Five for profit universities operating in the state of Florida will be investigated by the state Attorney General’s office. The schools include Kaplan Inc., the University of Phoenix, MedVance Institute, Argosy University and Everest University. The investigation was prompted after the Attorney General’s office received numerous complaints concerning the schools’ marketing practices, deceptive financial aid packages, promises concerning job placement, and accreditation.
According to the Sun Sentinel, “Hearings from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, as well as an investigation by the Government Accountability Office, found misleading and questionable practices at 15 schools during an undercover investigation. The office identified potential fraud at campuses of two companies McCollum is investigating: Kaplan College in Pembroke Pines, which has suspended enrollment of new students, and MedVance in Miami.”
The for profit universities have become increasingly popular as the economy continues to struggle and under-employed or unemployed people decide to go back to school to obtain a degree. Enrollment at these schools has skyrocketed in the past few years from 365,000 to 1.8 million students.
Federal investigators discovered school recruiters were deceptive in their recruitment practices by telling students not to worry about paying back student loans and that the for profit schools had the same accreditation as schools like Harvard