CECU’s Statement on Federal Student Aid’s Use of Secret Shoppers as an Oversight Tool

Career Education Colleges and Universities

CECU’s Statement on Federal Student Aid’s Use of Secret Shoppers as an Oversight Tool

3/14/2023

Arlington, VA – Today, Federal Student Aid’s Office of Enforcement announced it has added the use of “secret shoppers” to monitor and investigate misrepresentation and fraud in Title IV eligible higher education marketing, recruitment, enrollment, and other practices.

“We support reasonable practices that hold all institutions accountable for misrepresentations that financially harm students and taxpayers; however, the federal government has a track record of using secret shopper investigations to malign politically unfavored institutions with distorted findings that later result in the need for public correction,” said Nicholas Kent, CECU’s chief policy officer. “Given the current administration’s animus toward for-profit institutions, we are concerned this self-proclaimed ‘tool’ will be used as a weapon to inflict further damage upon private career schools and limit student choice.”

###

About Career Education Colleges and Universities
Career Education Colleges and Universities (CECU) is the national association serving the proprietary higher education sector.
​
Please direct media inquiries to Jenny Faubert, Vice President of Communications, at Jenny.Faubert@career.org.

View Original Source