Veteran Educators or For-Profiteers? Tuition Responses to Changes in the Post-9/11 GI Bill

Abstract: In 2010, Congress reauthorized the Post‐9/11 GI Bill by changing reimbursement rates from by‐state maximums to a nationwide limit. This policy created exogenous variation in financial aid for veterans at private universities. We detect changes in tuition only for for‐profit colleges, where we estimate a 1 percent pass‐through rate. This response is mainly from states with decreased benefits; colleges with more veterans, and colleges whose pre‐change tuition was above the state maximum but below the new nationwide level had a pass‐through rate of 8 percent. We also find a negative association between changes in benefits and overall student enrollment for for‐profit colleges