It’s Not Nice to Fool the Dpt. of Veterans Affairs

Universal Helicopters Inc., a private helicopter flight training outfit, and Dodge City Community College, a public educational institution in Dodge City, Kansas, have agreed to pay $7.5-million to resolve allegations that they collectively made false statements to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs regarding a helicopter flight training program officiated jointly by the two organizations.

U.S. Attorneys alleged that from 2013 to 2018, Universal Helicopters and Dodge City Community College made or caused to be made false statements pertaining to enrollment in the helicopter flight training program in order to obtain VA funding. Universal Helicopters and the community college have agreed to pay $7-million and $500,000 respectively.

Per the Post-9/11 GI Bill program, the VA provides tuition and fee payments directly to qualifying schools on behalf of eligible veterans. To qualify for the program, a school—among other requirements—must certify to the VA that no more than 85-percent of the students enrolled in any offered course are receiving VA benefits. This requirement, commonly referred to as the 85/15 Rule, is intended to ensure the VA is paying fair-market-value tuition rates. The rule presupposes 15-percent of a course’s enrolled students would refuse outright to ply their own, hard-earned money toward inflated tuitions.

The $7.5-million settlement resolves allegations that Universal Helicopters and Dodge City Community College falsely certified compliance with the 85/15 Rule as it pertained to a number of uniquely costly classes taken almost exclusively by veterans. U.S. attorneys alleged that to reach the required 15-percent threshold, the community college counted part-time students enrolled in only one online class per semester as full-time students.

The resolution was the result of efforts put forth by the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Division Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas, with assistance from the VA OIG and the Veterans Benefits Administration, Education Service.

The claims resolved by the settlements are allegations only, as no determination of liability has been determined.  

FMI: www.justice.gov