DeVry University Sued Over ‘Predatory’ False Claims Regarding Student Success Rates

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The operators of DeVry University find themselves on the receiving end of a proposed class action that alleges they advertised inaccurate graduate employment statistics to boost enrollment and charge higher tuition.

According to the complaint, DeVry “manipulated” its own data and that of an unreliable third-party report for marketing purposes. Specifically, the case says the university advertised that 90 percent of its students found jobs in their fields within six months of graduating and that they earned more money than those with degrees from other colleges. In reality, however, the lawsuit alleges DeVry graduates are “no more likely to land a job than those who didn’t go to college.”

These allegedly deceptive claims were used as “critical selling points” in order to jack up tuition costs, the suit says, adding that the false statistics were “widely disseminated” across commercials, websites, brochures, and other promotional materials.

“[B]y emphasizing that a DeVry education is likely to get the student a job in his or her chosen field or a higher income when he or she starts, the high price of an education at DeVry is downplayed and pitched as a more reasonable investment,” the case reads, arguing that students would not have enrolled at the university or would have paid less to do so absent the allegedly predatory marketing practices.