A class action lawsuit alleges that Northcentral University misrepresents its doctoral program, leading students to believe the program takes between three and a half and five years to complete, when really, it takes nearly seven years.
Allegedly, the for-profit university does this to maximize the profits it can gain from students trying to complete a doctorate.
Plaintiff Christina Torres says that she was enrolled in a doctoral program through Northcentral University from 2010 to 2017, aiming to get a doctorate in education.
Allegedly, she chose the program in part because it was advertised as taking an average of 40 months to complete. However, she says she discovered later, during her enrollment, that the program was designed to take much longer.
The Northcentral University class action lawsuit says other communication from the school sent a year later stated the program took an average of 47 moths, and the length of โ47โ months was articulated in a range of disclosure documents from the school.
This timeline was allegedly stated by the school multiple times, both in writing, and verbally by school representatives, between 2010 and 2013.
However, on Jan. 29, 2015, the Northcentral University class action alleges that the school admitted that the Ed.D. program was โdesigned to take 81 months,โ or almost seven years, and would cost $49,058 in tuition, as opposed to $30,600, which was advertised to Torres.
Additionally, Torres says that she saw on the website that only 63 percent of students who graduated did so in 81 months, and did not address how many students enrolled but did not graduate.
Allegedly, in 2016, the numbers changed again. Torres claims that in 2016, NCU stated that the program was designed to take 81 โ 83 months, cost $50,958 in tuition.
The Northcentral University class action claims the school stated that only 41 percent of students who graduated did so in 83 months, meaning that the average time for students to complete the program was longer than seven years.
The NCU doctoral program says that NCU intentionally misrepresents the length of time needed to complete its doctoral programs, and misrepresents the tuition a student will incur when completing the program.
Torres claims that the program is not designed to help students succeed and graduate, but is set up with numerous roadblocks in place to cause students to take a long time to graduate, thereby paying more tuition and giving more profits to the for-profit university.
Allegedly, many students are forced to drop out to pay off their ever-mounting student debt, and never earn a degree after years of work in the doctoral program.
Torres says that the fact that the program is completed online isolates students from one another, so that they cannot share experiences and see if the difficulties and misrepresentationsย they are experiencing are consistent among students or unique to their experience.
The plaintiff is represented by Adam B. Wolf and Tracey B. Cowan of Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane A Professional Law Corporation, and by Paul Lesko.
The Northcentral University Doctoral Program Class Action Lawsuit is Christina Torres v. Northcentral University Inc., Case No. 3:18-cv-02069-BEN-WVG, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, San Diego Division.
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105 thoughts onNorthcentral University Class Action: Doctoral Program Misrepresented
100% spot-on. I spent a year and a half in the dissertation process and literally never got last page 1. They changed up the pipeline, switched people out, and kicked back everything I submitted saying โyeah, just work on it some more.โ Total waste of time.
Itโs not just the EdD program itโs all their PhD programs. I recently withdrew from NCU after doing more research and finding that the PhDPhilosophy program graduation rate was 50% of actually graduating & even lower getting to the dissertation portion. After withdrawing after one class not semester. I received a bill of $8,000 from the school two days ago. Itโs a total scam & a shame people who really are trying to advance in life & provide for their families are being taken advantage of. I hope they add the entire PhD program.
Where do I sign up!
This was also my experience . One of the most devastating experiences I have ever had in education. I felt exploited by the endless rewrites designed to maximize Northcentralโs profits. How can I join this class action?
The case is still moving through the courts and has not yet reached a settlement. Claim forms are usually not made available to consumers until after a court approved settlement is reached. Setting up a free account with Top Class Actions will allow you to receive instant updates on ANY article that you โFollowโ on our website. A link to creating an account may be found here: https://topclassactions.com/signup/. You can then โFollowโ the article above, and get notified immediately when we post updates!
I was in the PhD program. The trickery doesnโt wait until the dissertation process. It started with me early on. I need to be added. I knew a lawsuit was coming because it was clear to me that this was a regular practice.
Itโs a shame Betsy DeVos doesnโt care, probably has stock in the school.
THIS IS TRUE!!!!!!
Similar issues, on 3 rd of 4 dissertation coursesโฆ have had a change in Chairs, designed to drag out the processโฆ continually asked to โcorrectโ or modify submissions. Not sure if I will finish.
Did you finish?
I am in EdD program in my dissertation and it looks like students are set up to fail in way that instead of 4 (12 months) to completed their dissertation, They keep delaying feedback and reject your chapters in an unreasonable unethical way so that you are forces to take three 8 Week supplementary sections for each step. This is designed to force students into paying more ($2435) for each additional supplementary sections per dissertation step that is supposed to be only 12 weeks long. It is a scam and want to talk to some one to see if I can advise from a lawyer?
They changed my chair three times. I got my chapter 1 approved, but when I started my chapter 2 and 3, I was told that I have to redo my chapter 1. They keep dragging and delaying to force you take additional 8 week supplementary sections up to three time that is additional 3X $2435 for each dissertation step. this can generate 9X $2435 in addition to what they already charge for 4 of 12 week long steps for dissertation. how is this even legal? I wonder if U.S. department of education or Higher learning commission would say about this practice?
please add me