South Carolina Code of Regulations › Chapter 62 - STATE COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION › Article I - LICENSING NONPUBLIC POSTSECONDARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS › Section 62-25 - Deceptive Trade or Sales Practices

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 6, June 28, 2024
No institution or agent shall use deceptive trade or sales
				practices in the operation of the institution or in the recruitment of
				students. For purposes of these regulations, it is a deceptive trade or sales
				practice for an institution or agent to:
A. Make or cause to be made any statement or
			 representation, oral, written, or visual, about the offering of educational
			 services if such institution or agent knows or should have known the statement
			 or representation to be false, inaccurate, or misleading.
B. Represent falsely, directly or by
			 implication, with a trade or business name or in any other manner, including
			 the use of "help wanted" or other employment columns in a newspaper or other
			 publication, that it is an employment agency or agent, or authorized training
			 facility for another industry or member of industry, or to otherwise
			 deceptively conceal the fact that it is an educational institution.
C. Represent falsely, directly or by
			 implication, that any of its educational services have been approved by a
			 particular industry or that successful completion of it qualifies a student for
			 admission to a labor union or similar organization or for the receipt of a
			 state license to do certain functions.
D. Represent falsely, directly or by
			 implication, that the lack of a high school education, prior training, age, or
			 experience of applicant is not a handicap or impediment to completing
			 successfully a course or program of study and/or for gaining employment in the
			 field for which the educational services were designed.
E. Adopt a name, trade name, or trademark
			 that represents falsely, directly or by implication, the quality, scope,
			 nature, size or integrity of the institution or its educational
			 services.
F. Represent falsely,
			 directly or by implication, that students completing a course or program of
			 instruction successfully may transfer credit to any institution of higher
			 education.
G. Represent falsely,
			 directly or by implication, in its advertising or promotional materials or in
			 any other manner, the size, location, facilities, equipment, the number of
			 years of educational experience, qualifications of its faculty, the extent or
			 nature of any approval received from any state agency, or the extent or nature
			 of any accreditation received from any accrediting agency or
			 association.
H. Provide prospective
			 students with any testimonials, endorsements, or other information that have
			 the tendency to mislead or deceive prospective students or the public regarding
			 current practices of the institution, current conditions for employment
			 opportunities, or probable earnings in the industry or occupation for which the
			 education services were designed or because of the completion of any
			 educational services.
I. Enroll a
			 student when it is obvious that the student is unlikely to complete
			 successfully a program of study or is unlikely to qualify for employment in the
			 field for which the education is designed, unless this fact is affirmatively
			 disclosed to the student and acknowledged, in writing, by the
			 student.
J. Designate or refer to
			 its sales representatives as "counselors," "advisors," or use words of similar
			 import that have the tendency to mislead or deceive prospective students or the
			 public regarding the authority or qualifications of sales representatives or
			 agents.
K. No institution or
			 representative of an institution shall use the terms "approval," "approved," or
			 "approved to operate." A statement that the institution is "Licensed by the
			 South Carolina Commission on Higher Education" is the only acceptable language.
			 There may be no statement or implication that licensing is an endorsement or
			 recommendation by the State or by the Commission. An institution exempt from
			 the Commission's oversight may not claim that it is under authority of the
			 Nonpublic Postsecondary Institution License Act or the Commission. It may not
			 claim that the Commission recognizes it, grants it authority to operate, or use
			 any other misleading language referring to approval, recognition, authority,
			 licensure, accreditation, certification, registration, or oversight.
L. An institution shall not misrepresent the
			 nature or extent of any prerequisites it has established for enrollment in a
			 course or program of instruction. It shall not:
(1) Represent that a program is available
			 only to those having a high school diploma or other specific educational
			 qualifications, unless the sale of a program is limited to persons possessing
			 generally acceptable evidence of a diploma or educational
			 qualifications.
(2) Represent that
			 only those who make an acceptable grade or complete successfully a certain test
			 or examination will be admitted, if enrollments are not thus limited.
(3) Falsely represent that it will accept for
			 enrollment only a limited number of persons or a limited number of persons from
			 a certain geographical area.
(4)
			 Falsely represent that applications for enrollment will be considered for only
			 a limited period, or that they must be submitted by a certain date.