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Three Senate Republicans on Thursday wrote to the U.S. Department of Defense to question its recent decision to temporarily suspend the University of Phoenix's eligibility for military tuition benefits.
The Pentagon's sanction of the for-profit chain was due to allegations about Phoenix improperly sponsoring recruiting events and using the Defense Department's seal on commemorative coins. Newly enrolling students may not use military tuition assistance at the university. Roughly 4,000 Phoenix students currently receive the benefit, which active-duty members of the military are eligible to receive.
Senators John McCain, Lamar Alexander and Jeff Flake, all Republicans, wrote to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, asking him to "examine and reconsider" the decision. They said the move was unfair and based on vague, technical violations the university has worked to fix. The senators also wrote that the Pentagon's sanction was motivated by partisan congressional critics of for-profits, and criticized that the Defense Department cited ongoing investigations of Phoenix by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and California's attorney general as part of the justification for the decision.
"We strongly believe that these earned benefits and educational opportunities for our service members should not be jeopardized because of political or ideological opinions of some members of Congress regarding the types of institutions that provide postsecondary education to our troops," they wrote.
