Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley received a $3.75 million consent judgment against Salter College, a for-profit college, on Friday for allegedly deceiving students with inflated job-placement numbers and employing deceptive tactics to entice students to enroll.
Owned by Premier Education Group, L.P., school personnel allegedly deceived students in the medical career field by providing false employment numbers. The college allegedly tricked students into believing that if they attended the school they were more likely to find jobs as medical billers, medical assistant, health claims specialist and medical coding workers.
Salter also allegedly marketed itself as a school that was selective about who it accepted. In actuality, the school had an open enrollment policy, and would accept anyone with a high school diploma who could afford to pay the tuition or who had student loan access.
"We allege this for-profit school used misleading recruitment tactics in order to obtain tuition payments and fees from students looking to further their education,” Coakley said. “Our ongoing investigation into the for-profit school industry has provided real relief for students who have incurred substantial debt because of these deceptive practices.”
As part of the judgment, Salter College must pay down $3.5 million in student federal loans and provide approximately $250,000 in private loan payments.