The U.S. Department of Education has settled with DeVry University, a subsidiary of the for-profit DeVry Education Group, after the institution putunsubstantiated job-placement claims in its recruitment materials, the department announced in a news release on Thursday.
In 2015, DeVry could not provide data or further information on the assertion that since 1975, 90 percent of graduates had found jobs in their field within six months of graduation, the release said. According to federal law, institutions that use job-placement statistics for recruiting must back up the numbers they advertise.
As part of the settlement, DeVry will receive federal student-aid funds through provisional program participation only, and the university could be on provisional status for up to five years.
Among the many requirements, DeVry must stop publishing marketing materials that use the “since 1975″ representation, stop publishing information about post-graduation employment without specific data and documentation of the methods used to obtain the data, and post a five-year letter credit of at least $68.4 million.
According to the release, the letter of credit is equal to about 10 percent of DeVry’s total Title IV aid revenue for the 2014-15 academic year.
“The settlement in no way hinders DeVry University’s ability to serve current or future students,” said a DeVry spokesman in a statement. “DeVry University is pleased to have resolved the notice in full cooperation with the department and continues to cooperate with the department to resolve the remainder of its August 2015 investigation.”