Durbin Leads Colleagues In Penning Letter To Departments Of Education, Defense, And Veterans Affairs Warning Against Predatory For-Profit College University Of Phoenix

Letter

"Phoenix is an unscrupulous and predatory for-profit college that has long preyed on veterans, low-income students, and students of color. A recent report found that Phoenix has launched a national advertising campaign that has run misleading advertisements suggesting Phoenix is a public university. These advertisements, including messages on its admissions website, tout statements such as "No out of state tuition' and "Some state universities charge higher tuition to out-of-state students -- but not University of Phoenix.' Prospective students easily could interpret these misleading statements to mean that Phoenix is an affordable public university, when in reality it is neither.

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In 2019, Phoenix reached a $191 million settlement with the FTC for running deceptive advertisements that gave the false impression that Phoenix partnered with major employers like the American Red Cross, AT&T, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo. This was the largest financial settlement ever reached between the FTC and a for-profit college. The settlement also stipulated that Phoenix is banned permanently from running advertisements that promote a misleading benefit.

Phoenix's most recent advertising campaign clearly defies this injunction.

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We applaud ED's recent efforts to hold for-profit colleges accountable, including developing a low-financial-value programs list and providing borrower defense to repayment discharges for students who attended Corinthian Colleges, ITT Technical Institute, and Westwood. ED, VA, and DOD, however, can and must take additional steps to protect student borrowers and taxpayers by scrutinizing Phoenix's participation in federal student aid programs, especially after clear violations of its previous agreement with the FTC."

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