Melissa LaFreniere ย |ย  October 31, 2018

Category: Consumer News

A group of Excelsior College students who claim the private school places endless barriers to prevent nursing program enrollees from actually graduating, have asked a New York federal court to certify their putative class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Jessica Willis along with numerous other Excelsior student plaintiffs seek to represent all individuals who enrolled in the nursing program since Aug. 13, 2012 and experienced delays in taking the Clinical Performance in Nursing Examination test and/or failed the CPNE within the same time period.ย 

According to the motion for certification, the lawsuit meets all the requirements for Class certification including โ€œnumerosity, commonality, typicality and adequacy of representation.โ€

The Excelsior class action lawsuit states that the college primarily targets students who are unable to attend a traditional nursing school by promising them that they can finish the program in as little as 18 months.

However, the plaintiffs say that repeated and intentional road blocks delay students from graduating.

The Excelsior College class action lawsuit claims that out of 10,000 students enrolled in the nursing program, less than 10 percent of those end up graduating each year.

Part of the reason why there is such a low graduation rate is because Excelsior hides from students the fact that less than half of them will actually pass the final test, the plaintiffs state.

โ€œFor example, whereas the actual CPNE pass rate for 2017 was only 39.5%โ€ฆExcelsior misled and continues to mislead consumers into believing that the pass rate is and has been 62.2%,โ€ the Excelsior nursing program class action lawsuit alleges.

According to the Excelsior class action lawsuit, the deception doesnโ€™t end there. In addition to the low success rate on the final exam, Excelsior students experience delays of more than one year to even take the test, despite the college representing that students only have to wait three to five months.

Willis claims she was one of the students tricked by the omissions and intentional untrue statements made by the college regarding test pass rates and accreditation.

The plaintiff, who has been an LPN since 2010, says she enrolled in Excelsiorโ€™s nursing program in 2015 with the understanding that it would be completed in 18 months.

The Excelsior nursing program class action states that the school hid the fact that the CPNE test had a pass rate of less than 50 percent.

Willis alleges that she received a job offer that was โ€œcontingent upon her having an active RN license by July 2018.โ€ In April 2018, the plaintiff was one of seven Excelsior students who took the CPNE and all of them reportedly failed to pass.

The Excelsior college class action claims that the school recognized that the test failure was wrong by stating โ€œthe exam administration was [not] in accordance with established protocols.โ€

However, the college allegedly did not grant Willis a pass which in turn resulted in her inability to take the offered job position.

The Excelsior college class action states that Willis is among many who experienced โ€œinsistent, persistent and unendingโ€ fraud on behalf of the college.

The Excelsior College students are represented by John Hermina of Hermina Law Group and Gregory Allen of the Law Office of Gregory Allen.

The Excelsior College Nursing Program Class Action Lawsuit is Jessica Willis, et al. v. Excelsior College, Case No. 1:18-cv-04552-NG-CLP, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

UPDATE: The Excelsior College Nursing Program Class Action was dismissed on March 20, 2019. Top Class Actions will let our viewers know if any new lawsuits are filed.

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47 thoughts onExcelsior College Students Seek Cert. In Nursing Program Class Action

  1. jaime says:

    I want to thank everyone for exposing this college which indeed sounds like nothing but a money-making scam, I was considering signing up but have quickly changed my mind! There is a college right down the street from where I live where I can go to.

    1. Michele says:

      Hi Jamie. Where is the school you considered going to when you added your reply?

  2. M Chapman says:

    I just failed the CPNE for the 2nd time. First time I waited over a year and this time I waited 16 months. I have been an LPN for 23 years and feel this is a money maker for the school and they do not help people succeed. I even lost my appeal the first test because I agreed with the failure. I did not know we could not agree with the examiners. This 2nd time I knew I could disagree and when I have no clinical reason to take a BP prio to giving a medication I was told that it was Excelsiorโ€™s way and you fail. I have spoken with multiple doctorโ€™s who agree I was correct in the situation. I definetely want part of this class action.

    1. Teresa Ford says:

      The same thing happened to me, the BP was 142/94 and they said I should have held because the order says hold for systolic less than 100. I said 94 is the diastolic not the systolic, both the CE and the CA told me I was wrong, the CA then gave me a hug after intentionally failingโ€ฆCold blooded!

  3. ALFRED BARANAUSKAS says:

    I failed CPNE last spring, 18 years as LPN and previous study at School of Medicine for 4 years did not helped. I had passed each nursing exam from 1-st try, had waited for CPNE 1,5 years.

  4. ALFRED BARANAUSKAS says:

    I had failed CPNE last spring. I am 19 years as LPN and 4 years in School of Medicine. I had studied at Excelsior College for 7 years, all exams passed from 1-st time, waited for CPNE 1,5 years and failed. Of course, how it were planned. Crap.

  5. Gina Harder says:

    Same with me! I tried for 2-3 years to get through 5 classes! I even hired an outside tutor to help me, and I was still failing the exams after months of preparation! I even called the school and went off on them about how they are frauds. They didnโ€™t care. Wanted me to put up another fee!!

  6. Bridget Quintanilla says:

    How do I get in on this? Iโ€™m in the same boat with no test date after 13 months!

  7. Anna shivers says:

    I need in on a lawsuit against them as well! Any advice!?

  8. kellie bowers says:

    There needs to be a second class action. I applied a year ago and still no dates. I choose every site. Students who applied after me are getting dates.

    1. Anna shivers says:

      WHAT that crap!!

  9. S. Lori Smith says:

    Unfortunately some people are simply not good โ€˜test takersโ€™. (And Is not be indicative of the education received).

  10. Tonny Sipe says:

    My wife had to take the test 4 times at $2000 each. Its a money making racket and ABSOLUTELY needs an investigation.

    1. Dave Barnett says:

      Iโ€™m curious; how did your wife take it 3 times when the school allows students only 3 attempts?

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