The Post found that in 2025 alone, taxpayers spent more than $11 billion to educate 666,000 people through the GI Bill. However, a lack of government oversight has allowed some schools to take advantage of the program — and its left veterans without the skills and training they were promised.
The extent of the fraud
The investigation found one New Hampshire trade school charged $18,500 in tuition to teach veterans how to turn fake rocks into concrete. According to public records and interviews conducted by the Post, the school owner — who is a convicted tax evader — exploited veterans for free labour. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) paid the school $17.8 million over seven years before it was finally shut down.
In Texas, a high school dropout opened a “boot camp” that trained veterans to become heating and air-conditioning technicians. The program ran for just six weeks, but tuition was $20,000. In just 3 years, the school had received $72 million from the GI bill.
The owner was eventually charged — but not before using government money to buy a Lamborghini, Ferrari and Bentley. Several veterans impacted by the shady school said they were duped with fake promises of good-paying jobs.
“I feel bamboozled,” Marine veteran Ryan DiFranco testified at the trial against the owner. “It’s a nightmare that lives in the back of my mind all the time.”
DiFranco told the court that the school’s insufficient training caused him to lose three jobs. The Post also found some schools falsely claimed they had been operating for years. At some locations, administrators had criminal records that went under the radar because VA and state agencies don’t conduct background checks.
Gaps in the GI Bill benefits program
Since its creation following World War II, more than 25 million veterans have relied on the GI Bill to help pay for college, job training and other benefits. Over the past two decades, Washington has expanded the program, removing restrictions on when benefits need to be claimed and allowing credits to be transferred to veterans’ spouses or children.
However, according to the Post, loopholes in the system have allowed the program to be abused.
