As more people explore going back to school after losing jobs in the COVID-19 pandemic, Virginia is being urged to prohibit the use of enrollment contracts by some private post-secondary schools.

Michael Saunders, director of military and consumer policy for Veterans Education Success, said these contracts can include restrictions that limit students’ legal recourse if they discover fraudulent practices or aren’t happy with the quality of education. Saunders said the now-defunct ITT Tech used nondisclosure clauses that prevented students from reporting extreme turnover among teachers.

“The students realized that they were not getting a quality education,” he said, “and instead of being able to possibly go to law enforcement and say, ‘Hey, I’m not getting what I’m paying for here,’ that you would be prevented from doing so by some of these clauses.”

Read the full story by Public News Service, “Virginia Urged to End Restrictive Higher-Ed Enrollment Contracts” published April 22, 2020.