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posted by chromas on Wednesday December 11 2019, @06:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the Mercernaries-of-Academe dept.

Reported by 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.

By the way, there is no University of Phoenix in Phoenix.

The University of Phoenix successfully targeted minorities, military veterans, service members and their spouses for enrollment, the FTC says, calling the University of Phoenix "the largest recipient of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits since the program's inception."

"The University of Phoenix once claimed nearly half a million students," NPR education correspondent Anya Kamenetz reports, "but enrollment has fallen sharply in the last decade amid several investigations, lawsuits and controversies."

Article specifies that current enrollment was below 100,000 in 2018.

Now all those students will have to go here.


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  • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by aristarchus on Wednesday December 11 2019, @09:13AM (1 child)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday December 11 2019, @09:13AM (#930989) Journal

    And, it seems, all this has an effect on the general level of erudition. Mercenaries, from Merchant, Mercantile, a matter of business; cf., whoremongering.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @06:14PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @06:14PM (#931154)

      Modded offtopic? Reporting typos is offtopic? Welcome to SoylentNews!

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @10:31AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @10:31AM (#931003)

    What about the previous decade of students? This is only for those

    people who enrolled from October 2012 through the end of 2016 – the period in which the FTC says prospective students might have been duped.

    The University Of Phoenix sales team "counselors" reeked of predatory tactics when I talked to them back in 2002. I call them the sales team because obviously did not care about anything other than getting more bodies into seats, bonus if they could saddle you with a loan at the same time.

    I swear they seemed to be happier when I mentioned how the unwanted classes pushed costs over the limit I was comfortable with. The finance discussion was something they were experts in. It meant they could stop talking about the worthless classes and start pushing the loans.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by barbara hudson on Wednesday December 11 2019, @04:42PM

      by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Wednesday December 11 2019, @04:42PM (#931119) Journal

      There should be criminal fraud charges, but like the real estate bubble, the education bubble won't result in any real punishment.

      Their motto should have been "a fake education for the same cost as a real education, but we'll help you with the loan paperwork."

      --
      SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @08:01PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @08:01PM (#931208)

      The point being that they engaged in the advertising and tactics that they were actively cooperating with businesses and that a degree from there was an inside track to get a job at those companies happened during that period. That they work with major corporations to help shape the curriculum is no secret - they were doing that when I attended there in the 90s, too. But they didn't imply that you would therefore get a job there.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @02:43AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @02:43AM (#931299)

      Hell all schools do this shit.

      The state uni I went to in the 90s had a '99%' placement rate. I took them up on that at the end. "oh here fill out this attendance sheet and there are some notices on the wall behind you give them a call" "are you guys supposed to help?" "oh no we just make sure the 3x5 cards stay on the wall"

      I have heard of dozens of other schools doing the same thing from friends and family.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @04:52PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @04:52PM (#931122)

    There is a University of Phoenix in Phoenix. I drive past it every day.

    4035 S Riverpoint Pkwy, Phoenix, AZ

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @06:15PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @06:15PM (#931155)

      Central offices, not a campus. Nothing in there but accountants.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @07:59PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @07:59PM (#931206)

        Not when I attended there in the 90s.

        They may have changed things around, as online education wasn't really a thing yet (they were one of the early pioneers of it). Back then one attended classes at campuses they rented out in office complexes. I took most of my courses in Mesa, but had two or three classes at the Phoenix Main campus.

        And.... it still does. See? [phoenix.edu]

        Maybe the summary should be edited.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @09:20PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @09:20PM (#931229)

      Mod parent up and mod summary incorrect. There is in fact a Phoenix Main campus and classes are held there also.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @08:06PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 12 2019, @08:06PM (#931517)

        There is in fact a Phoenix Main campus and classes are held there also.

        You expect us to believe this, based on the testimony of persons who allegedly attended the University of Phoenix?

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