The Northcentral University (NCU) has landed itself in a soup after a former student filed a class-action complaint against the online school in a federal court.
The complaint, filed by Christina Torres in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, alleges the online-only for-profit university of using abusive market schemes to lure students by promising quick degrees. The school has been accused of dragging the degrees for years leaving students with huge loan burdens.
Torres, who attended the university between 2010 to 2017, seeking a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), was told that she would complete her degree at the cost of $30,600 in three and a half to five years, but it took nearly 7 years costing her more than $50,000.
“NCU never dealt with me on the level. If they had not misrepresented the timeline, costs, and hurdles to completing this doctoral program or if they had just honestly disclosed their scheme, I would not have enrolled at NCU. Period,” she said.
“I certainly would not have put myself on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in student loans to finance my education. They wasted my time, sidelined my ambitions, created a huge delay in my life, and forced me into deep debt.”
According to Torres’ attorney Joseph Peiffer, the university uses a bait and switch marketing scheme in its doctoral programs.
“NCU is running what is essentially The bait is displayed when NCU’s marketing materials and employees mislead prospective students by promising that doctoral degrees will cost less and take less time to complete than those programs would actually take,” Peiffer said.
“Prospective students take NCU’s bait when they commit to attend the university, pay substantial tuition and fees, and obtain hefty student loans.”