U.S. President Barack Obama has signed an executive order to help protect active-duty troops and veterans from fraudulent and misleading college recruiting practices that target their federal education benefits.

The president signed the order Friday after he and first lady Michelle Obama spoke to troops at Fort Stewart army post in the southern state of Georgia.

Mr. Obama said some colleges were trying to “swindle and hoodwink” military families and that his administration was “putting an end to it.”

The order limits recruiters' access to military facilities and requires schools to provide more information to current and former troops before signing them up for programs. It targets for-profit colleges and universities that market heavily to military families for their education loan money provided by the government under what is known as the “GI Bill.”

First Lady Obama told troops that “America does have [their] backs” (supports them). She said the government wanted to serve soldiers and their families just as they have served their country.

The trip to Georgia comes about a week before Mr. Obama's first official re-election campaign rallies in Virginia and Ohio.

The president lost the state of Georgia to Republican candidate John McCain in the 2008 election.