A California school that teaches military spouses dog obedience training skills has received millions of dollars in taxpayer money, but it is neither accredited nor subject to federal oversight.
USA Today reports:
The for-profit Animal Behavior College received $2.7 million from the federal government in fiscal year 2011 through the Defense Department's My Career Advancement Accounts, an analysis by the Senate education committee shows. Launched in 2009, the program gives spouses of some enlisted personnel and junior officers up to $4,000 over three years to earn certificates, licenses or associate degrees.
The goal is to help spouses, who frequently move, build marketable skills that can be used wherever they live. Currently, 26% of military spouses are unemployed.
The program is "a terrific proposal designed to help meet President Obama's goal of America once again having the highest proportion of college-educated citizens in the world by 2020," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "But taxpayer-funded … dog-walking classes do not help meet that goal."