USC lawsuit alleges school used doctored rankings to lure students

FILE - This file picture exhibits the College Village space of the College of Southern California in Los Angeles.
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Three College of Southern California, or USC, college students filed a lawsuit in opposition to the varsity and a publicly traded firm for defrauding college students by deceptive the U.S. Information and World Report rankings of the Rossier Faculty of Schooling.

The lawsuit was filed by the Nationwide Scholar Authorized Protection Community and Tycko & Zavareei LLP on behalf of three named college students and extra college students who have been defrauded, based on a press launch.

“Earlier this yr, USC got here beneath intense scrutiny after the college launched a report describing how the dean of the Rossier Faculty of Schooling directed directors to deliberately withhold data from U.S. Information & World Report to enhance its rating,” the discharge learn. “USC withdrew Rossier from the annual evaluations following the report, citing ‘a historical past of inaccuracies.’”

The plaintiffs allege that USC and 2U, Inc. used “doctored” U.S. Information rankings which solely mirrored one in-person program, to entice college students to enroll within the college’s on-line applications.

The one time USC appeared on the rating of on-line schooling graduate applications was in 2013, when it ranked forty fourth, the discharge said.

The plaintiffs allege that USC and 2U, Inc. used “doctored” U.S. Information rankings to entice college students to enroll within the college’s on-line applications.

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The go well with alleges that the USC Rossier Faculty of Schooling’s Dean stated its on-line doctoral diploma program would trigger the varsity to “drop like a rock” within the U.S. Information rankings. However regardless of that data, USC and 2U continued to advertise the in-person rankings when it marketed the net applications by focused internet marketing and different means, to potential college students to get extra college students enrolled within the on-line program.

The publicly traded on-line program administration firm 2U assumed duty for recruiting the scholars, the lawsuit alleges, and “was paid a considerable proportion of tuition.”

College officers wouldn't touch upon the matter, as that they had not obtained the official criticism as of Tuesday.

“It’s not arduous to see the throughline right here — USC deliberately falsified information to inflate their U.S. Information rating, and 2U used the false numbers to pad their earnings,” Scholar Protection Litigation Director Eric Rothschild stated. “Each USC and 2U’s actions have damage numerous college students who thought this information would assist them make an knowledgeable enrollment resolution. As a substitute, they have been lured right into a manufactured profit-making scheme on the expense of their monetary and academic futures.”