Wisconsin’s college agency ordered an online college to stop enrolling Wisconsin students after a student filed a lawsuit claiming the school uses misleading marketing practices to entice students into enrolling.

The Wisconsin Educational Approval Board issued a letter to Westwood College, an internet-based, for-profit college out of Denver, Colo., instructing them to immediately stop enrolling Wisconsin students and gave them until Sept. 30 to issue a response, according to David Dies, executive secretary of the EAB.

According to Dies, the college has the option to either permanently terminate enrollment of Wisconsin students or apply for approval from the board.

As of Monday afternoon, Dies had not yet received a response from Westwood.

If the college were to continue enrolling students without approval, the case would be handed over to the Department of Justice and the state attorney general.

Westwood College could be subject to a $500 penalty for every day in which it is out of compliance with state law, Dies said.

Dies said EAB is a consumer protection agency that has been around since the early 1970s and supports quality education by overseeing colleges that operate in Wisconsin, with the exception of non-profit schools that were founded prior to 1992, such as the University of Wisconsin.

“We’re looking at schools and their operations and the programs that they offer, and we’re making sure that they’re comparable in length and quality and content that you would otherwise find with any other type of post-secondary institution,” Dies said.

Westwood College declined to comment on the lawsuit.

UW education professor John Wiley said for-profit colleges are corporations that are in the business of selling education to student customers who are often scouted by ruthless recruiters who are paid on a per-capita basis.

“Some of these schools reportedly do their recruiting at soup kitchens and homeless shelters and just on the streets,” Wiley said. “They say hey, we’ll get you a loan, we’ll get you admitted, we’ll get you a degree, and you’ll have a good job.”

According to Wiley, $26 billion of federal subsidized loans have gone to students enrolled in for-profit schools, which has the federal government very interested in this sector of higher education.

“In the for-profit education world, there are lots and lots of temptations that lead some schools to practices that generate complaints … they get students loans and then students are left with a big loan to repay while in the meantime the school has taken the tuition money and walked,” Wiley said.

With the increasing number of domestic as well as international online institutions, Dies said it is nearly impossible for EBA to oversee every institution available to Wisconsin students.

“At some level we would hope that consumers take the time to properly evaluate any kind of an educational provider that they’re thinking about enrolling and paying money to. Before you start forking over thousands or tens of thousands of dollars you should know what you’re getting for that money,” Dies said.