Audit of the Education Service’s Compliance Surveys

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this audit to determine how the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) manages compliance surveys of education and training institutions that receive VA benefits. These surveys are required by law and help prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. The OIG team reviewed surveys from October 1, 2022, through September 30, 2025 (fiscal years 2023, 2024, and 2025).

The OIG found that during these fiscal years, 646 of the 7,669 institutions (8 percent) with individuals enrolled under Education Service–administered programs that required a compliance survey were not scheduled for one and did not have a waiver excluding them from being scheduled. Therefore, VBA did not meet 38 U.S.C § 3693 statutory requirements for compliance surveys in fiscal years 2023–2025. VBA also did not consider students using benefits under Chapter 31 (Veteran Readiness and Employment) when deciding which institutions needed surveys, even though this is required by law. VBA did not meet the statutory requirement because the Education Service lacked documented or standard processes and procedures to identify institutions and assign surveys.

The OIG also found that survey workload among VBA staff and contractors was uneven, communication between regions was limited, and quality checks on completed surveys were weak. Finally, the OIG found that VBA approved payments to a compliance survey contractor without fully verifying its performance. Because of this, the OIG questioned over $19 million paid to the contractor for fiscal years 2023 through 2025.

Without better processes, there is a continued risk that institutions may receive improper payments or fail to comply with applicable statutes and regulations, increasing the chance of education benefits fraud. The OIG made six recommendations to improve how VBA manages, schedules, and reviews these surveys; VBA concurred with all recommendations.