AIU/CTU review: Recruiting

According to the FTC's complaint, since at least 2012, CEC and its subsidiaries have used an illegal and deceptive telemarketing scheme to lure consumers to their post-secondary and vocational schools. CEC’s lead generators tricked consumers into giving their contact information by pretending to offer services unrelated to post-secondary education, the FTC alleged. For instance, some of CEC’s lead generators posed online as official U.S. military recruiters or as job-finding services, then called consumers whose contact information was solicited under those false pretenses. CEC’s lead generators then continued to misrepresent that the military, or an independent education advisor, recommended the CEC school. Three of the lead generators — Sun Key, Edutrek, and Expand — have themselves been the subject of FTC law enforcement actions.