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View Full Version : Lawyers - can you sue your university for not letting you graduate??



landrun
8/9/2011, 06:36 PM
I've never been in court in my life except as a juror. So I'm wondering if I'm just wasting my time trying to get what I've paid for here?

I'm 41, working on finishing my degree and every time I turn around I'm told that I have to retake another class for xxxx reason before I graduate.

Let me make this clear at the start. I've finished. I've taken every class AT LEAST ONCE and passed with good/great grades. But I've been denied credit for classes over and over. I've taken so many classed over again its offensive. My adviser mocked me saying I have enough hours to have TWO BA degrees. It infuriates me! Because it is true.

Anyway, I've finally went through my graduation meeting with the graduation adviser and was given a list of 3 classes I had to finish before graduating. She initialed the sheet and my personal adviser and I signed off on a formal sheet.

One of the classes I had to take was a physics class. But I was allowed to transfer it in from a junior college where I took the first physics class. So, that would make 2 Physics classes completing my required science sequence. The other classes that I needed I took at the university. So, all three classes were completed this summer in the last 8 weeks. One class I transferred in and 2 I took at the school I'm graduating from.

Well, I requested that another official copy of my transcript from the junior college be sent back to the school I'm graduating from so I can get credit for my final class. But sure enough!!!... the first physics class I took doesn't appear on the latest transcript! Neither does a US history class I took years ago! Both of these classes were transferred in and accepted in 2006 to my current University I'm graduating from. I have a copy of my transcript from my university where it shows that is the case. In fact, had the original physics class not been accepted, I would have had to take the second class I'm transferring in now, PLUS the original one, from my current university. But the graduation adviser told me because the first physics class was transferred in, I could transfer the second one in from the same university. It is obvious I took the class, passed it and transferred it in.
(How you can get two official transcript from the same school at two different times and have them list different classes is beyond me!)

This is the type of stuff that has been used to force me to retake the classes over and over. I can seem seizing upon this to say "hey! The US history class and the first physics class aren't on this transcript anymore. You have to retake them!" (Actually, I'll be retaking the US history class FOR THE THIRD TIME because I originally took it in Oklahoma. But it was rejected in Georgia and I had to retake again once I moved here because my US History class in Oklahoma didn't include any 'Georgia' history - that was the excuse!!)

At any rate, every time I turn around I have to take a class over... again! It's becoming the biggest scam I've ever had to deal with and I'm beginning to think that no matter what I do these people will NEVER LET ME OUT!! :mad:

I make great grades - that's what happens when you have to pay your own way. I've drove an hour and 45 minutes one way to the college for years. I've done my time. Paid for and took my classes. I've spent hours and weekends away from my family locked up in my little office at the house doing school work. All I want is to be given credit for the classes I've already taken! That's all. Sooner or later I feel like I should be given credit for the grades I've made!!

At this point I honestly feel that if they try to make me retake more classes then their word means nothing. At the end of this semester, they'll just find another reason to deny me a degree.... again... and force me to retake more classes I've taken in the past. This is immoral!! Blatantly wrong!

So, is there anything you can do?? I have no idea how it would work. But there would have to be some law to protect the student. - which in reality is a consumer. I'm paying for a service you provide. If I give you real money and fulfill my obligations, isn't there some legal way they have to fulfill theirs in giving me what I've paid for?? How can they just flippantly decided to deny me credit for classes I've taken etc... I'm so sick of it!

Sooner or later you have to give the consumer what they paid for. There has to be some sort of legal action I could take. Am I wrong here? If I were to go to court am I wasting my time or can you actually win a case like this?

SicEmBaylor
8/9/2011, 06:49 PM
If you can sue a school for not letting you graduate, then I just figured out how to get my meal ticket!

yermom
8/9/2011, 06:58 PM
i'm assuming you have gone to the dean, etc... already?

at OU, a lot of transfer stuff is kinda discretionary by the advisor, but has to be accepted by the dean, but as far as i know, i only had to give OU my transfer info once. this sounds awful shady.

if you can't get anything out of the dean, keep going. i'm sure the president/provost/chancellor wouldn't want your story in the press...

SanJoaquinSooner
8/9/2011, 07:15 PM
I'm not an attorney, but I've dealt with higher ed issues like this.

Look at the university catalog in effect when you entered the program. See if you can find any policy statement that conflicts with the actions of the university.

There are usually statements concerning transfer credit. Also some universities have policy statements about counting courses more than x years old.

yermom
8/9/2011, 07:20 PM
at OU when they are too old you can petition to have them apply, but i think that really only applies to major credits, at least in my experience

badger
8/10/2011, 08:52 AM
I have never met an unreasonable, unfriendly dean at OU. See if you can schedule a meeting with your college's dean, or at the very least, just show up to his office and see if you can get a minute of his time.

Most of the deans seem like they wish more students would talk to them. Your longshot is being able to actually catch one of them at a free moment, but if you do, I am sure they'll hear you out and might get the ball rolling in your favor.

Which college are you a part of?

OhU1
8/10/2011, 09:56 AM
See if you can schedule a meeting with your college's dean, or at the very least, just show up to his office and see if you can get a minute of his time.

Most of the deans seem like they wish more students would talk to them. Your longshot is being able to actually catch one of them at a free moment, but if you do, I am sure they'll hear you out and might get the ball rolling in your favor.

^^^^^^ this.

By all means take a calm, non-adversarial and constructive problem solving approach. Exhaust your avenues through the Administration first and approach them with the attitude that there is a problem that you should be able to work out with their help. Though it may be difficult, try not to come across as angry or accusatory - in my opinion this is more likely to lead to a brush off.

Legal channels are a last resort and often an expensive and ineffective means to resolve your problem and achieve your goal (in a great many areas of life BTW).

Taxman71
8/10/2011, 10:58 AM
Definitely work your way up the administrative channel as advised above. There is ALOT of discretion over these things.

Worst case scenario, you can lawyer up. There were a few law students (and a professor or two) who were facing being expelled/terminate for various issues, but were quickly reinstated when they hired a lawyer.

OUDoc
8/10/2011, 11:34 AM
I was once told I had 5 years to complete a Master's I was half-assing before the classes wouldn't count anymore. I would assume that's where they are getting you.

OutlandTrophy
8/10/2011, 11:45 AM
have you tried taking a dump on anyone's desk? That usually works.

JohnnyMack
8/10/2011, 11:50 AM
IBFroze's boring case siting post. :P

TheHumanAlphabet
8/10/2011, 12:02 PM
From the classic scene in Planes, Trains and Automobiles...

"You're F*cked!"

Its their rules, its their toy and they choose who to share it with. If you can't show some agreed paperwork, then you have to play their game. I don't understand the disappearing classes on the transcript. That doesn't make sense and has never happened to me in over 180+ hours at OU and any transfer hours I had from a community college.

landrun
8/12/2011, 02:16 PM
It's all good. My classes have transferred in fine. My transcript shows that my Computer Science degree has been awarded. I'm done! :D Finally Done! :D

Now I can enjoy our 8th Championship season without having to worry about any exams to prepare for etc... It's gonna be nice! :)

Viking Kitten
8/12/2011, 02:30 PM
[teachable moment]See how much better being nice works (most of the time) than getting mad and lawyering up?[/teachable moment]

OhU1
8/12/2011, 02:38 PM
It's all good. My classes have transferred in fine. My transcript shows that my Computer Science degree has been awarded. I'm done! :D Finally Done! :D

Now I can enjoy our 8th Championship season without having to worry about any exams to prepare for etc... It's gonna be nice! :)

Congrats!

saucysoonergal
8/12/2011, 02:41 PM
[teachable moment]See how much better being nice works (most of the time) than getting mad and lawyering up?[/teachable moment]

You better watch it Missy!!! J.M.W. might not like you talking like that! ;)

Viking Kitten
8/12/2011, 02:43 PM
Heh heh heh. JMW loves me.

Penguin
8/12/2011, 02:51 PM
I have never heard of a "time limit" on transferring credits. If that was a normal policy, then college degrees would come with an expiration date.

badger
8/12/2011, 03:06 PM
It's all good. My classes have transferred in fine. My transcript shows that my Computer Science degree has been awarded. I'm done! :D Finally Done! :D

Now I can enjoy our 8th Championship season without having to worry about any exams to prepare for etc... It's gonna be nice! :)

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/aba/lowres/aban666l.jpg

Joking aside, congrats graduate. You might still want to drop in and say hi to your college dean though, just to see if he can help you get employed somewhere :D

landrun
8/12/2011, 08:47 PM
Well, fortunately, I do have job. I've made a living as a programmer now for almost the last 20 years. I've been able to get good jobs without a degree up to this point in my life.

But my wife and I sat down and talked a few years ago and decided is was ignorant for me to not finish my degree. So, I went back and started taking 1 to 2 classes a semester to finish. One semester last year I took five classes. They were all CS classes. But the CS classes were easy to me. It was the Calc and Linear Algebra that consumed so much time - at least for me.

My boss has a degree in engineering. His boss has no degree at all. The other application developers all have degrees. 2 have a Master Degrees. One is CS one an MBA. Its just nice not to catch up with the rest of them and earn my degree too.

Not to mention, that if anything does happen, I now have a degree to go along with my 15+ years of experience.

In one sense, I'm sort of ashamed I didn't finish my degree until I was in my 40s. In another sense, I'm proud. Because a lot of people never finish at all.

SanJoaquinSooner
8/13/2011, 12:40 AM
Congratulations!

OUDoc
8/13/2011, 09:31 AM
Congratulations! You should still take a dump on someone's desk.

soonerboomer93
8/13/2011, 12:31 PM
Yeah, take it to the Dean.

I had problems with my graduation, at first when I went through the course work, I had a few hours to take. I was putting in my graduation application and the adviser told me "you'll have to take business calc, the calc you took for science majors is too advanced for your degree"

I just had to file with the Dean and eventually got it all approved.

tator
8/15/2011, 11:00 AM
Personally, I've never understood how universities are not required to agree to a set class requirement list. I don't know how many times it changed on me while I was in school and how many other people I know that the requirements changed on while they were in the middle of fulfilling the requirements. They should have to agree upon a class schedule once you declare a major, in my opinion.

SanJoaquinSooner
8/15/2011, 11:25 AM
Personally, I've never understood how universities are not required to agree to a set class requirement list. I don't know how many times it changed on me while I was in school and how many other people I know that the requirements changed on while they were in the middle of fulfilling the requirements. They should have to agree upon a class schedule once you declare a major, in my opinion.

The catalog in force when you enter a program is your contract. If they subsequently change the program, they should honor your original contract.

Some academic advisors don't understand that.