§3673A — Title 38 Veterans' Benefits | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, working with State approving agencies, must create a risk-based survey to check schools that take students using VA-approved education programs. The Secretary and State agencies decide the survey’s scope, but it must at least look for several risk signs: fast rises in veteran enrollment or in tuition and fees, student complaints tracked and published under section 3698(b)(2), compliance with section 3680A(d)(1), veteran completion rates, financial stability indicators, advertising and recruiting (including third-party recruiters), and legal actions or settlements by federal or state governments. They must also set up (or use) a searchable database to store information from site visits and other survey findings to help future oversight. To the greatest extent possible, the Secretary or a State approving agency must give no more than two business days’ notice before doing a targeted risk-based survey.

Title 38, §3673A

Veterans' Benefits — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary, in partnership with State approving agencies, shall develop a risk-based survey for oversight of educational institutions with courses and programs of education approved under this chapter.

(b)(1)The scope of the risk-based survey developed under subsection (a) shall be determined by the Secretary, in partnership with the State approving agency.

(2)At a minimum the scope determined under paragraph (1) shall include the following:

(A)Rapid increase in veteran enrollment.

(B)Rapid increase in tuition and fees.

(C)Complaints tracked and published with the mechanism required by section 3698(b)(2) from students pursuing programs of education with educational assistance furnished under laws administered by the Secretary, based on severity or volume of the complaints.

(D)Compliance with section 3680A(d)(1) of this title.

(E)Veteran completion rates.

(F)Indicators of financial stability.

(G)Review of the advertising and recruiting practices of the educational institution, including those by third-party contractors of the educational institution.

(H)Matters for which the Federal Government or a State Government brings an action in a court of competent jurisdiction against an educational institution, including matters in cases in which the Federal Government or the State comes to a settled agreement on such matters outside of the court.

(c)The Secretary, in partnership with the State approving agencies under this chapter, shall establish a searchable database or use an existing system, as the Secretary considers appropriate, to serve as a central repository for information required for or collected during site visits for the risk-based survey developed under subsection (a), so as to improve future oversight of educational institutions with programs of education approved under this chapter.

(d)To the maximum amount feasible, the Secretary, or a State approving agency, as applicable, shall provide not more than two business days of notice to an educational institution before conducting a targeted risk-based survey of the institution under this section.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2025—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 118–210 substituted “two business days” for “one business day”. 2023—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 117–333 added subsec. (d). 2021—Pub. L. 117–16, § 7(b)(1), made technical correction to directory language of Pub. L. 116–315, § 1013(a)(1), which enacted this section. Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 117–16, § 7(a)(3)(A), struck out “searchable” before “risk-based survey”. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 117–16, § 7(a)(3)(B), inserted “searchable” before “database”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Deadline for Risk-Based Surveys Database Pub. L. 118–210, title II, § 206(d), Jan. 2, 2025, 138 Stat. 2764, provided that: “The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall establish the database required under section 3673A(c) of title 38, United States Code, by not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Jan. 2, 2025].”

§3673A Risk-based Surveys