Attorney General Tom Miller.
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller took part in a news conference in Washington, D.C. today as federal Department of Justice and Education officials announced a $95.5 million dollar “false claims” settlement with a for-profit education company.
Education Management Corporation (EDMC), based in Pennsylvania, operates 110 schools in 32 states. Miller said EDMC was accused of deceptive marketing and recruitment practices and making false claims about job placement.
“There are broad prohibitions about unfair, deceptive, and misleading claims made in the recruitment process…and abusive recruitment methods,” Miller said. Brown Mackie College in Bettendorf is among the colleges owned and operated by EDMC.
More than 600 former Iowa students will have roughly a half million dollars in loans forgiven under the settlement. “There are provisions for forgiveness of loans in this agreement with EDMC…$102.8 million in loans owed to EDMC. That’s about 80,000 students and $1,370 on average,” Miller said.
EDMC is the second largest for-profit education company in the country. About 90 percent of its revenue comes from taxpayers in the form of federal education funding.