Salter School is a for-profitvocational school in Malden. It is operated as a component of the Premier Education Group. Salter School grew from the Salter Secretarial Schoolestablished in Massachusetts in 1937. As its academic and business reputation grew, the Salter School moved locations and removed "secretarial" from the title in 1981. Salter School also introduced expanded career programs. In 1984 and 1985, the Salter School established two accredited career training programs. In 1995, the Salter School added its Medical Assistant program. In 2000, Medical Billing and Coding. It later added Massage Therapy, Paralegal and additional programs. Salter School also added new campuses and a sister college called Salter College. In the late 2010s, all of the campuses except the Malden campus closed following multiple million-dollar settlements related to allegations that the Premier Education Group misled students. A 2019 settlement with the Massachusetts Attorney Generalprohibitsthe school from enrolling students in Massachusetts and will close all of the remaining campuses by the end of 2019.
Controversies
In 2014, the Massachusetts Attorney General brought claims against the Salter School alleging deceptive enrollment tactics. An investigation by the state government found that Salter had engaged in dubious marketing tactics and false promises to lure students into its health-related training programs. Salter, together with its sister college Salter College, settled the claims in 2014 for $3.75 million. Two years later, Premier Education Group settled a complaint filed by the Massachusetts Department of Professional Licensure alleging that the company "published misleading graduatejob placement statistics, employed instructors whose qualifications had not been approved by DPL, and used misleading and high-pressure tactics in recruits new students." The company settled for $150,000 and its Tewksbury location was prevented from admitting students for six months but it did not admit wrongdoing. In 2019, the company was again charged by the state Attorney General for misleading students. The company settled for $1.6 million, can no longer enroll students in Massachusetts, and will shut down its two remaining campuses by the end of the year.
