A DeVry University graduate has filed a putative class action in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging the nationwide electronics and business school has exaggerated the employment rates of graduates, so as to lure new students.
Nicole Versetto lodged an 11-count suit in April against DeVry University, accusing the school of a number of violations, including breaches of the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Illinois Private Business and Vocational Schools Act.
The complaint in separate places describes Versetto as a resident of suburban Elgin, but as a resident of downstate Mahomet.
Jay Edelson
DeVry University, which was founded in 1970, is based in suburban Downers Grove. DeVry offers degrees through about 60 campuses across the U.S. About 80 percent of the school's $2 billion annual revenue comes from federal student financial aid programs, the suit said.
According to Versetto's suit, DeVry devotes much energy to enlisting students, spending more than $264 million in 2015 alone on marketing, advertising and student recruiting. In 2010, DeVry's recruiting staff outnumbered its career counselors by a factor of ten, according to the suit.
DeVry's “admissions advisors” are really sales people, whose mission is to put “asses in classes,” as one such advisor allegedly said, according to Versetto.
Versetto alleged DeVry tried to draw students by falsely claiming until 2016, that about 90 percent of graduates landed “careers in their field within six months of graduation” and earned incomes 15 percent higher than graduates of other similar institutions.
DeVry arrived at this figure by allegedly counting graduates, who continued in the job they had when they enrolled, as successfully employed graduates. Another alleged practice was to include as successful graduates, those who obtained jobs that were not in their field of study. DeVry also categorized some unemployed graduates as not actively seeking jobs, when in fact they were, which further skewed the statistics, Versetto alleged.
DeVry allegedly inflated the supposed incomes of its graduates the same way it overstated job placements, by manipulating employment numbers to paint a picture of more successful or better paid graduates. Further, DeVry's income statistics did not take into account graduate age, experience and field of study.
Based on this “misleading” promotion, DeVry got away with charging higher tuition than other schools, “even though its students – even those who graduate – are no more likely to land a job than those who didn't go to college,” leaving them with “crippling debt,” Versetto alleged.
“DeVry's business model is built on boosting its initial enrollment numbers, not its students' long-term success,” the suit alleged.
Versetto said she fell prey to DeVry's alleged false advertising and spent $20,000 on tuition, all of which was in the form of student loans, before obtaining a degree in 2015.
Anyone who paid for education at DeVry between Jan. 1, 2008 and April 8, 2016, can take part in the class action.
Versetto said DeVry, rather than students, should have to repay outstanding student loans, and reimburse students for loan payments already made, because DeVry wrongly benefited from those loans by allegedly violating state laws. To this end, Versetto wants enrollment agreements between students and DeVry voided and for DeVry to pay unspecified damages.
Versetto is represented by Benjamin Richman, Sydney Janzen and Michael Ovca of the Chicago firm of Edelson PC. Versetto is also represented by Robert L. Teel, of the Law Office of Robert L. Teel, in Langley, Wash.
In 2016 in Chicago federal court, 39 DeVry graduates filed a class action against the school, making claims similar to those of Versetto. The suit was dismissed in February 2018 on grounds plaintiffs failed to specify how they were exposed to or influenced by DeVry's advertising.
“The complaint does not address any of the circumstances surrounding plaintiffs' job searches and thus cannot plausibly allege the causal relationship between an unfavorable employment outcome and any plaintiff's decision to enroll and remain enrolled in DeVry in reliance upon advertised employment data,” said U.S. District Judge Manish Shah.
An amended complaint was filed April 12.
The federal plaintiffs are represented by Wolf, Haldenstein, Adler, Freeman & Herz, which has offices in Chicago and New York City. Also representing plaintiffs is the New York firm of Gainey, McKenna & Egleston.
DeVry has been defended by the following firms: Arnold & Porter, which has offices around the world, including Chicago and New York City; Steptoe & Johnson, of Chicago; and Polsinelli PC, of Chicago.