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I am curious if I might have a case against my university…

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I am curious if I might have a case against my university for fraudulent misrepresentation and/or breach of contract. The university approved my graduation application. I fully participated in the graduation ceremony 4/29/22. I ended my lease, sold my furniture, and was about to start my career in the US Marine Corps as an officer in the fall. Then about two weeks after graduation on 5/12/22, the department chair emailed me that I am being denied my diploma because I needed 3 more classes. Keep in mind I have 127 credits already and only 120 are needed to graduate. They claim I need 3 more humanities credits and 6 more English literature and composition credits. These are entry level college classes that my advisor "thought" were already covered. I am currently attempting to get summer classes approved but the approval process has been over a month and nothing has been done to help me rectify their error. The deadline has passed for me to get these classes and now I must return in fall, find a place to live and incur living expenses and tuition expenses because my scholarship will no longer cover my educational expenses after 4 years.

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6/16/2022

Education lawyer: Ollennu, Esq., Attorney replied 11 months ago

Ollennu, Esq., Attorney

Category: Education Law

Satisfied Customers: 4

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Education lawyer: Ollennu, Esq., Attorney replied 11 months ago

Your first step will be gathering all correspondence between you and your adviser. You will have to show the department chair that you reasonably relied on the representations made by the adviser. Since the adviser represents the interest of the university, any directive you received that caused this confusion on the part of the university should not be to your detriment. Further, the university should have realized through due diligence, whether you had completed all requirements for degree before causing you to go through the ceremony. You should then start calculating your damages. Determine your losses due to the university's mistakes. Determine the cost of taking the additional classes, including tuition, books, housing extension, etc. Also get an estimate of the opportunity cost. Figure out what your lost wages will be in having to go back to complete additional courses. Once you have done so, consider having a local attorney communicate your position in written to the department chair, with your attached total damages attached.

If the university insists on having you take the additional courses, then you should as them to pay for your completion, since the error was caused by their negligence. Please let me know if you need further help with this matter. Thank you!

Education lawyer: Ollennu, Esq., Attorney replied 11 months ago

Thank you again for using JustAnswer. Please reach out again to us if you need further assistance with this matter.

Ollennu, Esq., Attorney

Category: Education Law

Satisfied Customers: 4

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Customer reply replied 11 months ago

Hi Ollennu, thank you for your reply! I am anticipating that the university will ignore me and the attorney letter. My attempts to communicate with them were fine at first, but as deadlines were approaching, and I began asking for urgent updates, they have just ignored me (I have proof of every ignored email). What happens if the university refuses to compensate me for fall term? What would the next steps be? Is this a small claims matter? What is the best way to go about finding a local attorney that specializes in this type of case? Thank you.

Education lawyer: Ollennu, Esq., Attorney replied 11 months ago

You may be right in anticipating resistance from the University. But based on the facts you've presented thus far, it appears the University did not merely make a mistake. They were negligent, and their negligence is going to cost you more than $5K if you will have to take 3 more courses, pay for housing near the school, travel and forgo work you could be doing and earning after graduation. They are ignoring you because they don't have to award you the degree. You should consider consulting with an attorney who handles education related litigation. Any attorney who does plaintiff work in breach of contract cases might be able to take this on. Check Avvo.com, Superlawyers, or lawyers.com, or google for breach of contract attorneys. Let me know if you need further assistance, please. Thanks!

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