ORLANDO, FLA. (WSVN) - A new lawsuit is putting one Florida university under the microscope after allegations surfaced that the institution fabricated job opportunities for its graduates.
Full Sail University in Orlando is one of two colleges accused of using federal dollars to temporarily create job opportunities for graduates, but administrators are remaining steadfast in their denial of the claims.
Mark Kleiman represents two former executives at the Los Angeles film school that filed the lawsuit.
The suit claims the LA Film School and Full Sail University “self-financed thousands of temporary employment opportunities for their graduates through schemes with non-profits and paid off vendors.”
The lawsuit stated that by doing this the schools violated gainful employment requirements set by the federal government and accrediting standards.
“The way the trade has worked in LA and we believe it worked in Florida was to tell the production companies, come on in, you can use our facilities for free or really way, way below cost,” said Kleiman. “We just want you to hire a couple of our graduates. We’ll tell you which ones, this isn’t a real job for just long enough so we can claim they’re employed and tell the accrediting agencies, look, this one got a job. Even though the job is like three or four days long.”
Profit universities like Full Sail risk losing accreditation and federal financial aid if it fails to meet gainful employment standards.
The lawsuit states Full Sail receives over $377 million in federal financial assistance per year, however for at least ten years, nearly all federal funds resulted from fraud with the school using taxpayer funds to finance and facilitate temporary jobs.
Full Sail University said it “emphatically denies the claims”.
The university also noted many of its alumni have worked on award winning projects and have been recognized with Oscars, Emmys and Grammys.
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