On 10/6/2021, the Federal Trade Commission put 70 for-profit higher education institutions on notice that the agency is cracking down on any false promises they make about their graduates’ job and earnings prospects and other outcomes and will hit violators with significant financial penalties. In addition, the FTC announced that it is resurrecting its Penalty Offense Authority, found in Section 5 of the FTC Act, to ensure that bad actors pay a price when they break the law.
By sending a Notice of Penalty Offenses to the institutions, which represent the largest for-profit colleges and vocational schools across the country, the companies operating these colleges will be on notice that they could incur significant sanctions for engaging in certain unlawful practices. The notice outlines a number of practices that the FTC has previously found to be unfair or deceptive, and notes that these practices could lead to civil penalties of up to $43,792 per violation.
While the FTC is clear that “the fact that a school is on [their] list is NOT an indication that it has done anything wrong,” the list does outline which colleges are some of the nation’s largest for-profit colleges, including: DeVry University, Walden University, and The University of Phoenix.
The FTC announcement can be found here.
A list of colleges that received the FTC notice can be found here.
