University of the Potomac’s Chicago Campus Misrepresented Authority to Grant Degrees, Lawsuit Alleges

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A proposed class action alleges the University of the Potomac’s Chicago campus illegally misrepresented to students that it was a degree-granting institution.

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The 17-page class action lawsuit says the private university—which has campuses in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Falls Church, Virginia—was informed by the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) in August 2019 that it had failed to properly apply for authority to grant degrees. The filing claims that the school, from 2019 to 2023, was permitted by the IBHE to offer only non-degree programs of study at its Chicago campus.

However, according to the case, University of the Potomac concealed this mandate from its Chicago students for several years. In fact, the school sent an email to “most or all” of the student body in May 2019 informing them that it had been working through the approval process with the IBHE and was accepting names from those who wished to enroll in its degree programs, the complaint alleges.

One plaintiff, a South Korean citizen, says she paid $35,000 in tuition from September 2019 to April 2022 to earn what she thought was a master’s degree in healthcare administration. The woman claims that after spending nearly three years enrolled in the program, she looked into the school’s qualifications and discovered the Chicago campus was not authorized to issue degrees.

Another plaintiff, a citizen of India, says she enrolled in the same program in January 2019 based on the belief that she would receive a degree upon completing the required courses. The woman claims the truth was revealed to her only after she requested “enrollment-related documents” from the school in April 2022, which institutions need IBHE authority to issue.

“Instead of issuing the requested documents, [co-defendant Rosanna DePinto], the Chicago campus director, without the knowledge or consent of [the plaintiff], transferred her enrollment to the University of the Cumberlands and provided [the plaintiff] with enrollment documents issued by the University of the Cumberlands,” the case alleges. “[The plaintiff] eventually learned that this had been done, and was done because the Chicago campus was not authorized to issue degrees or the enrollment document for international students.”

The complaint argues that University of the Potomac’s alleged misrepresentations have led to significant financial losses for the plaintiffs and other students, including in the form of debt and costs incurred to attend the school, lost wages, damage to credit and the loss of eligibility for financial aid programs.

“The authority of the Chicago campus to issue degrees was particularly material to foreign students such as [the plaintiffs], in that attending a degree-granting institution that complies with the regulatory requirements of the state where the campus is located (those of IBHE) was necessary to maintain their visa status,” the suit stresses.

Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are equity owner Linden East, LLC; Arthur Lee Smith, the Provost at the University of the Potomac; and Andrea Ford, CEO of the university.

The suit accuses Linden East, Smooth, Ford and DePinto of engaging in “a pattern of mail and wire fraud” between 2019 and 2023, in violation of federal racketeering law. More specifically, the case claims that the defendants unlawfully sent emails, mail and other forms of communication to falsely represent that the Chicago campus was authorized to grant degrees, and to fraudulently collect payment from students.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone who was enrolled in a purported degree-granting program at the Chicago campus of the University of the Potomac.

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