Predatory Practices

What Are Predatory Practices?

For most students, higher education is an essential step toward reaching their goals. A quality postsecondary credential can help students enter their desired career field, succeed in the workforce, earn a family-sustaining wage, and propel them toward personal and professional success. But what happens when schools misrepresent—or outright lie about—their ability to help students reach those goals? 

Institutions that target students seeking to better themselves through higher education may engage in a wide range of predatory practices. Predatory schools seek to secure student and taxpayer dollars but fail to provide quality education and often leave students worse off than if they had never attended in the first place.

Predatory practices are concentrated in, but not exclusive to, the for-profit college sector. Driven by a profit-seeking motive, for-profit colleges have long relied on predatory techniques, such as high-pressure recruitment, falsified job placement rates, and lies about program quality, to lure students into spending their federal financial aid dollars. Concerningly, predatory for-profit colleges engage in targeted recruitment of Black and Latino students, as well as military servicemembers and veterans. 

A school engaging in predatory practices may:

• Pressure prospective students to enroll by creating a false sense of urgency. 
• Engage in aggressive recruitment techniques, such as incessantly calling or emailing a student who shares their contact information on the school’s website or through an online lead generator. 
• Lie directly or indirectly about a program’s cost. 
  • For example, a school may require students to take additional courses beyond what is included in the advertised sticker price, forcing students to take out additional loans or discontinue their studies.
• Report artificially inflated job placement rates or falsely advertise employer partnerships and career support services.  
• Misrepresent the average earnings of its graduates.
• Lie about its accreditation status and/or whether a program prepares students to meet licensure requirements. 

Students who have been harmed by predatory practices, as well as current or former employees, third-party servicers of higher education institutions, or any other relevant individual aware of potential violations, may submit a complaint to the Office of Federal Student Aid. Programs engaging in predatory behavior must be held accountable for harming students and misusing taxpayer dollars.