University of Southern California sued over online 'diploma mill' programs
The University of Southern California is being sued over an online degree program that former students allege is an overpriced “diploma mill.”
The class-action complaint, filed Thursday by graduates of the private Los Angeles university’s online Master in Social Work program, accuses the school of misrepresenting the program’s offerings and providing an inferior, outsourced version of the on-campus MSW degree, aggressively recruiting students of color.
The university advertises the virtual and campus-based programs as equal, the suit alleges, and in turn charges the same for both programs – more than $85,000 total. Yet USC, which accepted just 9% of applicants in the most recent admissions cycle, largely relies on a for-profit online education company called 2U, Inc. for its virtual MSW offerings, according to the complaint.
Participants in the virtual program receive no or substandard faculty, resources, content, advising and field placements, the suit alleges.
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“USC used its brand to deliberately deceive unsuspecting students to create a ‘cash cow’ through its inferior online MSW program at students’ expense,” said Eileen Connor, president and director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending, which is helping to represent the plaintiffs, in a statement. “Our clients believed they’d enrolled in a prestigious, reputable, non-profit university but instead wound up in an expensive diploma mill. They paid an unjustifiably high price for a program that was promised to be the same as the on-campus version when in reality, it was run by a for-profit education company. Students were lied to and now are standing up and fighting back.”
A USC spokesperson in a statement to USA TODAY said the university hadn't yet been served "but will review the lawsuit in detail when we receive it.”
In a statement, 2U said was appalled by the marketing described in the suit against USC.
"2U takes all allegations of wrongdoing seriously," the company said. "While 2U is not named as a defendant in this suit, we have reviewed the plaintiffs’ specific accusations against us, and our call recordings and student feedback forms clearly show that the allegations are without merit."
Other programs run by 2U face scrutiny
This isn’t the first time the university has come under legal scrutiny over its use of 2U, Inc. Late last year, the National Student Legal Defense Network helped to file a lawsuit against the two institutions over allegations that they used doctored rankings to lure students to the online programs in USC’s education school.
2U, according that that suit, was in charge of recruiting prospective students, and received a percentage of tuition revenue.
The lawsuit over USC’s social work master’s applies to a class including all California citizens who are or were in the online program at any time in the four years leading up to now, up through when a final judgment is issued on the case.
The Biden administration earlier this year issued guidance that gives it more insight into and oversight of education program management companies such as 2U that help colleges recruit and enroll students.
2U last month sued the Education Department over the guidance, arguing that it amounts to overreach. A week later, the agency delayed the regulation.
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Contact Alia Wong at (202) 507-2256 or awong@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @aliaemily.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USC sued: Online degree programs overpriced, low quality, suit alleges
