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DeVry University will pay $100 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged its ads misled prospective students about job placement, the Federal Trade Commission has announced.
The settlement is related to an investigation into DeVry’s claim that since 1975, 90 percent of its graduates were employed in their field of study within six months of graduation.
However, the Federal Student Aid office determined that DeVry could not provide sufficient evidence to support that claim for certain times during that period.
The FTC lawsuit, brought nearly a year ago in January 2016, claims that DeVry’s TV, radio, online and print ads touted inflated job placement rates and post-grad income levels.
“When people are making important decisions about their education and their future, they should not be misled by deceptive employment and earnings claims,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a statement. “The FTC has secured compensation for the many students who were harmed, and I am pleased that DeVry is changing its practices.”
A federal judge still needs to approve the settlement, but it is expected that approximately half of the $100 million will be distributed to students who the FTC will determine were harmed by the ads.
The agency is waiting to receive more information about the students from DeVry before it can determine how many will receive compensation. The FTC states that it will notify affected students.
The other half of the settlement fund will forgive any outstanding debt for qualifying students and graduates who received a private loan from DeVry between September 2008 and September 2015 (the time period for which the ads ran).
On Thursday, DeVry said it was “pleased” the matter was resolved. It continues to deny all allegations of wrongdoing.
“DeVry Group chose to settle this action after filing an answer denying all allegations of wrongdoing,” the university said in a statement. “Student services and access to federal student loans are not impacted by the settlement, and at no time has the academic quality of a DeVry University education been questioned. DeVry Group is pleased this matter is reaching resolution, particularly as its institutions implement recently announced Student Commitments and as we continue our focus on investments that directly support our students’ success.”
Earlier this year, DeVry agreed to a separate settlement with the U.S. Department of Education over charges that the for-profit institution used unsubstantiated job placement claims in recruitment and advertising materials.
The school is also facing a class action lawsuit filed by six students saying they were duped by DeVry’s statements and brochures on how easy it would be to get a job in their field after graduating from the school.
The plaintiffs are seeking to represent a nationwide Class consisting of all persons who, within the applicable statute of limitations period, got a degree from DeVry but could not find employment within their chosen field of study within six months following graduation. This case is pending in Illinois federal court.
For more information on the DeVry FTC refund process, visit the FTC website, or call the FTC’s refund administrator at 844-578-2645.
The FTC is represented by Jonathan E. Nuechterlein, Christina V. Tusan, John D. Jacobs, Thomas J. Syta, Barbara Chun, Faye Chen Bamouw, Yan Fang and Sarah E. Schroeder.
The DeVry False Advertising Lawsuit is Federal Trade Commission v. DeVry Education Group Inc., et al., Case No. 2:16-cv-00579, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
UPDATE: On July 5, 2017, former students of DeVry University will receive partial refunds of their tuition money, thanks to a recent Federal Trade Commission settlement. According to the FTC, the current distribution of checks is being managed by refund administrator Analytics Consulting LLC. About 173,000 checks were mailed on July 5, totaling $49.4 million in refunds.
UPDATE 2: April 2019, the FTC is mailing a second round of checks totaling $9.4 million to DeVry students who cashed their first check.
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15 thoughts onDeVry Settles FTC’s Exaggerated Job Placement Lawsuit for $100M
Why are the effective dates 2008-2015. I went there in the late 90’s and was given the same hook. Is there some 10 year limitation?
UPDATE: On July 5, 2017, former students of DeVry University will receive partial refunds of their tuition money, thanks to a recent Federal Trade Commission settlement. According to the FTC, the current distribution of checks is being managed by refund administrator Analytics Consulting LLC. About 173,000 checks were mailed on July 5, totaling $49.4 million in refunds.
Why weren’t all students included? I never received anything on this and attended, as well as experienced the same thing during this time.
I have a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree. I owe $192,000
This is par for the course for many schools, especially these technical schools; my husband enrolled in the Triangle Tech program for construction & electrical back in 2006 and although the government paid in conjuction with the TRAA program for displaced workers that jobs went foreign companies, I.e. ~$30,000 for the 18 month accelerated program, only 6 out of the 40 or so students found work; the others were not so fortunate. So, the government paid and the program was like a day care for these displaced workers to get an “education” and the school benefited by teaching these courses and reaping all the profits.
Is there a pending lawsuit for Miller Motte Technical College ? Everything about their program is sketchy.
I haven’t heard of one but there definitely needs to be one in the works. I started their medical lab tech associate degree program because the admissions person told me it was accredited. 5 semesters later, the school got a new director. She met with all the students in the program and said the school is accredited but not the program and that they must have a graduating class to seek accreditation. Fast forward a few years, and Miller Motte no longer offers the medical lab tech program at all.
My husband and I are still paying his exorbitant student loan debt for an A A meanwhile I got two degrees for what he paid for one. This school takes full advantage of its students.
Yeah, I have a very large amount of loan debt thanks to DeVry jacking up their tuition rates and forcing additional charges on all students for things like ebooks without giving an option to opt out. Maybe DeVry will forgive at least part of my student loan debt since they maxed out my loans while leaving me a full year short of completing my bachelors in Computer Forensics.
Same thing happened to me. I was so livid having to pay my last year out of pocket
They are required to forgive student loan debts you should contact them immediately for more specific information.
The same thing happened to me as well. I had a year left before I graduated and was told i would have to take out a private loan to complete. One time rates went up twice in one year and they grossly overcharge for lab kits and when you tried to return any books they wouldn’t accept. I also couldn’t transfer any basic(core classes over from my Associates degree program to transfer to my Bachelor’s and lost a year because of it. They should go back a few years as theses deceptive practices happened to me prior to 2008 and a student advisor\recruiter told me when I was looking at the school, I could make x amount of money when I graduated. I told them how are you certain when you don’t know what the economy will be like. Also Navient(Sallie Mae) is applying most of the payments to interest vs principal which is making impossible for anyone to payoff their loan.
Failed to mentioned I didn’t even get into my career until several years later after getting my certifications on my own.
Is there one of these for Brandman (formerly Chapman) university? They made similar claims but job placement post degree was very sketchy.
I have one ….. what should I do