WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The Federal Trade Commission sent notices to 70 U.S. colleges and universities, some of which are the most successful, threatening them with “significant financial sanctions” if they deceive students regarding the success rate of their graduates.

FTC commissioners often split along party lines. They voted 5-0 for a dormant penal authority to apply to schools that overstate the likelihood that their graduates will get jobs or how much they can hope to make.

The notices were sent to schools https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/attachments/penalty-offenses-concerning-education/higher_ed_notice_recipient_list.pdf that included “the largest for-profit colleges and vocational schools” in the United States, the agency said in a statement, while adding that a school receiving a letter was not an indication of wrongdoing.

The agency stated that complaints about schools for profit rose by 70% in the period 2018 to 2020.

This is a sign that the Obama administration wants to investigate for-profit colleges whose students had high loan default rates. Corinthian Colleges was one of the schools that collapsed after its students were denied federal student loans.

Lina Khan (FTC Chair) stated in a statement that for too long, untrustworthy, for-profit school have exploited students without any consequences. “Working closely with our state and federal partners, we’ll be monitoring this market carefully.”

These letters were addressed to DeVry University, Grand Canyon University, and University of Phoenix. Three of them did not respond immediately to our request for comment.