Graduate student sues college for not getting a job

[THUNDERDUCK]

NEW YORK – A New York City woman who says she can't find a job is suing the college where she earned a bachelor's degree.

Trina Thompson filed a lawsuit last week against Monroe College in Bronx Supreme Court. The 27-year-old is seeking the $70,000 she spent on tuition.

Thompson says she's been unable to find gainful employment since she received her information technology degree in April.

She says the Bronx school's Office of Career Advancement hasn't provided her with the leads and career advice it promises.

Monroe College spokesman Gary Axelbank says Thompson's lawsuit is completely without merit.

The college insists it helps its graduates find jobs.

[Tuffty]

The job market is tough out there. But at least one New York City woman who's been unable to find a position since graduating from college knows who's to blame.

It's not the president. It's not Wall Street or the economy. It's her college, Monroe College to be exact.

According to the New York Post , Trina Thompson has filed a lawsuit that seeks to recover the $70,000 she spent on tuition. The 27-year-old asserts that the school did not provide her job leads and career advice she was promised as part of her education.

"They have not tried hard enough to help me," Thompson wrote in her lawsuit, according to the Post . Her mother Carol said, "She's finally finished [with school], and I'm so proud of her. She just wants a job."

For those who may scoff at the lawsuit as frivolous, consider that a group of students from Rycotewood College in Oxforshire, England, were awarded 14,000 pounds each after they claimed that their degree in historic vehicle restoration did not provide them with adequate skills to equip them for professional careers, even though some of the group successfully completed the course, reported Times Higher Education .

The students, led by Lee Buckingham, who gained his Higher National Diploma, and Jason England, who withdrew from the course, said that the college broke promises made in its prospectus, had failed to deliver work experience, and could not even provide basic tools for the practical work.

http://www.foxcharlotte.com/dpp/money/Unemployed_Trina_Thompson_Sues_School_dpgo_20090803_jst_2800736

I can sympathise with her to a degree. I worry in case if I graduate during these economic times that employers won't take a chance on graduates and go for someone with more experience instead. But to file a lawsuit? It will only do her more harm than good.

[kuno_thunder]

How the hell do these people earn degrees when they're that fuckin' stupid?

[Tuffty]

Oi! You're a thief TD!!

[shirenuファクトリー]

Thompson says she's been unable to find gainful employment since she received her information technology degree in April.

APRIL?!?!? Some people are unemployed for YEARS even if they're fully qualified!
It's a motherfucking difficult time for everyone and this woman is complaining after less than half a year after graduating??

fffffffffffffffffffffff

[reina's eyes]

I love absurdism. I just wish this were a little more absurd.

There really should be more focus on getting good value from higher education and an expectation of quality from every session of every single class.

How far has anyone gotten in their own educational experience without coming across a poor instructor or finding themselves wasting time (and money) in a mick class? Why should such waste be considered acceptable?

Maybe with more widespread decent quality higher education there would be a chance of reigning in the crooks and idiots who make for a bad economy and fixing the disconnect between education and employment.

[Blu-Cherri]

If she's 27 it seems she tried to find work before going to college probably, I don't know about america but most bachelor graduates are about 23/24 in England.

[shadowstar]

She's just one of those people I REALLY wish I could smack upside the head.

[Asmodai]

Meh, if the school made promises or representations about job placement, they're liable for what they said to induce her into the contract and get her money. If the school failed to live up to its end of their bargain, then she has every right to sue to get her money back.

[Blu-Cherri]

^HELPS graduates find jobs, doesn't mean they do the work for them.
She might have a really obnoxious personality and who knows if she took the interview and CV writing advice from them?

[~Dan~]

LOL if they return the $70,000 but annul her qualifications.

[JFC]

Should this thread be merged with this other one?  They're about the same news story, as far as I can tell.
http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=19952.0

[redux]

I heard about this on another forum and yeah, I can kind of understand it but at the same time I highly doubt that these "promises" were actually deisgnated as part of the course. Still, not a patch on the guy who insured his cigars against fire damage and then sued the insurance company when they wouldn't pay out for damages.

[Kaizer]

The college I attended are supposed to help you find a job after graduating as well and they don't really help you out a lot, so I know what she's talking about. Most of the people I know from my school had to find jobs themselves because the school didn't help out even though they said they'd do until you get a job. A lot of them are still jobless. =/