Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

University of Phoenix students to receive $50M in tuition refunds as part of 2019 FTC settlement

University of Phoenix students to receive $50M in tuition refunds as part of 2019 FTC settlement

The $191M settlement also includes $141M to cancel unpaid balances owed directly to the school by eligible students

The Federal Trade Commission is sending nearly $50 million in refunds to more than 147,000 University of Phoenix students as part of a $191 million settlement from 2019.


The regulator is mailing 146,804 checks and issuing 677 PayPal payments to students who first enrolled in a masters, bachelors, or associates degree program at UOP between October 15, 2012 and December 31, 2016, and paid more than $5,000 with cash, grants, federal and private student loans, or military benefits.

"This is the largest settlement the Commission has obtained in a case against a for-profit school,” Andrew Smith, the Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. “Students making important decisions about their education need the facts, not fantasy job opportunities that do not exist."

The settlement includes $141 million to cancel unpaid balances owed directly to the school by eligible students. Other debts, such as federal and private student loans or military benefits, are not affected by the settlement.

Students eligible for relief will also include those who did not get debt cancellation as part of the settlement and did not opt out of UOP providing the student's contact information to the FTC.

Indivudals who get a refund via PayPal will have 30 days to accept the payment. Those who receive checks should deposit or cash their checks within 90 days.

According to the FTC, the payments stemmed from a previously filed lawsuit by the FTC, which alleged that the university's television and radio advertisements "falsely touted its relationships and job opportunities" with companies including as AT&T, Adobe, Microsoft, Twitter, and the American Red Cross beginning in 2012.

The agency further alleged that University of Phoenix (UOP) and its parent company, Apollo Education Group, claimed the curriculums were tailored to give students a better chance to secure a job with these companies.


"In reality, these companies did not partner with UOP to provide special job opportunities for UOP students or develop curriculum," the FTC stated in the suit. "Instead, UOP and Apollo selected these companies for their advertisements as part of a marketing strategy to drive prospective student interest."

A spokesperson for University of Phoenix told FOX Business in a statement that the allegations made by the FTC were "concerning a campaign that ended in 2014 that were not tested through litigation, and do not constitute factual findings by either the FTC or any court."

"The University has admitted no wrongdoing and continues to believe it has acted appropriately," the spokesperson added. "This settlement agreement has enabled us to continue our focus on our core mission of improving the lives of our students through career-relevant higher education, and to avoid any further distraction from serving students that could have resulted from protracted litigation.”

University of Phoenix is one of multiple for-profit schools that have been accused of defrauding its students and leaving them with debt. Since 2015, more than 200,000 defrauded borrowers have filed for a complete discharge of their loans.

The FTC's announcement comes a week after President Joe Biden's education secretary, Miguel Cardona, cancelled $1 billion in student debt for approximately 72,000 defrauded borrowers, whose claims were pending when Biden took office.

“Borrowers deserve a simplified and fair path to relief when they have been harmed by their institution’s misconduct,” Cardona said in a statement. “A close review of these claims and the associated evidence showed these borrowers have been harmed and we will grant them a fresh start from their debt.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×