Can I sue my college

[godman85]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I have many problems with my college in san diego.

1. My graduation date is getting pushed back.
2. Getting forced to take classes I havn't had to pre-reqs for.
3. Classes being cancelled at the beginning of the quarter with little time to make a change.
4. Accreditation was hyped up to be much better then it is.

Now that I gave a list of the problems, I will go in depth on what each one is about.

1. The school is deciding it wouldnt be in their best financial interests to teach classes when there arn't many students taking the class. This completely ruins my graduation date to whenever they decide to give the class. An alternative to this is to travel all the way to LA to take the one class I need to graduate. I find that a bit ridiculous to even suggest a person should travel 4 hours each way simply to take a class that should be given at the original school.

2. I was forced to take a class because the prereq was not going to be given that quarter as it was scheduled in my curriculum. I couldn't keep up in class and basically had to drop it to save my GPA from a pretty obvious fail. They are forcing me to make bad decisions simply because all the classes are non transferable.

3. I had scheduled some classes at least a month before each quarter begins. This would be fine but I have seen multiple students including myself having to make last second changes when they cancel a class the first week of school. This puts the students and myself in very bad spots where we arn't allowed to follow the proper education path we agreed on when we first entered the school.

4. The accreditation at the school is horrible. Even the smallest fashion schools wont accept any credits this school has. This would be fine but this as well as not offering needed classes or following curriculum, messing up graduation dates is completely uncalled for.

I feel coerced. The credits don't transfer anywhere. They don't offer classes for their own financial reasons. I am being forced to take classes that I am not ready for thus lowering my GPA. My graduation date is getting pushed back again and again.


Now what can I sue for considering all this?

My options are to either get strung along for months after my graduation date or stop going to this school and having no transferable credits. Seems like coercion to me. I am too far in to quit but I am completely at the will of the school and all the documents I signed to schedule out my education is being disregarded as the cuts are only happening for the sake of profits in the school. I either do as they say or waste massive amounts of money and time by quitting.

Coercion (pronounced /koʊˈɜrʃən/) is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats, rewards, or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force.

 

[aldaron]

Yes you can sue.

 

[cbg]

My husband teaches for a very prestigious university in Boston and he sometimes has classes cancelled because not enough students sign up for them, too. That means he doesn't get paid for the course, even though he's done the preparation, because his contract calls for him to be paid by the section he teaches. Does that give him grounds to sue? Hell, no. His contract does not guarantee him any particular number of classes per semester; it only says that it will not exceed x classes. Any number below x is valid. And I doubt you have a contract with the school that guarantees that every class you want to take will be available exactly when you want to take it and guarantees you graduation at any particular time, either.

 

[godman85]

My husband teaches for a very prestigious university in Boston and he sometimes has classes cancelled because not enough students sign up for them, too. That means he doesn't get paid for the course, even though he's done the preparation, because his contract calls for him to be paid by the section he teaches. Does that give him grounds to sue? Hell, no. His contract does not guarantee him any particular number of classes per semester; it only says that it will not exceed x classes. Any number below x is valid. And I doubt you have a contract with the school that guarantees that every class you want to take will be available exactly when you want to take it and guarantees you graduation at any particular time, either.

Thanx for responding with something completely out of context.

I am sure your not happy with your current situation but no need to troll other people trying to find out information. I was talking about a combination of problems including but not limited to classes being given on time.

They are pushing my graduation date back simply because it isn't financially advantageous for them.

I am not working for them so I am in a completely different standard from your husband. He is an employee.

I am a paying customer. Huge difference as far as the law is concerned.

 

[Isis1]

i'm not exactly sure how you are traveling, but it should not take 4 hours to get from San Diego to LA.

can you sue? sure this is america. can you sue, should never be the question. the questions is, when you sue, will you win.

and whether not you will win, depends on what your contract with the school is.

they gave you an option. you just don't like it. so. sueing them, will not make your graduation date moved up. you will need to take the class somehow to get the degree you have been working for.

 

[Shadowbunny]

Thanx for responding with something completely out of context.

I am sure your not happy with your current situation but no need to troll other people trying to find out information. I was talking about a combination of problems including but not limited to classes being given on time.

They are pushing my graduation date back simply because it isn't financially advantageous for them.

I am not working for them so I am in a completely different standard from your husband. He is an employee.

I am a paying customer. Huge difference as far as the law is concerned.

Being rude to the volunteers who post here is not going to get you the advice you want.

That being said, why didn't you check out the accreditation of the school BEFORE enrolling?

 

[Isis1]

Being rude to the volunteers who post here is not going to get you the advice you want.
That being said, why didn't you check out the accreditation of the school BEFORE enrolling?

and to be quite honest, even being polite isn't a gaurantee you'll get the answers you want.

 

[stealth2]

What school are you attending?

 

[cbg]

My dear child, and I use the word deliberately, I am not "trying to get information" about anything. I know perfectly well that life is not always fair, that sometimes bad things happen, and not every negative thing that can happen to you can be solved in a courtroom. It appears that you have not yet learned that.

No, you do not have valid grounds to sue because you did not do your homework in checking out the school before you enrolled and they didn't give you everything you wanted when you wanted it, any more than my husband can sue because they can't make enrolled students appear out of the air. Both of you are having classes cancelled for the same reason - not enough enrolled students - but the school can't FORCE students to enroll and neither of you has a lawsuit.

 

[Humusluvr]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

I have many problems with my college in san diego.

Public or private school?

1. The school is deciding it wouldnt be in their best financial interests to teach classes when there arn't many students taking the class. This completely ruins my graduation date to whenever they decide to give the class. An alternative to this is to travel all the way to LA to take the one class I need to graduate. I find that a bit ridiculous to even suggest a person should travel 4 hours each way simply to take a class that should be given at the original school.

That is true, it wouldn't be in their best interests to continue with courses that have low enrollment. A school can't justify paying an instructor when the course has 3 or 4 students enrolled. At my university, it's 10. A class does not make with less than 10.

You can always discuss with your advisor an alternate class to take so that you graduate on time. When classes are cancelled, advisors can usually make substitutions.

2. I was forced to take a class because the prereq was not going to be given that quarter as it was scheduled in my curriculum. I couldn't keep up in class and basically had to drop it to save my GPA from a pretty obvious fail. They are forcing me to make bad decisions simply because all the classes are non transferable.

No, you had to take a class because YOU had not scheduled the pre-req before. It is ultimately the responsibility of the student to follow a degree plan and schedule their classes in the correct terms. Advisors help, but it is ultimately the student who is responsible for their education.

3. I had scheduled some classes at least a month before each quarter begins. This would be fine but I have seen multiple students including myself having to make last second changes when they cancel a class the first week of school. This puts the students and myself in very bad spots where we arn't allowed to follow the proper education path we agreed on when we first entered the school.

Unless you are told exactly what classes to take each semester, in the exact order, and it's written in a contract that you will do so, and the school will offer, you have no standing to sue. And the school would never make a contract like that. A rigid contract would exclude too many students.

4. The accreditation at the school is horrible. Even the smallest fashion schools wont accept any credits this school has. This would be fine but this as well as not offering needed classes or following curriculum, messing up graduation dates is completely uncalled for.

Hindsight is 20/20.

I feel coerced. The credits don't transfer anywhere. They don't offer classes for their own financial reasons. I am being forced to take classes that I am not ready for thus lowering my GPA. My graduation date is getting pushed back again and again.

You weren't. You entered this school by your own will.

Now what can I sue for considering all this?

You can, but you will shell out an extraordinary amount of money, and will not be able to prove any damages. You will lose your suit, and be much poorer afterwards.

My options are to either get strung along for months after my graduation date or stop going to this school and having no transferable credits. Seems like coercion to me. I am too far in to quit but I am completely at the will of the school and all the documents I signed to schedule out my education is being disregarded as the cuts are only happening for the sake of profits in the school. I either do as they say or waste massive amounts of money and time by quitting.

You've come this far. Just get it done.

Don't be rude to the volunteers here. Getting all snippy on them assures you are going to be corrected. It's not our fault you entered into a bad situation, all we can do is help you not to make more bad decisions.

 

[davew128]

i'm not exactly sure how you are traveling, but it should not take 4 hours to get from San Diego to LA.

Ordinarily no, but it once took me 3 1/2 hours to get from La Jolla to the Staples Center....so depending on where in SD County and where in LA this could be true. I also suspect OP meant a 4 hour RT.

 

[NellieBly]

What's the job placement rate at this school?

I used to be a transcript evaluator at a state college and know a school had to be pretty dismal for no one to accept their credits. Are they even trying to upgrade their accreditation?

If you have no job prospects as a graduate, it might make sense to bail before throwing good money after bad.