Dive Brief:
- A group representing for-profit schools is suing Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, accusing her of issuing regulations that violate the First Amendment, due process rights, and state law.
- In June, Coakley said new regulations would prohibit for-profit and occupational schools from making misleading claims in advertising and engaging in unfair lending practices, the Boston Herald reported.
- The Massachusetts Association of Private Career Schools, the group that is suing, says the regulations would burden small businesses, confuse potential students, limit school choice, and help make skilled labor shortages worse.
Dive Insight:
If anything, Coakley may welcome the lawsuit because it further positions her as the champion against the forces of for-profit colleges. She previously won a $425,000 lawsuit settlement in 2013 as reimbursement to former students of Sullivan & Cogliano Training Centers Inc. The attorney general’s spokesman characterized the for-profit college industry as one that has “continuously misled students, leaving them with piles of debt and without the training that was promised.”