Sec. 13b.01.01.15. Catalog and Official Advertising

A. Each school shall have a catalog that shall be given to all students at the time of enrollment. The catalog shall describe comprehensively the school's facilities, educational offerings, activities, policies, and other information prescribed by the Secretary, and shall state the estimated length of each of the school's programs and courses in clock hours, credit hours if applicable, weeks, and months.

B. The catalog of each school shall clearly disclose, in a form and manner prescribed by the Secretary, that students and prospective students may contact the Commission to obtain information regarding each approved program.

C. A school shall provide a current catalog to the Secretary.

D. The school shall refrain from exaggeration and misrepresentation of any kind in its advertising, through its field representatives, or through any other agency.

E. A school may not use blind advertisements to solicit prospective students, advertise in the help wanted columns in newspapers or other publications, or recruit students through blind advertisements in any other media. All advertising shall be done in the name under which the school has been approved by the Maryland Higher Education Commission. The school may advertise "Approved by the Maryland Higher Education Commission".

F. Students may appear in school advertising, provided that the school obtains their prior written consent.

G. A school may advertise that it is endorsed by manufacturers, business firms, organizations, or individuals engaged in the line of work for which it trains, only if it can present written evidence of the endorsement or endorsements. The date of these endorsements shall be included in the advertising matter.

H. Training for positions or careers shall be advertised only if a school is approved to offer instruction in programs which will enable the student to meet the requirements for those positions or careers.

I. Advertising Restriction Applicable to All Organizations.

(1) General Prohibition. An organization, other than those listed in §I(2) of this regulation, may not be known or advertised as a school, conservatory, academy, or institute except with the approval of the Secretary pursuant to §I(3) of this regulation. Neither a school, nor any organization other than an institution of higher education, may be known or advertised as a university or college. This does not affect organizations operating in this State as schools, universities, colleges, conservatories, academies, or institutes before June 1, 1947.

(2) Scope. This section does not apply to:

(a) An entity that holds a certificate of approval from the Commission; or

(b) An entity that is subject to licensure as an educational or training provider by another agency of the State of Maryland or of the federal government.

(3) Secretarial Approval for a Non-Private Career School to Advertise as a School.

(a) The Secretary may grant permission to an organization, upon written application of that organization in a form prescribed by the Secretary, to be known or advertised as a school, conservatory, academy, or institute if, in the Secretary’s determination:

(i) The organization qualifies for an exemption under Regulation .03C of this chapter;

(ii) The organization provides a prominent disclaimer in all of its advertising and enrollment materials that the organization is not licensed by the Maryland Higher Education Commission; and

(iii) The organization furnishes or offers to furnish programs, whether or not requiring a payment of tuition or a fee, for the purpose of training, retraining, or upgrading individuals for gainful employment as skilled or semiskilled workers or technicians in recognized occupations or in new and emerging occupations.

(b) The Secretary’s denial of permission under §I(3)(a) of this regulation is final.

J. Illustrations in all advertising shall relate solely to the particular school that has been approved or be clearly designated otherwise.

K. Information provided by a school to students and prospective students regarding the performance of the school's approved programs shall be complete, verifiable, and consistent with the program performance information required to be reported by the school in its most recent annual report to the Secretary. For purposes of this section, program performance information includes, but is not limited to, data pertaining to each program's enrollment, completion, withdrawal, placement, and rate of passage on any applicable licensing examination.

L. With the prior approval of the Secretary, instead of providing the program information identified in §K of this regulation, a school shall provide to students and prospective students program performance information required by the federal government to be disclosed by the school if the Secretary determines that this information is substantially similar to the data required under §K of this regulation.

M. Employment opportunities shall be represented by the school orally or in writing consistent with actual current data for the relevant job market. Direct or implied guaranteeing of positions is a violation of these regulations. The school may mention the number of positions and the specific positions in which graduates of the school have been placed. Validated placement statistics shall be provided to students or prospective students on request to substantiate employment claims made by the school.

N. Probable earnings in the field for which a school trains shall be represented consistent with actual current data for the relevant job market. To feature only top salaries earned by a few workers in a particular field is a violation. A validated range of possible earnings shall be provided by the school to students or prospective students upon request.