Dive Brief:
- A fraud suit against Heritage College operator Western Educational Inc. will move forward following an appeal.
- Inside Higher Ed reports the lawsuit claims Heritage didn’t keep accurate grade and attendance records, in turn defrauding the federal government out of $32.8 million from 2009 to 2012.
- While the original district court accepted the argument that Heritage’s oversights didn’t defraud the government of any money, the appeals court will require it to determine whether Heritage knew it should keep accurate records and whether it ever intended to.
Dive Insight:
According to the Inside Higher Ed analysis, claims like this against education companies are common and most end with the original dismissal plaintiffs saw in this case. The appeal can be called a success because it required the district court to reconsider, but there still have been no findings against Heritage College. The case comes amid a firestorm of criticism against the for-profit sector at large, egged on by the demise of Corinthian Colleges Inc.
