soldiers-to-citizens-9780195180978?cc=us&lang=en&">achieve social mobility</a>.</p>
<p>Formally known as the <a href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=76">Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944</a>, the bill made unprecedented commitments to the nation’s veterans. For instance, it provided federal assistance to veterans in the form of housing and unemployment benefits. But of all the benefits offered through the GI Bill, funding for higher education and job training emerged as the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/soldiers-to-citizens-9780195180978?cc=us&lang=en&">most popular</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Soldiers_to_Citizens/U7LcLK3zGR8C?hl=en&gbpv=1">More than 2 million veterans flocked</a> to college campuses throughout the country. But even as former service members entered college, not all of them accessed the bill’s benefits in the same way. That’s because white southern politicians designed the distribution of benefits under the GI Bill to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Lw5xzMyzE5AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=when+affirmative+action+was+white&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiusI7tldblAhUBnFkKHa2fAFsQ6AEwAHoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false">uphold their segregationist beliefs</a>.</p>
<p>So, while white veterans got into college with relative ease, Black service members faced <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Lw5xzMyzE5AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=when+affirmative+action+was+white&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiusI7tldblAhUBnFkKHa2fAFsQ6AEwAHoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false">limited options and outright denial</a> in their pursuit for educational advancement. This resulted in <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-inequality-hidden-within-the-race-neutral-g-i-bill/">uneven outcomes</a> of the GI Bill’s impact. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.history.msstate.edu/people/joseph-thompson/">scholar of race and culture in the U.S. South</a>, I believe this history raises important questions about whether subsequent iterations of the GI Bill are benefiting all vets equally.</p>
<h2>Tuition waived for service</h2>
<p>When he signed the bill into law, <a href="http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/odgist.html">President Roosevelt assured</a> that it would give “servicemen and women the opportunity of resuming their education or technical training … not only without tuition charge … but with the right to receive a monthly living allowance while pursuing their studies.” So long as they had served 90 consecutive days in the U.S. Armed Forces and had not received a dishonorable discharge, veterans could have their tuition waived for the institution of their choice and cover their living expenses as they pursued a college degree.</p>
<p>This unparalleled investment in veteran education led to a boom in college enrollment. Around 8 million of the nation’s 16 million veterans took advantage of federal funding for higher education or vocational training, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Soldiers_to_Citizens/U7LcLK3zGR8C?hl=en&gbpv=1">2 million of whom pursued a college degree within the first five years of the bill’s existence</a>. Those ex-service members made up nearly half of the nation’s college students by 1947. </p>
<p>Colleges <a href="https://time.com/3915231/student-veterans/">scrambled to accommodate</a> all the new veterans. These veterans were <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691163345/between-citizens-and-the-state">often white men who were slightly older</a> than the typical college age. They sometimes arrived with wives and families <a href="https://time.com/3915231/student-veterans/">in tow</a> and brought a martial discipline to their studies that, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691163345/between-citizens-and-the-state">as scholars have noted</a>, created a cultural clash with traditional civilian students who sometimes were more interested in the life of the party than the life of the mind.</p>
<h2>Limited opportunities for black servicemen</h2>
<p>Black service members had a different kind of experience. The GI Bill’s race-neutral language had filled the 1 million African American veterans with hope that they, too, could take advantage of federal assistance. Integrated universities and historically Black colleges and universities – commonly known as HBCUs – welcomed black veterans and their federal dollars, which led to the <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ550726">growth of a new black middle class</a> in the immediate postwar years.</p>
<p>Yet, the underfunding of HBCUs <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w9044.pdf">limited opportunities</a> for these large numbers of Black veterans. Schools like the Tuskegee Institute and Alcorn State lacked government investment in their infrastructure and simply could not accommodate an influx of so many students, whereas well-funded white institutions were more equipped to take in students. <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w9044.pdf">Research has also revealed</a> that a lack of formal secondary education for Black soldiers prior to their service inhibited their paths to colleges and universities.</p>
<p>As historians <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_G_I_Bill.html?id=ewBz5b9_QAwC">Kathleen J. Frydl</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Lw5xzMyzE5AC&pg=PA116&dq=By+1950,+the+federal+government+had+spent+more+on+schooling+for+veterans+than+on+expenditures+for+the+Marshall+Plan&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjMpY3Ch8nlAhXLmq0KHRBzDj8QuwUwAHoECAYQBg#v=onepage&q&f=false">Ira Katznelson</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Over-Here-Transformed-American-Dream/dp/0151007101">others</a> have argued, U.S. Representative John Rankin of Mississippi exacerbated these racial disparities.</p>
<h2>Racism baked in</h2>
<p>Rankin, <a href="https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/john-elliott-rankin/">a staunch segregationist</a>, chaired the committee that drafted the bill. From this position, he ensured that local Veterans Administrations <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Lw5xzMyzE5AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=when+affirmative+action+was+white&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiusI7tldblAhUBnFkKHa2fAFsQ6AEwAHoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false">controlled the distribution of funds</a>. This meant that <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/1A8BEezlaZMC?hl=en&gbpv=1">when black southerners applied for their assistance</a>, they faced the prejudices of white officials from their communities who often <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25073543?mag=the-inequality-hidden-within-the-race-neutral-g-i-bill&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">forced them into vocational schools</a> instead of colleges or denied their benefits altogether.</p>
<p>Mississippi’s connection to the GI Bill goes beyond Rankin’s racist maneuvering. From 1966 to 1997, <a href="http://lib.msstate.edu/cprc/collections/montgomery/">G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery</a> represented the state in Congress and dedicated himself to veterans’ issues. In 1984, he pushed through his signature piece of federal legislation, the <a href="https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/mgib_ad.asp">Montgomery GI Bill</a>, which recommitted the nation to providing for veterans’ education and extended those funds to reserve units and the National Guard. Congress had discontinued the GI Bill after Vietnam. As historian <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Rise_of_the_Military_Welfare_State/jyqoCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">Jennifer Mittelstadt shows</a>, Montgomery’s bill subsidized education as a way to boost enlistment in the all-volunteer force that lagged in recruitment during the final years of the Cold War.</p>
<p>Social programs like these have <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674286139">helped maintain enlistment quotas</a> during recent conflicts in the Middle East, but today’s service members have found <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/04/why-is-the-student-veteran-graduation-rate-so-low/523779/">mixed success</a> in converting the education subsidies from the <a href="https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/post911_gibill.asp">Post-9/11 GI Bill</a> into gains in civilian life. </p>
<p>This new GI Bill, passed in 2008, has paid around $100 billion to more than 2 million recipients. Although the <a href="https://nvest.studentveterans.org/">Student Veterans for America</a> touts the nearly half a million degrees awarded to veterans since 2009, politicians and watchdogs have fought for reforms to the bill to stop predatory, for-profit colleges from targeting veterans. <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/29/for-profit-colleges-student-veterans-1288265">Recent reports show</a> that 20% of GI Bill disbursements go to for-profit schools. These institutions hold reputations for notoriously high dropout rates and <a href="https://blog.harvardlawreview.org/for-profit-schools-predatory-practices-and-students-of-color-a-mission-to-enroll-rather-than-educate/">disproportionately targeting students of color</a>, a significant point given the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/13/6-facts-about-the-u-s-military-and-its-changing-demographics/">growing racial and ethnic diversity</a> of the military.</p>
<p>In August 2017, President Trump signed the <a href="https://www.stripes.com/news/us/trump-signs-forever-gi-bill-boosting-aid-to-student-vets-1.483250">Forever GI Bill</a>, which committed $3 billion for 10 more years of education funding. As active duty service members and veterans begin to take advantage of these provisions, history provides good reason to be vigilant for the way racism still impacts who receives the most from those benefits.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126394/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph Thompson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Although the GI Bill enabled generations of former service members to acquire higher education and enter the middle class, the bill’s benefits were distributed in racist ways.Joseph Thompson, Assistant Professor of History, Mississippi State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/827232017-08-25T01:23:16Z2017-08-25T01:23:16ZWhy students need better protection from loan fraud<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182856/original/file-20170821-26863-1j6vju0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How can we help the tens of thousands of college students who have been defrauded?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-homeless-teenage-girl-on-street-268224728?src=6RgKpr6d7wbQApJwPDl5WQ-1-37">SpeedKingz/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A college education can set you up for a lifetime – though it can come with a hefty price tag: Some unfortunate students have gotten both a mountain of debt and an education that falls far short of their expectations.</p>
<p>Across the nation, a few for-profit colleges have been <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-takes-action-against-bridgepoint-education-inc-illegal-student-lending-practices/">deceiving students</a> into taking out private loans that cost more than advertised. Others have made <a href="http://www.fox8live.com/story/33730398/degree-of-debt-as-for-profit-college-students-struggle-school-leaders-are-getting-rich">false claims</a> about job placement rates or have offered credits that don’t transfer and – in some cases –<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2013/12/05/argosy-university-denver-fined-3-3-million-for-deceptive-practices/">don’t qualify students</a> for the licenses they need.</p>
<p><a href="http://time.com/money/collection-post/3573216/veterans-college-for-profit/">Veterans</a> have been particularly targeted, with schools eyeing their GI benefits. And for-profit colleges generally attract a higher percentage of <a href="http://www.ihep.org/sites/default/files/uploads/docs/pubs/portraits-low-income_young_adults_attendance_brief_final_june_2011.pdf">low-income students</a>, making these students targets as well.</p>
<p>As a scholar of educational law and policy, I’ve spent many years studying student loans and the debt crisis. What’s clear is that students who have been victimized by fraud (particularly in the for-profit sector) need help when it comes to getting the justice they deserve.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182842/original/file-20170821-28104-imsrce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182842/original/file-20170821-28104-imsrce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182842/original/file-20170821-28104-imsrce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182842/original/file-20170821-28104-imsrce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182842/original/file-20170821-28104-imsrce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182842/original/file-20170821-28104-imsrce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182842/original/file-20170821-28104-imsrce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182842/original/file-20170821-28104-imsrce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">California Attorney General Kamala Harris successfully sued Corinthian Colleges for misrepresenting job placement rates and school programs to lure low-income state residents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Eric Risberg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Corinthian Colleges</h2>
<p>Corinthian Colleges, a California-based for-profit that filed for <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/05/05/corinthian-enters-bankruptcy-us-responds-debt-relief-calls">bankruptcy</a> in 2015, is one of the prime culprits when it comes to student loan fraud. Last year, the California attorney general’s office obtained a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-corinthian-colleges-judgment-false-advertising-20160323-story.html">judgment</a> against Corinthian for more than a billion dollars after a judge ruled that the school had engaged in deceptive advertising and unlawful lending practices.</p>
<p>Federal authorities have also challenged Corinthian. In 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau obtained a <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-secures-480-million-in-debt-relief-for-current-and-former-corinthian-students/">40 percent reduction</a> in the private loans owed for tuition at Corinthian Colleges.</p>
<p>More recently, the U.S. Department of Education <a href="http://www.mass.gov/ago/docs/press/2017/borrower-defense-multistate-letter.pdf">discharged student loan debt</a> for over 27,000 students who enrolled in one of Corinthian’s programs, and it has promised debt relief to 23,000 more former students seeking debt relief based on allegations of fraud.</p>
<h2>Student loan forgiveness</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182845/original/file-20170821-8916-9cdyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182845/original/file-20170821-8916-9cdyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182845/original/file-20170821-8916-9cdyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182845/original/file-20170821-8916-9cdyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182845/original/file-20170821-8916-9cdyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182845/original/file-20170821-8916-9cdyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182845/original/file-20170821-8916-9cdyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182845/original/file-20170821-8916-9cdyht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many students who were defrauded by for-profit colleges are still weighed down by debt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unfortunately, efforts by state and federal agencies haven’t brought full relief to everyone who was defrauded. Of the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d14/tables/dt14_105.50.asp">approximately 3,400 for-profit educational institutions</a> in the U.S., at least 28 have <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/lots-riding-on-ed-dept-standard-for-student-loan-forgiveness/">undergone investigation</a>. Four of the eight largest companies have faced <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-012-9541-0">significant legal action</a> for unscrupulous recruiting or business practices.</p>
<p>Corinthian alone has more than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/education/us-to-forgive-federal-loans-of-corinthian-college-students.html">350,000 former students</a>; and ITT Tech, another for-profit that filed for bankruptcy amid a cloud of fraud accusations, had more than <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-itt-tech-20170103-story.html">35,000 students</a> when it closed.</p>
<p>Tens of thousands of students have filed claims with the U.S. Department of Education seeking relief from loans they took out to enroll in fraudulent institutions like Corinthian, but these claims haven’t been processed expeditiously. In fact, the department has <a href="http://www.kalb.com/content/news/Records-Student-loan-forgiveness-has-halted-under-Trump-436811883.html">dragged its heels</a> since Education Secretary Betsy DeVos took over. Not a single loan relief application has been approved this year and the Department is <a href="https://consumerist.com/2017/07/06/states-say-education-secretary-betsy-devos-broke-law-by-delaying-protections-for-student-loan-borrowers/">reexamining</a> the rule that allows students to petition for debt relief.</p>
<h2>Legal loopholes</h2>
<p>The student loan forgiveness rules are designed to expedite claims against fraudulent institutions. These rules are vital for students who haven’t been able to successfully file their own lawsuits when they believe a college has defrauded them.</p>
<p>Students have been trying to sue Corinthian, for example, over its deceptive conduct since at least 2006. But Corinthian, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/04/28/its-almost-impossible-for-students-to-sue-a-for-profit-college-heres-why/?utm_term=.5561d38e51c3">like many other for-profit schools</a>, used fine-print forced arbitration clauses in its student enrollment contracts to have such cases dismissed. Students are instead forced to bring their claims one by one before a private arbitrator – one agreed to by the school. Even if a student wins, the arbitrator has no power to change the school’s future practices or address students in the same situation.</p>
<p>Mandatory arbitration agreements are quite common in contracts for car loans and credit cards, but many believe they’re <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/06/26/advocates-say-department-inaction-forced-arbitration-leave-defrauded-borrowers-bind">fundamentally unfair in the education sector</a>, since such agreements force students to relinquish their right to sue for damages as a condition of enrollment.</p>
<p>Yet, in 2013 (two years before Corinthian filed for bankruptcy), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an arbitration clause imposed on students at Corinthian Colleges <a href="http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2013/10/28/11-56965.pdf">was enforceable</a> and dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by students who claimed to have been injured by Corinthian’s deceptive practices.</p>
<p>Had the lawsuit – and others like it – been allowed to proceed in a public court, plaintiffs might have obtained judgments that would have forced Corinthian to change the way it recruited and served its students.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182848/original/file-20170821-4987-12p0zii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182848/original/file-20170821-4987-12p0zii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182848/original/file-20170821-4987-12p0zii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182848/original/file-20170821-4987-12p0zii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182848/original/file-20170821-4987-12p0zii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182848/original/file-20170821-4987-12p0zii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182848/original/file-20170821-4987-12p0zii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182848/original/file-20170821-4987-12p0zii.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">ITT Technical Institute, a for-profit college that shuttered its campuses in 2016, included mandatory arbitration clauses in its student enrollment contracts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ITT_Technical_Institute_campus_Canton_Michigan.JPG">Dwight Burdette</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Help is on the way</h2>
<p>Fortunately, some help is on the horizon – if Congress and Secretary DeVos don’t block it. Last year, the Education Department enacted a rule to protect defrauded students. Under this rule, schools that take federal aid <a href="https://www.nclc.org/images/pdf/special_projects/sl/defend-doe-borrower-def-rule.pdf">cannot use forced arbitration</a> to prevent students from pursuing fraud claims in court. But DeVos has <a href="http://www.condemnedtodebt.org/search/label/mandatory%20arbitration">delayed the rule</a> and is considering <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/06/14/trump-administration-will-re-do-two-student-loan-rules/102856170/">reversing it</a>.</p>
<p>Although most for-profit colleges are opposed to a federal rule that bans mandatory arbitration, they are not unanimous. <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/05/20/apollo-eliminates-mandatory-arbitration-clauses">Apollo Education Group</a>, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, announced in 2016 that it would eliminate mandatory arbitration clauses in student-enrollment agreements. Greg Cappelli, Apollo’s CEO, said at the time that the decision “is the right choice for all of our students.” The same month, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/05/23/two-of-the-biggest-for-profit-colleges-are-making-it-easier-for-students-to-sue/">DeVry University</a> also decided to eliminate mandatory arbitration clauses.</p>
<p>The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also just issued a <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/weve-issued-new-rule-arbitration-help-groups-people-take-companies-court/">new rule</a> that will restore the ability of students, <a href="http://www.fairarbitrationnow.org/wp-content/uploads/Fact-Sheet-Service-Member-and-Veterans.pdf">service members</a> and other consumers to band together in court when banks, student lenders and other financial companies act illegally. The rule has widespread support, including from <a href="https://www.nclc.org/images/pdf/arbitration/military-coalition-letter-arb-rule.pdf">The Military Coalition</a>, <a href="http://www.fairarbitrationnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Coalition-Letter-on-Final-CFPB-Arb-Rule.pdf">310 consumer and community groups</a> and over <a href="http://www.fairarbitrationnow.org/wp-content/uploads/CFPB-academics-arbitration-letter-2017-7-10.pdf">250 law professors and academics</a>.</p>
<p>This new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule will not just help students. It would have prevented Wells Fargo, which created up to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-12/wells-fargo-bogus-account-estimate-in-suit-grows-to-3-5-million">3.5 million fake accounts</a>, from using forced arbitration clauses to <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wells-fargo-arbitration-20151205-story.html">kick people out of court</a>, allowing the fraud to <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-wells-arbitration-20160926-snap-story.html">continue</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182851/original/file-20170821-4987-ayrgqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182851/original/file-20170821-4987-ayrgqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182851/original/file-20170821-4987-ayrgqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182851/original/file-20170821-4987-ayrgqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182851/original/file-20170821-4987-ayrgqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182851/original/file-20170821-4987-ayrgqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182851/original/file-20170821-4987-ayrgqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182851/original/file-20170821-4987-ayrgqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If the administration blocks the new rules, students will be in danger of losing their ability to have loans forgiven.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/aAhJCP">jjinsf94115</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, Wall Street lobbyists are pushing Congress to <a href="https://www.americanbanker.com/news/fight-over-cfpb-arbitration-rule-may-just-be-starting">block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule</a> through legislation. The U.S. House of Representatives voted to do so in July, and it’s now up to the Senate to decide the rule’s fate.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, for-profit schools continue to fight against the borrower defense rules that ban mandatory arbitration clauses. In fact, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/07/11/proposed-federal-rules-student-debt-forgiveness-worry-some-nonprofit-colleges">even some nonprofits</a>, including <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/files/HBCU_BorrowerDefense.pdf">historically black colleges</a>, are requesting changes to other aspects rule, believing it could leave them vulnerable to the financial drain of frivolous lawsuits.</p>
<p>Students deserve the right to be protected from fraud – and to seek relief from the courts when they aren’t. If left as they are, both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Department of Education rules would protect that right.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82723/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Fossey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students across the country have been defrauded by for-profit schools. Fine print in their enrollment contracts has stopped them from bringing their cases to court, but new rules could help.Richard Fossey, Professor of Education, University of Louisiana at LafayetteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/780702017-05-23T22:18:15Z2017-05-23T22:18:15ZHelping military service members complete college<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170642/original/file-20170523-5743-1k570k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/542047942?src=AszG7LJhDC6AxrYoyzWJ6Q-1-10&size=huge_jpg">Africa Studio/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, over half a million military service members and veterans <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011163.pdf">enroll in undergraduate institutions</a>. Only about half <a href="https://studentveterans.org/images/Reingold_Materials/mrp/download-materials/mrp_Full_report.pdf">leave with a certificate or degree</a>.</p>
<p>Getting a college degree can help graduates get <a href="http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/671809">jobs and earn higher wages</a>, but veterans and active military service members may face obstacles on their way to degree completion. Along with their studies, they often commit time to family, work and military service. </p>
<p>As a scholar who works with the College Board and studies barriers and solutions to college completion, I have seen at least one promising way to get military personnel across the college finish line – a short exam that offers college credits towards a degree.</p>
<h2>Additional challenges for service members</h2>
<p>Students of all backgrounds face uncertainty in whether they will complete college, but military personnel and veterans can face additional challenges.</p>
<p><a href="https://studentveterans.org/images/Reingold_Materials/mrp/download-materials/mrp_Full_report.pdf">The Millions Records Project</a> tracked the enrollment patterns of nearly one million active military personnel and veterans who used <a href="http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/montgomery_bill.asp">Montgomery</a> and <a href="http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/post911_gibill.asp">Post-9/11 GI Bill</a> benefits between 2002 and 2010. These service members do not fit the “traditional” – and perhaps old-fashioned – profile of a college student. Relative to nonmilitary students, service members and veterans are on average older, more likely to work and support families, and can have delayed or interrupted enrollment due to service obligations.</p>
<p>On top of all of that, many veterans have <a href="https://studentveterans.org/images/Reingold_Materials/mrp/download-materials/mrp_Full_report.pdf#page=13">service-related disabilities</a> that can make college completion difficult.</p>
<p>These challenges, in addition to <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8971.html">those faced by many students in higher education</a>, contribute to veteran and active military students leaving college with no degree.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170645/original/file-20170523-5786-1g9kwzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170645/original/file-20170523-5786-1g9kwzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170645/original/file-20170523-5786-1g9kwzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170645/original/file-20170523-5786-1g9kwzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170645/original/file-20170523-5786-1g9kwzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170645/original/file-20170523-5786-1g9kwzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170645/original/file-20170523-5786-1g9kwzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A U.S. army sergeant takes a class in preparation for civilian life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Credit for prior learning</h2>
<p>Along with my colleagues who study economics and higher education, I recently completed <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2933695">a study</a> looking at the effectiveness of one particular tool that may help military students complete their college degrees.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://clep.collegeboard.org/">College Level Examination Program</a> (CLEP) is a 90- to 120-minute exam administered by the College Board that offers credits in lieu of completing college coursework. Nearly 3,000 colleges offer credit for <a href="https://clep.collegeboard.org/exams">33 different CLEP exams</a> in topics including literature, mathematics, world languages, social and hard sciences and business. </p>
<p>Students can take a CLEP exam whenever they choose – before enrolling in college or as they near graduation. Depending on the college campus and CLEP exam, students with high enough scores (typically a 50 on a scale of 20 to 80) are eligible for college credit. </p>
<p>The Department of Defense has an agency dedicated to improving the educational experiences and outcomes for veteran and active military students: <a href="http://www.dantes.doded.mil/#sthash.XXx7BV0s.dpbs">Defense Activity for Non Traditional Education Support</a> (DANTES). DANTES pays the US$80 CLEP exam fee for active duty military and offers the exams on some military bases.</p>
<p>Eighty dollars and travel to a testing center may not seem like something to stand in the way of enrolling in or graduating from college. But these types of small barriers prevent students’ success in other contexts, like <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20140062">taking the SAT or ACT and enrolling in college</a>. For active military, at least, DANTES has removed some of these obstacles.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170643/original/file-20170523-5757-1lkb7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170643/original/file-20170523-5757-1lkb7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170643/original/file-20170523-5757-1lkb7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170643/original/file-20170523-5757-1lkb7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170643/original/file-20170523-5757-1lkb7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170643/original/file-20170523-5757-1lkb7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170643/original/file-20170523-5757-1lkb7vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In some cases, taking an exam may be a quicker – and more affordable – way to get college credit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/writing-hands-students-course-151419089?src=pbiKoqGDtctSAQqzMkGBDQ-1-27">Lucky Business/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>CLEP success</h2>
<p>Why might CLEP help military servicemen and servicewomen complete college?</p>
<p>For one, getting credit for introductory and lower-level courses improves college completion, as seen with <a href="http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/687568">Advanced Placement courses and exams</a>. Additionally, these credits can allow students to bypass some lower-level courses that might have content or less academically prepared classmates that <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/508222">discourage students</a> from continuing with their education.</p>
<p>Using approximately 200,000 military-affiliated CLEP examinees, we found that those who start at two-year colleges and receive college credit for CLEP exam scores are <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2933695">18 percent more likely</a> to attain an associate’s degree than those who did not receive such credits. Similarly, military personnel who start at four-year colleges and earn credit through CLEP are 11 percent more likely to attain a bachelor’s degree. </p>
<p>With this evidence, we can think about what might happen if we got more military personnel to pass CLEP exams – either through increased participation or improved scores.</p>
<p>In a world of countless college completion efforts and policies, an 18 or even 11 percent increase is noteworthy. More successful interventions are rare and can be <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2571456">costly</a>.</p>
<p>Colleges, policymakers and researchers should continue trying new paths to get military members college degrees, but my research suggests that CLEP is a viable one. Earning college credit through exams is a cheap and unusually effective way to improve the completion rates for any student, but perhaps especially so for military personnel who face challenges and outside commitments. Not to mention, the exam is fully subsidized.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78070/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Smith consults for the College Board, who owns CLEP. The research underlying this article was conducted jointly with Angela Boatman of Vanderbilt University, Michael Hurwitz of the College Board, and Jason Lee of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
</span></em></p>Every year, thousands of active military and veterans enroll as undergrads, but only half leave with a degree. What cheap and effective strategies could help our military complete college?Jonathan Smith, Assistant Professor of Economics, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/397282015-05-07T09:51:24Z2015-05-07T09:51:24ZForeign students not a threat, but an advantage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80572/original/image-20150505-948-1nudkey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Concern about international students displacing domestic ones, are misplaced.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=sRTZWRN81teNSSbSuQ5www&searchterm=foreign%20students%20&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=188797388">Girl Image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An undeniable shift is taking place across US campuses with the number of international students increasing rapidly. Between 2003 and 2013, the number of foreign students studying in the US <a href="http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/International-Students/Infographic">increased by 55%</a> with continuing growth anticipated in the years ahead.</p>
<p>This has led to some concerns about domestic students being displaced by more affluent international students who can afford to pay rising tuition costs. Inherent in this view is the assumption that the primary obligation of US universities is towards their local residents and that financial interests are driving the trend.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/international-students-stream-into-u-s-colleges-1427248801">A common claim</a> is that “cash-strapped public universities” are “aggressively recrui[ting] students from abroad.” </p>
<p>In our view, these are flawed assumptions. </p>
<p>It is very likely that the <a href="http://www.symposium-books.co.uk/books/bookdetails.asp?bid=87">increasing pace of globalization</a>, is playing a role, but, it is important to note that US campuses have historically witnessed demographic shifts as a result of social and economic changes that took place around them. </p>
<p>These demographic shifts gradually broadened US universities from a domain of elite, white men to one that included veterans, women and increasing numbers of underrepresented minorities. </p>
<p>As researchers who focus on the internationalization of US higher education, we believe the increasing numbers of international students need to be understood in this historic context and as merely one more step in the ongoing demographic expansion of US universities. </p>
<h2>How US universities evolved</h2>
<p>Early US universities were parochial. <a href="http://www.ugapress.org/index.php/books/american_college;%20https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/history-american-higher-education">American colleges in the late 19th and early 20th centuries</a> were designed to educate a population of elite, local, Christian young men for service to their religious and local communities. </p>
<p>But within a short half-century or so, this changed radically. The <a href="http://www.pvamu.edu/library/about-the-library/history-of-the-library-at-prairie-view/1890-land-grant-history/">Morrill Land-Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890</a> provided funding to each state to <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED512738">develop practical post-secondary education</a> in agriculture and mechanical fields – the “A&M” (agriculture and mechanical) universities that many states retain today. </p>
<p>As the purpose of higher education grew to include these practical subjects in addition to the traditional focus on the classics and ancient languages, higher education <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/american-higher-education-twenty-first-century">changed from an “elite” system</a> that <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED091983.pdf">educated less than 15% of college-aged youth</a> to a “mass” one that educated between 15% - 50% of it. </p>
<p>A massive influx of veterans to US campuses after World War II, funded by the <a href="http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/publication/2008/04/20080423213340eaifas0.8454951.html#axzz3ZI6gNWXA">GI Bill of Rights</a>, further broadened US universities’ student demographics <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9577.html">from an elite domain </a> to institutions serving a broader and more diverse population. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement">civil rights </a> and <a href="https://tavaana.org/en/content/1960s-70s-american-feminist-movement-breaking-down-barriers-women">feminist movements </a> of the 1960s and 1970s, coupled with university affirmative action policies, created still more gender, racial and ethnic diversity among student bodies.</p>
<p>These demographic changes were not always smooth ones; each wave of change has been and in some cases, continues to be challenged. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80573/original/image-20150505-951-19wmaqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80573/original/image-20150505-951-19wmaqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80573/original/image-20150505-951-19wmaqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80573/original/image-20150505-951-19wmaqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80573/original/image-20150505-951-19wmaqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80573/original/image-20150505-951-19wmaqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80573/original/image-20150505-951-19wmaqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An increase in international students should be seen as a positive trend.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=P2B2rnLITTPVZIBb-KLz8Q&searchterm=international%20students%20%20&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=136836428">Pencil image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>The idea that all Americans ought to have a pathway to higher education has become a deeply held belief. Indeed, issues of access and equity remain perhaps the two most dominant areas of research and policy making in US higher education today.</p>
<p>Increasing international student numbers are being seen by some as a threat to domestic student access or as solely driven by the money-making zeal of US higher education institutions. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/international-students-stream-into-u-s-colleges-1427248801">news article</a> recently cited numerous examples of dwindling state funding for higher education amidst rising tuition for in-state and out-of-state Americans at traditionally land grant, public institutions. </p>
<p>Tensions on campus, according to the author, coupled with pressure on state-level legislators by disgruntled students and parents, is leading to a backlash movement against further international student growth. </p>
<h2>Global role of universities</h2>
<p>We suggest such a backlash is fundamentally flawed for at least two important reasons. </p>
<p>First, efforts to preserve ‘seats’ for local residents rests on an assumption that public institutions’ primary obligations ought to be to their local communities. </p>
<p>Although this assumption is rooted in historical facts – since most US universities were founded by either local communities or by religious ones - universities’ obligations to bigger and broader communities has grown over time.</p>
<p>After World War II, universities became key players in national security and international development projects as university scholars embraced new roles as problem solvers who could address pressing challenges of <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war">Cold War</a> geopolitics, modernization and development and national security. </p>
<p>By the time the <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-wall">Berlin Wall</a> fell, the pace of globalization had begun its rapid acceleration in ways that would forever alter universities’ notion of communities. As <a href="https://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/stevens4">Stevens</a> and <a href="http://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/cynthia.cfm">Miller-Idriss</a> argue in their forthcoming book based on a long-term <a href="http://www.ssrc.org/programs/producing-knowledge-on-world-regions/">research project</a> at the <a href="http://www.ssrc.org/">US Social Science Research Council</a>, a new global logic in US universities dictates that university patrons and flows of students and scholars are global as well as local. </p>
<p>Second, the data on domestic student displacement is not entirely clear. </p>
<p>Although it is indisputable that international students are growing in number, it is not clear that their percentage within the total student population on campuses has grown.</p>
<p>In other words, <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11162-015-9362-2">in-state students may be an increasingly small percentage of the students on campus</a>, but their total numbers may not be <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d14/tables/dt14_306.10.asp">much greater or less than than they were 10 or 20 years ago</a>. It might be simply that the overall population has grown and out-of-state and international students are a larger share of the pie.</p>
<h2>Foreign students not a detriment</h2>
<p>What do these shifts mean for local students who feel closed out of seats in their state universities? </p>
<p>We sympathize with anxious parents and students who feel the burden of incessantly <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/FastFacts/display.asp?id=76">rising tuition costs</a> and believe that international applicants may negatively affect their chances of getting into the college or university of their choice. But we urge them to balance emotion with fact. </p>
<p>Before passing judgment on institutions and the international students they serve, we urge those affected to ask their state institutions for hard data on student enrollment numbers over time and to gather the most objective and reliable facts at their disposal before urging action by their state legislators to change the public institutions serving them.</p>
<p>Lastly, we suggest seeing growing international student enrollments as a positive new trend in a long list of demographic transformations that have historically shaped the US university mostly for the better. </p>
<p>Previous demographic transformations also raised alarm bells. The rising numbers of veterans post World War II were <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9577.html">met with dismay</a> by some: <a href="https://president.uchicago.edu/directory/robert-maynard-hutchins">University of Chicago president Robert M. Hutchins</a> warned that campuses would turn into <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9577.html">“hobo jungles.”</a></p>
<p>But such dire predictions turned out to be ill-advised, as academic <a href="http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/bio/christopher-loss">Christopher P Loss</a> has <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9577.html">argued</a>, in part because the older, mature veteran students were more serious, disciplined, and pursued academic learning more rigorously. </p>
<p>We believe that a similar perception will emerge over time when the contributions international students are making to US higher education will be seen as having been a boon to the US higher education system rather than a detriment to it. </p>
<p>Perhaps our energy would be better spent trying to maximize international students’ contributions rather than challenging them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39728/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The number of international students on American campuses has increased by 55%. Are they taking the place of American students ?Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Associate Professor of Education and Sociology, American UniversityBernhard Streitwieser, Assistant Professor of International Education, Graduate School of Education and Human Development, George Washington UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.