Westwood College misrepresented the value of its degrees and inflated potential post-graduation salaries to lure prospective students, a lawsuit filed against the Denver-based school alleges.

The suit, filed in federal court, comes as the Obama administration is attempting to stiffen rules around for-profit schools’ marketing tactics and how much debt students accrue.

A recent federal government report found 15 schools — including a Westwood campus in Texas — were deceptive when recruiting students.

And a U.S. Senate education panel is determining whether new laws are needed to ensure for-profits are spending federal dollars wisely.

The lawsuit alleges Westwood admissions representatives repeatedly told students that credits would transfer to other schools and that they could earn tens of thousands of dollars more than was likely.

The private, for-profit school has 17 campuses nationwide and an online school. Like most such schools, almost 90 percent of its revenue comes from federally subsidized student aid.

“I spent three years of my life in school and I’ve wasted two years trying to find some position in my field,” said Krystle Bernal, 25, the lead plaintiff from Denver who owes $75,000 for a fashion merchandising degree and works as a bank teller for $12 an hour. “It’s a waste. No one will take my credits. . . . If I wanted to start over, I’d have to start from scratch.”

Westwood College calls the suit an “attack” by a predatory law firm. The Florida firm that filed the suit Aug. 11 has three other cases open against Westwood — two against its Wisconsin and Texas online schools and another filed in California state court.

“The law firm’s continued diminution of the hard work and education earned by thousands of satisfied Westwood College graduates and existing students injures the very persons the lawyers purport to represent,” the college said in a statement.

Lawyers representing the students hope a judge certifies the case as a class-action suit.

Jonathan Cohen, an attorney with the Tampa-based James Hoyer law firm, said the firm has been contacted by 730 students and 50 former employees interested in sharing what happened to them.

“These are not the acts of a few bad apples. This is systemic,” Cohen said. “It’s an epidemic . . . and they are all being injured in the same way.”

Westwood has 25,000 students enrolled in physical and online campuses nationwide.

The Government Accountability Office released a report Aug. 3 that found deceptive practices at 15 for-profit colleges when federal investigators, posing as potential students, visited campuses earlier this summer.

On hidden camera, one Westwood College admissions rep urged an investigator to lie on his federal financial aid form.

In response, the school has gotten rid of incentive-based pay for admissions representatives, which rewarded them based on enrollment numbers.

Employees will undergo training, and a third-party auditor will call back enrolling students to make sure they understood the terms of the agreement, the company said.

Westwood officials say they are also cooperating with the Colorado attorney general’s office, which launched an investigation after receiving Colorado student complaints from the Florida lawyers.

The Denver Post reported in January about the aggressive recruitment tactics used by for-profit schools and other complaints. Students told The Post that schools misled them about whether credits would transfer to other schools.

Tuition rates were high — bachelor’s degrees usually run between $50,000 and $75,000, and associate’s cost between $30,000 and $40,000, The Post found. And almost 25 percent of students who attended for-profit schools were in default of their federal loans in the first three years they are required to make payment, according to The Post’s story.

Most public colleges had default rates below 10 percent.

Amanda Krol decided to get involved with the Westwood lawsuit after she graduated with a bachelor’s in 2009.

When Krol was shopping for online degree programs in 2004, an admissions representative told her all her credits would transfer to other colleges and she could make $100,000 a year working for Disney or the FBI with a technology degree, according to court documents.

She ultimately switched her major to criminal justice, and the now-24-year-old owes $86,000 in loans and can’t find a job in her field.

“I was 17 at the time, and I was just looking for a school to go to,” said Krol, a plaintiff in the case. She first got a job with the Transportation Security Administration, a job she says did not require her degree. She now works for a family member in customer service.

“I look at this degree like a piece of paper and nothing more. . . . I was just another sale for them.”

Allison Sherry: 303-954-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com