U of Phoenix agrees to cancel $141 million in student loan debt to settle allegations of deceptive ads

[SaysWho?]

Under the settlement, the University of Phoenix and Apollo will cancel all remaining debt for students who first enrolled between Oct. 1, 2012, and the end of 2016. Letters will be sent to borrowers saying they no longer owe payments to the school. The school is also barred from making false claims about its relationships with companies or employers.

 

What the university did:

 

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The deal, announced Tuesday, settles a dispute over an ad campaign the for-profit college unrolled in 2012 touting partnerships with companies including Microsoft, Twitter and Adobe. It suggested the school worked with those companies to create job opportunities for students, even though there was no such agreement, investigators found.

 

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According to the FTC's complaint, the University of Phoenix created the 2012 ad campaign to distinguish itself from competitors as the chain's enrollment was falling. After conducting market research, investigators found, the chain adopted an ad strategy tying the school to successful career outcomes. The campaign was called “Let's Get To Work!”

 

In one TV ad that aired in 2012, a frustrated driver weaves through a crowded parking lot looking for a space. As a narrator notes that the University of Phoenix works with companies “to create options for you," cars are suddenly lifted out of parking spaces and replaced with logos for companies including Microsoft and the American Red Cross.

 

Other TV, radio and internet ads boasted of similar ties with corporate partners including AT&T, Hitachi and Avis. In one 2013 radio ad, the University of Phoenix said companies including AT&T and Adobe were “helping us shape our curriculum to make sure today’s classes help prepare you to pursue tomorrow’s jobs.” Investigators said that wasn't true.

 

Instead, many of the companies touted as corporate partners were actually part of the University of Phoenix's "Workforce Solutions” program that provided discounted tuition to their employees in exchange for the companies' help promoting the school.

 

Some companies that were asked to participate in the ads raised objections about the way they were being portrayed, investigators found. When approached to be part of the parking lot ad, for example, Staples officials said it falsely made it sound like they were helping guide the school's curriculum. The company ultimately did not participate.

 

[marioandsonic]

Now if only DeVry University and other predatory for-profit schools did the same.

[GeneticBlueprint]

I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see these predatory institutions pay out the nose, close, or lose funding.

[Dodger]

Hey my dad got his BA from there he ended up making 6 figures, though he did later get his masters from a "real school".

 

I had a friend who taught for Westwood before they went under. He felt bad for those kids. They were paying over 20 grand a year to get degrees that were barely worth the paper they were printed on. He's also a massive hard ass who loves to bust people for plagiarism, which I always thought was pretty harsh for kids who going graduate with nearly 6 figures of debt to get a 4 year degree that's almost worthless.  

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

The only person I've ever met with a UoP degree is an ardent Qanon/Trump guy. 

[Jason]

1 hour ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

The only person I've ever met with a UoP degree is an ardent Qanon/Trump guy.