WASHINGTON, April 20 (UPI) -- Alta Colleges and its schools in Texas will pay $7 million to resolve claims it obtained student aid funds under false pretenses, federal officials said Monday.
The United States alleged Alta's facilities in Texas obtained state licenses by misrepresenting their compliance with state job-reporting requirements and that their interior design programs met professional licensing requirements, the Justice Department said in news release. A college must meet state licensing requirements to qualify to receive federal student aid.
"This settlement demonstrates the government's commitment to enforcing the compliance standards required of colleges participating in the federal student aid program," said Michael Hertz, acting assistant attorney general of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice.
Alta Colleges, with headquarters in Denver, has more than 12,000 students at 19 campuses in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Texas and Virginia.
The civil settlement agreement resolved allegations originally filed in a federal lawsuit brought by whistleblowers under the federal False Claims Act, the department said.
