A for-profit chain of universities lied about the quality of its education and forced students to buy textbooks and supplies from its schools at inflated prices, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway.
The company, Daymar Learning Inc., allegedly told prospective students that course credits earned at Daymar schools would transfer to other universities. What Daymar neglected to mention is that since some of its programs failed to meet the standards set by its own accrediting organization, courses taken in those programs wouldn’t transfer to other schools, according to the suit.
Daymar also enrolled students who failed to meet the school’s admission standards, increasing the chances that those students will drop out, fail to get a job, and default on their school loans, according to the AG’s complaint. Daymar’s school in Kentucky reportedly has the second-highest default rate of any university in the state.
As attorney general it is “my duty to ensure that consumers are not being taken advantage of as a result of unfair or false business practices,” Conway said in a press release.
A spokesman for Daymar did not return a call for comment.
Conway also alleges that the company forced students to buy textbooks and supplies from Daymar at inflated prices. His office is leading an effort by regulators in 19 states to investigate problems in the for-profit university industry.
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Christopher Maag Contributing writer for Credit.com, Chris graduated with honors from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and has reported for a number of publications including The New York Times, TIME magazine and Popular Mechanics. Reach Chris via email at chris@credit.com.
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It is a shame that any college would advise students that credits will transfer when they will not. However, colleges requiring students to buy specific textbooks at an inflated price happens at virtually every college. Think of all the profs at government universities who write their own texts and then require that text for his or her courses, and you can only buy the text through the school. Nothing new here…
This predator school is the worst of the worst.
They have already started the counterpoint of saying this is all political expediency on the part of Kentucky AG Conway. Daymar would undoubtedly love to cloud this crystal-clear case of consumer fraud by turning attention to the public servant that is holding their dirty corporate feet to the fire.
Daymar preys on what they call “non-traditional” students who are looking to improve their families’ situations through education.
Daymar’s favorite targets are unmarried women with children, with little or no means of support, other than public assistance. Those are the ones Daymar wants. They coach them to get to the welfare office to get some money to live on while in school, if they are not already receiving public help. They put them into an admissions pschological trap called the pain funnel. This is to beat them down, make them feel worthless and that they are bad parents and bad people if they don’t sign up for school right then.
The other target is Veterans. They are the ones that Daymar says have money bags around their necks.
Daymar blatantly lies to them and manipulates their grants and loans in order to
conceal the fact that they are being charged 3x, 4x, 5x and more for a non-recognized diploma. Likewise, they run a “company store” scheme so that students can only buy books and supplies from the Daymar store.
They lure them with promises of continued career placement services and show them how much more money they will earn with a college degree. They don’t tell them they will be tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and lucky to find a minimum wage job on their own.
Thanks for covering this and saving some anguish from unsuspecting victims.
Dear “Scammed,” Thanks for writing. I didn’t know any of that – this story is the first I’ve heard of Daymar. I’ll keep an eye on this investigation as it moves forward.
I look forward to reading you in the future as this quagmire of corporate corruption unfolds.