April graduate of Monroe in the Bronx, with a major in information technology, Trina Thompson is suing her alma mater. She wants her $70,000 in tuition refund.
She may be living out our fantasies. Most of us enter that system, not from a position of strength, but weakness. Unlike the confident Bill Gates we didn't believe in ourselves enough to manage our own learning and professional path. That situation is likely to invite abuse of power.
Me? Eventually, I want to sue for all the tuition and tax-deductible contributions I made to my alma mater Seton Hill, plus punitive damages. Forty-two years after receiving my BA in English [1967], I still am steamed about how those in authority, even if it was to ensure we never left campus w/o hat and gloves, seemingly emotionally abused me. More to Thompson's point: Was my degree marketable? I'll never know that and can't prove that either way since it was buried in much much more higher education, e.g. MA/Ph.D. Candidacy in Linguistics and Literature and some time hanging around Cambridge at law school. Insecure, wounded, I sought validity through degrees.
What kind of case does Thompson have. Probably not strong. Her strategy might be to use the legal tool to call attention to what is in higher education. But, if the case takes real shape, it might mirror those failure-to-warn labeling ones. The institution, plaintiffs could allege, never let consumers know the risk involved in paying up to $200,000 for a degree which may not ever help securing employment.
Thompson contends her college gushed about career prospects. According to Thompson's timetable, they aren't coming through quickly enough. She also has a beef about the institution's placement function - like who doesn't. One unemployed JD I coached quickly noticed that her placement department didn't want the unemployed around. Yeah, they gave the place a bad brandname. [That JD did get a job once she changed the story she was telling - essentially why you shouldn't hire her - to a new one - how her MBA, together with the JD, could add value.]
Thompson eventually will likely have plenty of company. The nice ride higher education has had is ending. And it will probably be with a crash, as far-reaching as that in the credit and housing markets. That seems to already be happening at Harvard. In the media, ranging from VANITY FAIR to BOSTON Magazine, that once-prestigious brandname is viewed as bound for collapse. Already fundraising is down and layoffs have begun.
In THE NEW YORK TIMES late last June, none other than the Chair of Columbia University's Religion Department Mark C. Taylor predicted,"The next bubble to burst will be the education bubble ... Education is big business, and, like other big businesses, it is in big trouble." Questioning of the product is high, globally. The over-educated around the world are on hold as they can't get employment or put it together to become entrepreneurs. The cost of the product meanwhile keeps rising.
As with every other distressed business, the vultures are looking for how they can gain just before, during, and after the crash. [Nice discussion on the productive value of vultures in "A Colossal Failure of Common Sense" by Wall Street Insider Lawrence G. McDonald.] One primary group of vultures are the plaintiffs such as Thompson, being followed by a conga line of shrewd lawyers. This could be the next tobacco class-action suit. Having to pay out huge sums, including punitive damages, institutions are higher learning could fold. Their dorms could be refurbished for housing for the homeless and low-income. Their classrooms government-sponsored training centers for the trades.
In America for more than half a century, using the law has provided the preferred way of re-engineering a society and its values. That's why I have a hunch many college presidents will see their former and even current students in court.
