DeVry Class Action Says Employment Statistics Were ‘Lies’

DeVry University alumni have filed a class action lawsuit claiming that the for-profit college falsified employment statistics for graduates.

Their DeVry class action lawsuit follows other litigation against the university, including a settlement deal with the Federal Trade Commission and multiple states.

The DeVry alumni class action lawsuit is led by Dennis Magana, Scott Swindell, and David Torosyan.

The former DeVry students say they chose the school at least in part because they viewed advertisements and publicity that touted the school’s high employment rates after graduation.

Allegedly, the university has made deceptive claims around alumni employment since at least 2008.

The DeVry false advertising class action lawsuit says that these claims include saying that 90 percent of students actively seeking employment had careers in their fields of study within six months of graduation.

Allegedly, the school also claims that DeVry graduates also had jobs with “significantly higher incomes than graduates of other colleges or universities.”

The alumni say DeVry’s claims are “lies, lies, lies” — they assert that DeVry graduates are no more likely to get a job than people who did not go to college.

In their DeVry class action lawsuit, the alumni argue that DeVry uses these statistics to get students to enroll, in the interest of its own profits. The alumni note that DeVry gains profits from the tuition paid by students who attend the school.

The students go on to assert that DeVry’s enrollment model, which allegedly involves high-pressure sales tactics focused on the fraudulent statistics, is important to the university’s success.

Allegedly, the majority of the school’s income is from federal financial aid programs. The alumni say that this incentive encourages DeVry to have as many students as possible enroll in the school, take out loans, and make tuition payments.

The alumni stress, “DeVry’s business model is built on boosting its initial enrollment numbers, not its students’ long-term success.”

The DeVry alumni class action lawsuit says that had the students known that the school’s true employment statistics were not as high as represented, many of them would not have attended the school or would not have paid as much as they did to attend.

The university has already faced claims over this issue. In 2016, the school settled claims with the Federal Trade Commission for $100 million, and agreed to stop advertising with the allegedly falsified statistics, and agreed to alert students on its website that the 90 percent employment rate was not true.

The school also settled with the New York attorney general and the Massachusetts attorney general, and faced other lawsuits over allegedly making false claims to students in the interest of maximizing profits.

The DeVry alumni are represented by Rafey S. Balabanian, Benjamin H. Richman, Sydney M. Janzen, and Michael Ovca of Edelson PC, and Robert L. Teel of the Law Office of Robert L. Teel.

The DeVry Alumni Class Action Lawsuit is Dennis Magana, et al. v. Adtalem Global Education Inc., et al., Case No. 2:19-cv-01572, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Read More Lawsuit & Settlement News:

Department of Education, DeVos Sued For Delaying Student Loan Forgiveness

EPA Aims To Trim Claims Regarding Asbestos Laws

Teacher Files Class Action For Unpaid Work, Classroom Supplies

Is Johnson’s Baby Powder Safe to Use?