$49M in Refunds on the Way to Former DeVry Students

Former students of DeVry University will receive partial refunds of their tuition money, thanks to a recent Federal Trade Commission settlement.

The settlement was reached in an enforcement action brought by the FTC over allegations that DeVry lured in students with false representations about their job prospects after graduation.

In television, radio and print ads, DeVry allegedly represented that for decades, 90 percent of its graduates found employment within six months of graduating. It also was accused of saying that one year after graduation, its graduates enjoyed income 15 percent higher than graduates of other institutions.

But DeVry had no evidence to back up those claims, according to the Federal Student Aid Office.

Many DeVry graduates have since complained that their DeVry education turned out not to be worth what they paid, or what DeVry promised them in those advertisements. Several say they have been unable to find employment at the same time they are facing tens of thousands of dollars in student debt.

The FTC initiated this enforcement action in January 2016 and secured the current DeVry settlement less than a year later.

Under terms of the settlement, DeVry must put up a total of $100 million. About half of that amount will be used to make the current distribution of refund checks.

The other half will be used to forgive qualifying student debt for certain students and graduates who received a private loan from DeVry between September 2008 and September 2015.

This debt relief will cover the full balance owed on all private unpaid student loans issued during that period, totaling more than $30 million. Another $20 million will be used to forgive student debt for ancillary expenses like tuition, books and lab fees.

Settlement of this FTC enforcement action does not preclude affected DeVry students from pursuing other legal remedies.

Six former DeVry students exercised that option in October of last year by bringing their own DeVry class action lawsuit. The multi-state group of plaintiffs alleged they relied on DeVry’s rosy representation of its graduates’ job prospects when they decided to invest in a DeVry education for themselves. But after graduation, they say, they were unable to find employment in their chosen field of study.

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. Checks will expire 60 days after the date of mailing, so recipients are encouraged to deposit them promptly.

Persons entitled to payment include those who enrolled in a DeVry University bachelor’s or associate’s degree program between Jan. 1, 2008 and Oct. 1, 2015, paid at least $5,000 using cash, loans or military benefits, completed at least one class credit, and did not receive loan or debt forgiveness as part of this settlement.

DeVry’s own records were used to determine payment recipients.

The FTC reminds consumers that it will never require them to pay any money or submit any financial information to receive a refund check.

Eligible recipients can direct questions about the refund process to Analytics Consulting 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: April 2019, the FTC is mailing a second round of checks totaling $9.4 million to DeVry students who cashed their first check.