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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.</p>
<p>Thompson says she's been unable to find gainful employment since she received her information technology degree in April.
<p>I can't imagine this suit going anywhere, though I'm sure that at times colleges paint too rosy of a picture of the opportunities available to their grads. It's always a good idea to research the stats on placement rates, average salaries, and so on. Averages don't mean that much for an individual candidate, but they may give an overall idea of how the market values grads from that program.</p>
<p>At first, my reaction to this story was that there may be a hundred different reasons why this person hasn’t gotten a job, and none of them would be the college’s fault. Upon reading the story, however, I see that her suit contends that “the Bronx school’s Office of Career Advancement hasn’t provided her with the leads and career advice it promises.” That’s very specific, and – if true – that could be grounds for a suit.</p>
<p>I have a feeling this won’t be the last time this happens. Even if the case gets thrown out quickly the bigger truth is that college doesn’t make financial sense for about 80% of the students. But that doesn’t stop the colleges from marketing it as a way to get an extra million dollars in earnings. Most colleges are only in business because you and I have to pay taxes to support students who shouldn’t be there.</p>
<p>Unless this college made explicit promises of a job or of guaranteed placement, the judge should throw this lawsuit out! It shouldn’t even go to trial.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with this statement at all. Heck, it takes a bachelor’s degree just to be a SHELVING CLERK at the local library for $11.47 an hour… You can be a janitor without a bachelor’s degree, but you only get $7.25 and you don’t get any benefits.</p>
<p>This is one of those stupid suits. If it’s true that she feels the career center did not give her the correct tools, she MIGHT have a case (but even then…). However, if anyone were to sue because they didn’t get a job through the career center, their case should be thrown out. I have never come across a career center at a college that guaranteed job placement - honestly, I haven’t come across many that explicitly state they will help with job placement. The purpose of a career center is to provide the STUDENT with the tools needed for job hunting and job placement; that is, interview preparation, resume help, etc.</p>
<p>Another case of entitlement. Would not be surprised to see more like this student blaming others for their lack of success in various stages of life.</p>
<p>Only in America. It’s just a matter of time before colleges start placing asterisks and disclaimers on their websites. </p>
<p>“I don’t agree with this statement at all. Heck, it takes a bachelor’s degree just to be a SHELVING CLERK at the local library for $11.47 an hour… You can be a janitor without a bachelor’s degree, but you only get $7.25 and you don’t get any benefits.”</p>
<p>You’re conveniently omitting fine paying careers wherein skills are not obtained in a university setting with exorbitant tuition fees. Non-trivial employment in fields such as automotive repair and construction would benefit many high school grads who, despite their own doubts, go off to college every fall at the behest of guidance counselors, family members, and a society that deems any alternative ‘substandard’.</p>
<p>There are certain colleges that guarantee grads placement at specific companies… I know some depts at Carnegie Mellon come to mind. </p>
<p>Not sure what she is suing for, hopefully it is only to bring attention to the problem. Everybody is in the same situation now though. I went to a top 40 school and graduated in 2002 with an MIS degree and have been out of a job for over a year now. I’ve worked for several big companies, and I’ve never been fired… nobody is hiring right now… so… she shouldn’t feel too bad.</p>
<p>I’m actually trying to get OUT of IT as the situation hasn’t been good for awhile… There are so many unemployed people out here in the Bay Area as well so the competition is fierce for menial duties… I will probably move to another market after the holidays.</p>
<p>I do agree that some colleges are a bit predatorial in how they sway people do liberal art degrees for instance. </p>
<p>My gf’s brother has a dual degree in liberal arts from Cal State, he has NEVER had a real job since graduating in 2004.</p>
<p>I don’t know why the original poster is suing and she doesn’t have a case. One thing I learned from my undergraduate career center is that how long it takes you to find a job depends on how hard you work at it. If you look really hard for a job then it might only take you a month. If you don’t look very hard then it might take six. The original poster is now spending time on this silly lawsuit which is more time she won’t be looking for work.</p>
<p>My undergraduate experience with our career center was terrific. It was a small school but the person who worked there had a rolodex full of alumni contacts, helped me with my resume, taught me how to look for a job and gave me a pep talk when I needed it.</p>
<p>The career center I had access to after graduate school was useless. I figured out quickly that they weren’t going to be of any help so I didn’t use them as a resource. I just hoped that the staff would be replaced soon with people who could do better than telling me to look in the want ads.</p>
<p>The nypost.com version of this article seems to have since been edited but earlier today the article included the mentioning of the fact this student graduated with a 2.7 GPA…</p>
<p>confirms her gpa. Does not surprise me at all that she didn’t get a job with that kind of a 2.7. Especially given the current economy and the competition for jobs at this point in time. Just another lazy underachiever who is looking for a quick fix for what I’m guessing is something that is entirely a result of her own lack of initiative.</p>