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NURSING STUDENTS SUE SCHOOL OVER LOSS OF ACCREDITATION

Date: December 21, 2007
By: Rex Bowman

Fifty-nine former and current nursing students at Virginia Western Community College sued the school for nearly $21 million yesterday, claiming it failed to tell them its nursing program had lost its national accreditation.

The students, charging fraud and breach of contract, are seeking $350,000 apiece.

"Instead of receiving the education we were promised and worked so hard to earn, we were deceived," said two of the students, Allan Finch Jr. and Christina Brink, in a joint statement issued to reporters by their attorney. "We have invested our time and money into an education that is worth far less than Virginia Western led us to believe."

Officials at the two-year school in Roanoke, which is on break, could not be reached. A spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office, which would defend the school since it is a state institution, said the office will not comment on the litigation.

The students filed the suit in Roanoke County Circuit Court.

Their attorney, John Fishwick, said the students will suffer for the rest of their careers because potential employers could factor in school accreditation when making hiring and wage decisions. Additionally, the suit claims the students cannot transfer their class credits into many four-year nursing programs at other colleges.

Virginia Western's nursing program lost accreditation from the National League of Nursing Accrediting Commission in June 2006.

Fishwick said the school for an entire year "concealed from its nursing students the fact that it was no longer nationally accredited."

"Virginia Western continued to let its students believe they were participating in a nationally accredited program which would enable them to compete at the highest levels for job and educational opportunities nationwide, including those with the government and our armed forces," Fishwick said.

"Virginia Western also deceived the general public and future enrollees by continuing to tout the NLNAC accreditation in its literature and its Web site, long after the accreditation had been lost."

Fishwick said he anticipates eight more nursing students or graduates will join the lawsuit. The 59 currently suing Virginia Western were enrolled between August 2005 and August 2007.

Virginia Western is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and its nursing program is approved by the Virginia Board of Nursing.
 

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