Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Eugene

(61,595 posts)
Tue Dec 10, 2019, 07:44 PM Dec 2019

University Of Phoenix Reaches $191 Million Settlement With FTC, Including Debt Relief

Source: NPR

The University of Phoenix is paying a record $191 million to settle a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission accusing the for-profit university of using deceptive ads to lure students with the promise of future job opportunities with large companies such as AT&T, Adobe, Twitter, Microsoft and Yahoo.

The settlement includes a plan to cancel $141 million in student debts that are owed to the school by people who enrolled from October 2012 through the end of 2016 – the period in which the FTC says prospective students might have been duped.

Court documents establishing the settlement give the University of Phoenix and its parent company, Apollo Education Group, 15 business days to send an email and letter to eligible students, informing them that they're covered by the agreement. The letter's second paragraph reads:

"You no longer owe any money to University of Phoenix. You don't have to do anything to get this relief. Your account balance will be cleared within 45 business days."

-snip-


Read more: https://www.npr.org/2019/12/10/786738760/university-of-phoenix-reaches-191-million-settlement-with-ftc-including-debt-rel
7 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
University Of Phoenix Reaches $191 Million Settlement With FTC, Including Debt Relief (Original Post) Eugene Dec 2019 OP
They do very polished and effective tv ads. I guess we know where their money went. hlthe2b Dec 2019 #1
"through the end of 2016" PSPS Dec 2019 #2
I had no idea this scam was so large. patphil Dec 2019 #3
Good. I imagine that by now, most of the ads one sees on TV constantly pushing for... SWBTATTReg Dec 2019 #4
As a corporate executive DENVERPOPS Dec 2019 #5
I worked at Pepperdine in the mid-80's marketing moonscape Dec 2019 #6
You're absolutely right in that this was a horrible scam, and to literally throw their... SWBTATTReg Dec 2019 #7

hlthe2b

(101,730 posts)
1. They do very polished and effective tv ads. I guess we know where their money went.
Tue Dec 10, 2019, 07:48 PM
Dec 2019

Glad to see this settlement. They preyed on students most vulnerable.

PSPS

(13,516 posts)
2. "through the end of 2016"
Tue Dec 10, 2019, 08:29 PM
Dec 2019

And then, when DeVos came in and all the agencies were captured by the kremlin, such practices were then encouraged provided The Cabal got its cut.

patphil

(6,035 posts)
3. I had no idea this scam was so large.
Tue Dec 10, 2019, 09:41 PM
Dec 2019

$191 million settlement! How much money did this fake university rake in with it's false advertising and unsupported claims?
The fine should have been enough to put them out of business, but it probably just slowed them down a bit.
I'm betting they still have a lot of money left to fund their future rip-offs of unwary students.
Caveat Emptor.

Patrick Phillips

SWBTATTReg

(21,859 posts)
4. Good. I imagine that by now, most of the ads one sees on TV constantly pushing for...
Tue Dec 10, 2019, 10:36 PM
Dec 2019

U of Phoenix classes and the like, will be a caution to others in the future. Seems like once this all turned into a 'for profit' business, the scams popped up everywhere. Good thing too for the students left holding the bag / debt, and I hope all of the students got some sort of debt relief.

Gee, people trying to improve their lives and these vultures preyed on them. Hopefully they'll be some jail sentences issued too.

DENVERPOPS

(8,679 posts)
5. As a corporate executive
Tue Dec 10, 2019, 11:41 PM
Dec 2019

I used to get resume after resume showing the person had an MBA from University of Phoenix.

Every single one of them went in the trash, and this was decades ago. Even back then, they were known as a degree mill, charging a lot and providing their students with just a piece of paper to pad their resume......

I feel so sorry for all the students out there who have been duped by all these con artist colleges, and who are now on the hook for a lifetime of debt and nothing to show for it......Thank you Republicans for making the debt something that they can't go bankrupt on for the rest of their lives.

The Politicians in charge rigged it so that the student loans were guaranteed by the Federal Gov't. The schools got their money and kept right on, making a fortune. Obama was able to reverse some of it, But Trump repealed every last thing that Obama did and the Fraudulent schools kept right on doing it over and over again.....

I hear satan is building a special lower level in hell for all these hundreds of .................. (DU says I have to stop saying certain words, even if they more than apply to these..................)

moonscape

(4,664 posts)
6. I worked at Pepperdine in the mid-80's marketing
Wed Dec 11, 2019, 11:10 AM
Dec 2019

their MBA program and U of Phoenix MBA was a scam and diploma mill from the get-go. Agree. I watched as they improved their reputation marginally on the outside but though I left academia, never believed they had made any substantive improvements.

SWBTATTReg

(21,859 posts)
7. You're absolutely right in that this was a horrible scam, and to literally throw their...
Wed Dec 11, 2019, 03:36 PM
Dec 2019

resumes into the trash. And to top it off, the students have to still pay for these garbage degrees. Even today you hear about forgiveness of school loans, efforts that have seemed to stall under DeVos' nonsense.

You would be amazed (you probably wouldn't be) of how many kids (AT&T) we hired and sent right back to in house training (mostly for company specific IT stuff, some was actual refresher courses).

Some people were, to be honest, people with master's in other non-IT disciplines, that we felt would make good IT programmers (in Art, Music, other similar disciplines). The thinking was that those with Art, Music, Language, etc. type of degrees were somewhat mathematical, thus, these people would have the ability to understand IT, programming, etc.

I recalled one time when I was looking into one school similar to U of Phoenix (long time ago), for a friend of mine, who was thinking about going there.

In my research, I noticed the degree exchange rate (the values of one school's degrees to another school's degrees) were awful or non-existent for some of the courses, for the 'bad' school, if my friend (as planned) transferred back to a more established, better known school.

At least here's a way folks can tell if a particular school is worth going to or not. Ask what the exchange rate of course credits are, from school to school. Me? I'm just happy that I went to the good ol' community college in Joplin, MO. No scamming involved, got several degrees out of it at minimal cost, and got a heck of a good education.

Take care of yourself and thanks for relating your experiences!

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»University Of Phoenix Rea...