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Student Travel Service Still Misleading Parents

Students "Recommended" for Study Abroad? Not Quite

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 12, 2006

People to People International An Investigative Report by Lisa Wade McCormick • Introduction • P2P: Ambassadors or Tourists? • P2P CEO "Mortified" • Parents Object to Student Lists • Not Everyone's Happy with People to People Trips • Fast Facts About People to People International • Update 12/06: It Happens Again • Deceased Cat Invited to be Student Ambassador --- News about P2P • Feds Asked to Probe Student's Death on People to People Tour • Student 'Ambassador' Dies Neglected & Alone • People to People Invites Dead Girl ... Again • People to People Executive Sentenced to Prison • People to People "Clarifies" Its Invitation Policy • Student Travel Service Still Misleading Parents • Student Travel Service Agrees To Modify Marketing --- • Consumer Complaints • Consumer Compliments

Despite having its wrist slapped by the Iowa attorney general, consumers complain that People to People International is still misleading families about how their children are "selected" for study-aboard programs.

People to People is a nonprofit study-abroad program for children kindergarten through 12th grade. The nonprofit sends letters to families nationwide saying their student "has been recommended for the honor by a teacher, former student ambassador or national academic listing."

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said this was misleading after his office received a complaint from an Iowa mother who received a letter (image below) saying her son, who died in 1993 at seven weeks of age, had been "recommended."

"We understand a student generally must pay about $5,000 to go on one of the trips abroad," Miller said in a prepared statement. "We conveyed our concern to People to People that parents who are induced to believe that their child was selected on merit are potentially misled, and may be improperly manipulated into making substantial expenditures they might otherwise decline to make."

As a result, People to People agreed to take out the offending sentence in their letters to Iowans and they also donated $20,000 to Blank Children's Hospital and $5,000 to the Iowa SIDS Foundation -- charities supported by the family of the child who died in 1993.

However, People to People apparently feels no real remorse.

"I received a letter today (9/9/2006) from People to People International that my 10-year-old son had been invited to travel and study in Australia in 2007," wrote Cherie of Hemlock, N.Y. "It stated that he has been named for the honor by a teacher, former student ambassador or national academic listing.

"I read your article about the mother whose deceased child received the same honor and that People to People agreed to revise their letters," Cherie continued. "People to People sent my son the same letter -- it has not been revised. ... I feel that People to People are deceiving us by saying that our children have been named for the honor when most likely they bought the name from a mailing list."

In a letter to People to People's lawyer, Miller's assistant attorney general, Steve St. Clair wrote, "We ultimately determined that one of the ways students are 'selected' to receive an invitation from People to People is through a comprehensive national listing of persons projected to be students within a targeted age range. This explains why the mother of the infant who died a dozen years ago received an invitation, even though her child was never a student, let alone an 'outstanding' student recommended for an 'honor.'"

"We thought it was misleading," said Bob Brammer, Miller's spokesperson. Brammer said he hopes that media coverage will force People to People to end their misleading practices in other states.

"What happened in Iowa is happening elsewhere," Brammer said.

People to People did not return three phone calls seeking comment about its practices.

To help stop People to People's misleading practices, consumers who receive letters from the organization should contact their state's attorney general and file a complaint with ConsumerAffairs.com. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are furnished to law enforcement agencies and prosecutors upon request.

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