Company Ordered To Stop 'Misleading' Students on College Admission Sites

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 04/25/08
A federal judge is ordering a "clean-up" of language presented on a company's Web sites that help students apply to colleges after a competitor filed suit charging that the Web sites deceived users. CollegeNET filed the suit against XAP, citing patent infringement and unfair competition. Both companies offer Web sites through which students can apply to multiple colleges and universities for admission and financial aid.

According to the lawsuit, XAP provided the service free to participating schools and resold the data it collected from applicants. When students checked a "yes" option on XAP-run websites, the suit said, they may have believed they were applying directly to specific schools, whereas they were actually consenting to the sale of their personal information to third parties. CollegeNET believed it was unable to compete with those sites because it had to charge participating schools for online college application services.

The lawsuit is chapter two in a continuing legal battle between the two firms. A previous lawsuit ended in a $4.5 million damage judgment for CollegeNET, an award the company said it believes it may not be able to collect. This latest legal battle addressed two affiliations XAP maintains with public agencies, one with the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority and the other with the Georgia Student Finance Commission.

For its part, XAP contended that it has made the language surrounding the opt-in questions clearer and that it no longer sells student information. CollegeNET pointed out that XAP collects revenue in the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from the Kentucky and George agencies. It is the schools under those two entities that can use XAP's online application process free of charge, whereas they'd have to pay CollegeNET for the same service.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • geometric pattern features abstract icons of a dollar sign, graduation cap, and document

    Maricopa Community Colleges Adopts Platform to Combat Student Application Fraud

    In an effort to secure its admissions and financial processes, Maricopa Community Colleges has partnered with A.M. Simpkins and Associates (AMSA) to implement the company's S.A.F.E (Student Application Fraudulent Examination) across the district's 10 institutions.

  • college students in a classroom focus on a silver laptop, with a neural network diagram on the monitor in the background

    Report: 93% of Students Believe Gen AI Training Belongs in Degree Programs

    The vast majority of today's college students — 93% — believe generative AI training should be included in degree programs, according to a recent Coursera report. What's more, 86% of students consider gen AI the most crucial technical skill for career preparation, prioritizing it above in-demand skills such as data strategy and software development.

  • teenager’s study desk with a laptop displaying an AI symbol, surrounded by books, headphones, a notebook, and a cup of colorful pencils

    Survey: Student AI Use on the Rise

    Ninety-three percent of students across the United States have used AI at least once or twice for school-related purposes, according to the latest AI in Education report from Microsoft.

  • laptop on a clean desk with digital padlock icon on the screen

    Study: Data Privacy a Top Concern as Orgs Scale Up AI Agents

    As organizations race to integrate AI agents into their cloud operations and business workflows, they face a crucial reality: while enthusiasm is high, major adoption barriers remain, according to a new Cloudera report. Chief among them is the challenge of safeguarding sensitive data.