Dive Brief:
- The College Network — an Indianapolis, IN, company that sells college credit test preparation materials — is under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and the Indiana Attorney General’s office.
- A class-action lawsuit was filed against TCN in Ohio last week, and more than 200 consumer complaints have been filed in Indiana since 2013 — with nearly 100 more combined in Ohio, Texas, and Florida, according to the Indianapolis Star.
- Purdue University has made $2.53 million from its contracts with TCN since 2010 and Indiana State University has made $1.36 million since 2006.
Dive Insight:
The Indianapolis Star has an impressive story on TCN, which is accused of using high-pressure sales tactics to dupe customers into buying expensive prep materials for college credit equivalency exams. Those prep materials are often financed by personal loans, and when those loans default, they’re sold to collection agencies, including one — American Credit Exchange — that lists two TCN officers among its own. Many of the targeted customers are nursing students. TCN’s owner, Gary Eyler, had a national truck driving school that went bankrupt after being sued in 1988 by the federal government, which accused it of fraud and poor training. TCN has denied the allegations.
