A for-profit college in the Big Apple has settled with the city over a series of ads officials called deceptive and misleading, and often targeted immigrants and low-income New Yorkers.
ASA College will play more than $100,000 in civil penalties after reaching a settlement with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, the agency announced Monday.
Last year, the college ran ads throughout the subway system and on social media geared toward New Yorkers "who may need financial assistance to attend higher education, and other vulnerable communities," the DCWP said.
The problem, the city said, was that ASA college over promised in its advertisements.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
Some of the ads allegedly claimed students could graduate from programs in 16 months when it wasn't possible to do so. Another college ad told prospective students they could earn thousands of dollars upon graduation, but those funds were actually a part of a scholarship that came with conditions and limitations.
One ad in particular claimed to help students obtain visas that would help them stay in the country.
“Immigrants come from all over the world to NYC in search of a better life and we will not allow them to be the target of predatory and deceptive schemes in their pursuit,” said DCWP Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga.
News
In addition to paying the civil penalties, ASA College has agreed to comply with the Consumer Protection Law.
