The nation’s second-largest operator of for-profit colleges, Education Management Corp. (EDMC), is the subject of a recent qui tam suit brought by former admissions officer Jason Sobek. The suit alleges that EDMC misled prospective students—and, by extension, the government—by inflating job placement statistics in recruiting materials. Sobek claims that the company included in those numbers students with jobs unrelated to their degrees, including jobs held prior to earning the degrees. One former student, for example, allegedly took a $16,000-a-year job at Wal Mart to pay for school, and was unable to find a better job upon graduating. EDMC nevertheless included her employment in its job numbers, deeming the low-paying customer service job “related” to the student’s business management degree.

This is not EDMC’s first encounter with an employee-turned-whistleblower. The company has previously faced allegations that it used illegal incentive payments to compensate its recruitment staff. For-profit colleges like EDMC’s enroll roughly 12% of the nation’s higher-ed students, and derive more than 80% of their revenue from federal student aid. They are the subject of considerable public controversy and frequent targets for False Claims Act suits.

Read the entire article, “Whistle-Blower: For-Profit College Operator Allegedly Inflates Job Placement Rates”

Read our earlier coverage, “Justice Department Joins Whistleblower Suit Against For-Profit Education Management Corporation”