Temple University Class Action Says School Inflates Online MBA Rankings

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Temple University has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging it submits false data to U.S. News & World Report to increase the ranking of Temple’s online MBA program.

“The scandal has raised grave concerns about the integrity of Temple’s Administration and will have a long reaching negative impact on [the] school’s reputation, prestige and peer ratings,” the Temple online MBA class action lawsuit says.

Plaintiff Kyle Smith claims that Temple was ranked four consecutive times in U.S. News & World Report as the top online MBA program in the United States because it misreported the number of students who had submitted GRE or GMAT scores with their applications.

“Temple’s No.1 Online MBA ranking provided significant leverage to enable the school to increase enrollment in its online MBA offering,” the Temple University class action lawsuit says. “In fact, in 2017 alone, Temple was able to increase its online MBA enrollment by an impressive 57% to 546 students from 351, one of the largest percentage increases of any online MBA offering that year.”

According to the Temple University class action lawsuit, Temple’s Fox School of Business and Management commenced its online MBA program in 2009. Since its inception, about 190 students have graduated from the online MBA program.

Smith says he enrolled in the Fox Online MBA program in the Spring 2017 semester because he wanted to be able to complete coursework on his own schedule while maintaining a full-time job. The Temple class action lawsuit notes that most hiring managers have a “lack of enthusiasm for online MBA programs,” but understand that online courses from top programs are credible.

On Jan. 24, U.S. News & World Report reportedly removed Temple’s online MBA program from its 2018 ranking after it found out that Temple misreported data that the publisher uses to calculate the best online MBA programs. Temple currently holds “unranked” status from U.S. News.

According to the Temple online MBA rankings class action lawsuit, Temple overstated the number of new students in its 2016-2017 entering class who submitted GMAT scores. Temple allegedly reported that all 255 of the incoming class submitted GMAT scores with their applications, and that the average GMAT score was 619.

“That score put Temple among the five online MBA programs with the highest test scores in U.S. News’ Top 50,” the Temple University class action lawsuit says. “In truth and fact, the school acknowledged that only 50 students, or 19.6%, submitted GMAT scores, indicating that the reported average may have been significantly inflated.”

U.S. News & World Report penalizes online MBA programs if fewer than three-quarters of new entrants submit either a GMAT or GRE score, because the lack of data makes it unlikely that the standardized test scores are representative of the entire incoming class, the Temple University class action lawsuit says.

Smith filed the Temple University class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and a proposed Class of people who enrolled in Temple’s Fox School of Business and Management’s online MBA program since 2015.

He asserts violations of the Pennsylvania Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law and is seeking injunctive relief, compensatory, consequential, and punitive damages, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.

Smith is represented by Jason Brown of JTB Law Group LLC and Steven Bennett Blau of Blau Leonard Law Group LLC.

The Temple University Online MBA Rankings Class Action Lawsuit is Kyle Smith v. Temple University, Case No. 2:18-cv-00590, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: On Jan. 9, 2019, a $5.5 million settlement was proposed to settle claims that Temple University overstated its business school rating to entice students.