Once again, Excelsior College is sued over nursing program Excelsior

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https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/For-second-time-in-less-than-a-year-Excelsior-13153391.php

Once again, Excelsior College is sued over nursing program

Same firm files another lawsuit, this time seeking $10 million

Excelsior College is being sued over its nursing program.

Excelsior College is being sued over its nursing program.

Excelsior College is being sued over its nursing program.

Excelsior College is being sued over its nursing program.

Once again, Excelsior College is sued over nursing program

ALBANY — For the second time in less than a year, a Maryland law firm has filed a federal lawsuit against Excelsior College, alleging the school misleads students who are hoping to become registered nurses.

The class action federal complaint was filed Monday in New York’s Eastern District by John Hermina of the Hermina Law Group on behalf of a dozen plaintiffs. It seeks $10 million in punitive damages.

The suit argues that Excelsior engaged in "insistent, and alleges that the school's officials knew about but ignored problems due to the desire for revenue. Excelsior , and alleges that the school's officials knew about but ignored problems due to the desire for revenue.

Jim Lettko, Excelsior’s chief operating officer, said the school would "vigorously defend our nursing program against these baseless allegations.” He declined further comment, citing the pending litigation.

Hermina’s firm filed a similar federal suit in October 2017. In that action, plaintiffs alleged that Excelsior didn’t warn students about the difficulty of the school's Clinical Performance in Nursing Examination, the required test for those seeking to become registered nurses. That case is still in progress.

Excelsior's CPNE test, which is given in a dozen locations nationwide, costs almost $2, which is given in a dozen locations nationwide Excelsior

Some of the earlier allegations are echoed in Monday’s lawsuit, although this suit appears to emphasize the amount of time it can take to actually earn a degree, given that thousands are enrolled in the program and there are only a dozen test locations.

"Thousands of Excelsior consumers wait to take the final program test, but there are only a dozen testing sites in which to take the test," the complaint states. Students are located all over the country, including some remote locations.

Monday’s suit also alleges the school has continued to offer misleading information about its exam pass rates and the length of time needed to become a nurse.

“In truth and in fact, consumers wait over a year to take the final test, not three (to) five months,” the suit alleges.

One of the plaintiffs, Florida resident Jessica Willis, has been an licensed practical nurse since 2010. She enrolled in Excelsior in 2015 believing she could finish the RN requirements in a year and a half.

Excelsior Suit 2018 ECF 1 - Willis v. Et Al. v. EC Complaint

According to the lawsuit, Willis was never told that the CPNE exam has a pass rate of less than 50 percent. She took the test in Queens in 2018 and failed. She currently carries loans of $29,512 related to her Excelsior classes and tests.

"I haven't been given a test date," said another plaintiff, Heidi LaMeyer, an LPN in Minnesota.

Initially, she said that Excelsior College told her she could probably take the exam within about three months of her completing her coursework. But she finished in January and now fears she won't get a slot for the test until February 2019.

The health care company where she works is poised to give her a substantial promotion once she gets her RN certification, she said in a phone interview.

College officials have previously conceded that the nursing program, which was a mainstay of the school, had problems. It was downsized in 2016 amid realization that admission requirements may have been too lax.

The program’s enrollment subsequently shrunk from 21,000 to 8,000 students between 2015 and 2018, the Times Union has reported.

Excelsior College opened in 1971. It’s known largely as a “completion college” that helps students turn the credits they may have earned in different schools or courses into usable degrees. It also offers online courses.

Excelsior serves about 29,000 mostly adult working students who live across the country and internationally. About 16 percent are in New York state and half are either active-duty military or veterans.

The Hermina firm led an even earlier lawsuit against Excelsior College dating to 2014.

In that instance, plaintiffs who failed the test were awarded $200 and $2,500 when the case was settled, according to court documents.