The Federal Trade Commission secured a record $191 million settlement with the for-profit University of Phoenix in 2019 over deceptive marketing claims and announced on Wednesday that it is sending nearly $50 million in refunds to eligible students.
The FTC had sued the university for advertising partnerships with corporations including Yahoo and American Red Cross that in reality had no curricular ties to the school. The university did not acknowledge wrongdoing in the settlement, an FTC record for a for-profit educational entity.
In the Wednesday press release, the FTC said it will be sending payments to more than 147,000 students "who may have been lured by allegedly deceptive advertisements."
