Court Reinstates False Claims Suit Against For-Profit College

Inside Higher Ed.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned a lower court ruling that dismissed a False Claims Act lawsuit in which two former employees accused a for-profit college of falsifying grades to keep students eligible for federal financial aid. The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit means that Heritage College, a for-profit chain that prepares health care workers, will have to defend itself in federal court against charges that it fraudulently induced the Education Department to give it funds by falsely promising to keep accurate student records when it was purposefully manipulating them.