University Of Phoenix Reaches $191 Million Settlement With FTC, Including Debt Relief – By Bill Chappell (NPR) / Dec 10 2019
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. The letter’s second paragraph reads:
“You no longer owe any money to University of Phoenix. You don’t have to do anything to get this relief. Your account balance will be cleared within 45 business days.”
The letter also states that the school has 55 business days to tell credit reporting agencies to delete the debt from students’ credit reports.
Conitnue to article: https://www.npr.org/2019/12/10/786738760/university-of-phoenix-reaches-191-million-settlement-with-ftc-including-debt-rel
The FTC said the University of Phoenix’s ads sought to mislead prospective students by suggesting the school had close ties to Twitter, MGM and other large companies.
University of Phoenix via FTC
