Rutgers Biz School Fakes Student Job Placement Numbers, Lawsuit Charges

Inside Sources

Gregory Bresiger

May 12, 2022

Rutgers University Graduate Business School committed “gross fraud” through a bogus employment scheme designed to improve its ratings, according to two recent lawsuits. The lawsuits have triggered a debate over the value and price of higher education.

The federal lawsuits, one a class action and the other a whistleblower litigation, claim the New Jersey business school concocted the hoax to obtain top ratings with publications such as U.S. News & World Report.

According to the complaints, the school set up a phony employment agency and faked jobs for graduates. The university used $400,000 of endowment money to provide “kickbacks” to the employment agency, the lawsuits said, then boasted on its website, “86.10 percent of graduates of the full-time program are employed.”

The lawsuits tell a different story.

“In 2018, the very first year of the scheme, Rutgers was suddenly propelled to, among other things, the No. 1 business school in the Northeast region of the United States.

“Rutgers violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act by engaging in an unconscionable commercial practice.”

Rutgers wouldn’t answer questions from InsideSources, but issued a statement.

“We will say without equivocation, however, that we take seriously our obligation to accurately report data and other information to ranking and reporting agencies. The Rutgers Business School strictly follows the MBA Career Services & Employer Alliance guidelines in submitting MBA statistics and similarly follows the appropriate guidelines in submitting undergraduate statistics,” the university said.

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