Walden University Class Action Alleges Bait & Switch Tactics

A class action lawsuit alleges that Walden University intentionally misrepresents the length of time it takes students to get doctoral degrees.

While Walden marketing materials say it takes three years and $60,000 to $70,000 in tuition costs to earn a doctorate, the complaint asserts that in actuality most programs take much longer and cost students $100,000 to $200,000.

“[H]ad Walden not misrepresented the timelines, costs and realities of its dissertation process, Plaintiff and the other members of the Class would not have paid for the educational services offered by Walden,” according to the complaint.

Walden University is a for-profit, online university owned and operated by Laureate International Universities, doing business as Laureate Education, Inc.

The class action states that Walden has spent a lot of resources on building doctorate programs (of which it has at least 18) and spent even more money on advertising.

In fact, the complaint claims that Walden spends around $1,500 per student on instruction and teaching costs, but spends over $2,200 per student on advertising.

From this, Walden has grown from having 2,082 students in 2001 to having 47,456 enrolled students in 2010.

The complaint contends that Walden gets most of its funding from federal student loans that pay its tuition costs, and that Walden students “carry some of the highest student loan debts in the country.”

According to the class action, Walden awarded roughly 1,000 doctorates per year in 2014 and 2015. With approximately 12,000 doctoral students at Walden, the class action argues that means less than 10 percent of those students graduate in any given year.

Even worse, the class action alleges that Walden University creates “an endless routine of hurdles” that stretches the dissertation process into years of extra tuition payments.

The Walden University doctoral program false advertising class action asserts that “universities exist to educate and grant degrees.”

Given the low graduation rate and misleading advertising Walden engages in, the complaint argues that “Walden does not act like a university (for-profit or otherwise).” The class action continues, “Rather, Walden acts like a for-profit corporation.”

Plaintiff LaTonya Thornhill states that she enrolled at Walden University in its Doctor of Management program in 2011. Thornhill claims that she was told her program would take three years.

In 2012, the Walden website advertised that her program had an “on-time completion rate” of 68.5 percent, and that students had control over how much time the program took to complete.

However, the class action alleges that in 2014, the Laureate website admitted that the management program was designed to take 66 months, which would cost more than $116,000 to complete.

In addition, the Laureate website stated that only 33 percent of students who finished the program did it in that 66 month time frame.

Thornhill seeks to represent a Class of “all current or former students of Walden University who enrolled in and paid for a doctoral degree dissertation course at Walden University.”

The class action requests restitution and other damages, as well as an injunction prohibiting the false advertisements.

Thornhill is represented by Alan L. Rosca and Paul Lesko of Peiffer Rosca Wolf Abdullah Carr & Kane, and Marnie C. Lambert of Lambert Law Firm, LLC.

The Walden University Doctoral Degree Class Action Lawsuit is LaTonya Thornhill v. Walden University LLC, et al., Case No. 2:16-cv-00962, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.

UPDATE: The Walden University Doctoral Degree Class Action Lawsuit was dismissed on August 26, 2019.