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Lincoln Technical Institute has allegedly refused to refund their students for tuition costs despite relegating these attendees to online courses without the services they paid for.
Plaintiff John Gaviria says he has been financially injured by Lincoln Technical’s conduct. He claims to have paid tuition and other fees based on the value of on campus and in-person classes. Instead of getting the full benefits of their tuition, Gaviria and other students allegedly “had their course work moved to online only learning and failed to receive all the services for which they paid.”
Gaviria and other Lincoln Technical students reportedly paid tens of thousands of dollars in fees and tuition costs. According to the Lincoln Technical Institute class action lawsuit, students like Gaviria were charged around $29,000 for tuition, $1,200 in fees for tools, a $100 registration fee, a $150 technology fee, and a $650 student fee.
Students reportedly paid these fees in early 2020 based on the expectation that they would have access to Lincoln Tech campuses and all of the associated services. However, with the unexpected coronavirus pandemic, classes at Lincoln Technical Institute were transitioned into an online format in mid-March.
Since then, the majority of classes have been held online. Even for the new semester of classes which started in August 2020, only a select number of sessions had any in-person instruction, according to Gaviria.
Although online classes help to control the spread of COVID-19 and protect both teachers and students, Gaviria says that he has been financially injured as a result of these online classes.
Despite paying for services associated with in-person classes, Lincoln Technical students have allegedly been denied access to on-campus services such as educational equipment, access to instructors, and other enriching experiences. Gaviria, who was scheduled to graduate in February 2021, says that he and other students have been denied the benefits of the money they spent on tuition and fees.
“Students attending Lincoln Tech’s did not choose to attend an online only institution of higher learning, but instead chose to enroll in Lincoln Tech’s in-person educational programs with the understanding that Lincoln Tech would provide in-person educational opportunities, services, and experiences,” the Lincoln Technical Institute class action lawsuit contends.
Online classes at Lincoln Tech have allegedly been of a lower quality than in-person studies. Gaviria claims that, due to the “labor-intensive programs” offered by Lincoln Technical, a large sum of normal tuition goes towards in-person benefits.
According to Gaviria, he and other students are owed refunds for the tuition benefits they paid for but did not receive due to the transition to online classes.
Gaviria seeks to represent a Class of Lincoln Technical Institute students who paid to attend in-person classes during a semester affected by COVID-19 but had their classes moved to an online format due to the pandemic.
There are numerous Lincoln Tech campuses across the country in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Nevada.
Did you attend Lincoln Technical Institute during the COVID-19 pandemic? Were you forced to attend online courses for in-person credit prices? Share your experiences in the comment section below.
Gaviria and the proposed Class are represented by Joseph Lipari, Benjamin Zakarin, Jason P. Sultzer, and Jeremy B. Francis of The Sultzer Law Group PC along with Michael A. Tompkins, Jeffery K. Brown, Brett R. Cohen, and Anthony Alesandro of Leeds Brown Law PC.
The Lincoln Technical Institute COVID-19 Class Action Lawsuit is John Gaviria v. Lincoln Educational Services Corporation, Case No. 2:20-cv-18552-KM-JBC, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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36 thoughts onLincoln Technical Institute Class Action Lawsuit Seeks Tuition Refund After COVID-19 Closures
I went to the East Windsor, Connecticut campus and have been considering starting a lawsuit over this same issue. We paid a rediculously large amount of money for something we didn’t sign up for, and what did they give us? A few hundred to $1000 which doesn’t even cover one month of housing that most of us didn’t use during the pandemic. I would like to get into contact with someone about this, the school refused to give me any refund, even with all the other issues I had with the school. My email is nick.ferrara1337@gmail.com
Hey nick my name is Marcus my son attended may 2021. Wondering if you hired a lawyer to try and recoup some of your money?
I am currently enrolled in the automotive program with Audi in mawah, I started my classes in April of 2020 and my first 4 months were strictly online. The school did offer shop time on the weekends but we all have life’s we need to live. I work on the weekends so there is no way I can live reasonably if I miss work to go to a course that held on non school days. Also they never gave me the correct loan so now I am forced to play an additional $5675 on top of what I owe for my loans. I graduate this month and was notified about this yesterday, a year and half went by without even noticing that. We need to be refunded our hard earned money.
I’m paying over 55,000 dollars in fees for going to this school. a lot that I learned did not help in what I I’m currently doing. in fact my currant job would have hierd me and trained me on sight with out schooling from Lincoln. my job even sends me to there classes for training witch I just completed this week for a raise and promotion to higher tech level. what also doesn’t help is that Linc credit has been using my old address and sent all my mail from them to there. this did not help do to the fact because of them not updating there system I’m behind on there payments. and then I got a letter in the mail from Lincoln saying I owe 1300 dollars not specifying what its for because it is not Linc credit so its from Lincoln them selves. then there’s the problem that I was stuck in the apartment I had to rent from Lincoln for 2 months when covid started and laid off from my job at the time. then another 2 moths with online only. so for four moths I had no hands on training and was paying for an apartment that I just sat in all day paying Lincoln to stay there. they also did not help me find my currant job like they said.
Dude, what program did you pay $55k for??
I am in the welding program in Nashville and some of our training was online. Plus massive lack of material and lost about 2 weeks of shop time. There are a lot more problems with grading and teachers not qualified.
I also went to the Lincoln Nashville campus. We paid for shop tool use. There were 3 classes I took that the teacher was on the internet during the whole mod. I asked My recruiter if we would be hands on with electric vehicles he showed me a row of Priuses told me yes I would be. When I started the Toyotas disappeared. I went there to learn electric vehicles never mentioned them except 1 chapter we went over. And the books had wrong information in them I caught on many occasions. 1/3 of the instructors just didn’t care. They were there for a paycheck. I got the books to show the errors
I am currently enrolled in Lincoln techs automotive program and I have to agree with everything that was said in this article. A big part I think a lot of people are missing is that Lincoln tech voided our “student vouchers” to purchase the tool kit we needed with school. After speaking with graduates of the Lincoln tech automotive program, in the previous years students were allowed to apply their student discount to the tool kit they order at the beginning of the year. This year midst the pandemic, they did not allow us to use our student discount when purchasing the tools and we were forced to pay the 1100$ when students in the past had to pay around 600 for the same tool kit. furthermore I still have to pay full tuition in classes that have never even seen the shop. Most hybrid classes have about 3-4 hands on shop classes over the entire course that last only 3 hours, making it nearly impossible to start any real hands on projects. I believe that we as students should be compensated for the lack of facilities and education that we were promised
I began the LPN program at Lincoln Tech last March. We have had so many ups and downs & last minute changes, it’s crazy. We are supposed to graduate Thursday, and were informed last night at 10pm that we cannot & must all complete additional clinical hours starting Monday. The education has been subpar, teachers missing classes, certain portions of our education being completed without an instructor due to teachers quitting left and right, passive-aggressive emails and being chastised like children if we voice concerns or ask for support. We are also repeatedly told by our program director “do not ask me any questions” about clinical hours, upcoming schedules, etc. and do not know what to expect from day to day. We are adult learners with children and jobs, and when we express the difficulty of meeting last-minute expectations we are told “sorry you have a problem, be grateful we’re offering this to you” as if we’re not $30k in debt & shouldn’t expect to receive a proper education.
I am enrolled in an Lpn program at Lincoln Tech since June 2020 and has been online because of the pandemic. We have gone half online and half on campus since, also being forced to remain on camera and have roll call. With only being excused if sick with covid and also being treated as children as in yelled at and scolded. 34000 dollars tuition for on campus not online.
My husband graduated from Lincoln school right before the Pandemic. He was unable to do the graduation never got back cap & gown money they said it was already ordered even though we had paid two days before everything shutdown. We we’re paying student loans but I was affected and asked for deferment for a few months but was told oh we don’t have those options and started negatively reporting to his credit during a pandemic I want to pay it but they still going to keep negatively reporting against it until it’s 100% caught up. They call out our phones 5-8 a day and send letters weekly they have all this time to collect on us but not the time to teach the students? Smh. They swear they care about to but asking to defer for 2 payments while I have income cuts was asking for too much.
I am currently enrolled in the LPN program at Lincoln Tech. We have been virtual since last March. They started giving us 3 hours of in person “clinicals,” in August. But its actually skills lab. Most of the equipment is very used and broken so we have to improvise. The Foley catheters we practice with have been handled hundreds of times and are missing pieces. There are not enough supplies to go around. The virtual education has not been adapted to teach us from home. The instructor is basically reading to us. Our “lab” instructor talks at us and just refers to things in the lab, while were all sitting at home. I’m supposed to graduate in November 2021, but i don’t see that happening and none of the administration wants to tell us the truth. Whenever we complain, we are basically told to suck it up or take a semester off. I am missing giant chunks of my education because of the lack of in person instruction. This is not what I signed up for. This is not what i agreed to pay $30,000 for. There are the fees listed in this lawsuit that i am paying as well, technology and student fees. I’m too far into this program to stop now. I’m a great student with a 3.94 GPA. i made the President’s List both completed quarters. I have always loved school, but right now I am so frustrated, I absolutely hate it.
I am having the exact same experience. $30,000 for an online lpn course where we are treated like children, forced to remain on camera 8am to 2:30pm and they take attendance hourly. If you have your camera off or do not say “here” is yeh beckoned you are docked hours which can add up and result in delayed graduation or even being dropped from the program despite passing grades. We started Mod 3 without books, still no plan for book distribution. They have given us each only one set of scrubs which they mandate that we wear every single day in our homes while in class which is beyond ridiculous. We have paid far too much for an already overpriced program to be going through it online and missing the full educational experience. They waste more of our time harassing people, constantly taking attendance and encountering technical issues, than they do teaching us what we paid to learn.