The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against DeVry University, one of the country's largest for-profit colleges, accusing it of repeatedly lying about post-graduate job placement rates and salary prospects, reports The Huffington Post.
In a complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the FTC takes specific issue with DeVry's various TV, radio, online and print advertisements, which claim that 90 percent of students land a job in their field within six months of graduating, and that those students made 15 percent more than people who graduated from other universities. The true number of DeVry graduates who obtained jobs in their field "is significantly smaller" than 90 percent, the FTC said.
The FTC also alleges that DeVry falsely claimed that numerous graduates were working in their respective fields when they were not.
"A significant percentage of the jobs that [DeVry counts] as being in the graduate's field of study include jobs that employers, industry experts, graduates, and consumers would not reasonably consider to be in the graduate's field of study," the lawsuit says.
The FTC pointed to one student who specialized in health services management but works at the Cheesecake Factory, another with a degree in human resources who works as a mail carrier, and graduates with human resources and health services management degrees doing unpaid work at medical centers, according to the New York Post.
"Millions of Americans look to higher education for training that will lead to meaningful employment and good pay," FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a news release. "Educational institutions like DeVry owe prospective students the truth about their graduates' success finding employment in their field of study and the income they can earn."
The suit asks a judge to provide refunds and restitution to all students who were deceived since 2008 - potentially 50,000 people. The suit also requests that DeVry be permanently banned from using faulty statistics in promotional material, according to The Wall Street Journal.
DeVry said in a statement that it plans to "vigorously contest" the lawsuit, according to Reuters. "DeVry Group believes that the FTC's complaint - filed 40 years after DeVry University began publishing accurate graduate employment statistics - is without a valid legal basis," the company said in a statement. "In addition, the FTC's complaint contains anecdotal examples that exaggerate the allegations but do not prove them."
DeVry University is operated by Illinois-based DeVry Education Group and has campuses in 25 states. The company's stock was down 17.43 percent to $19.60 a share following the announcement around noon on Wednesday, according to CNBC.
