Does a cause of action exist to recover prorated tuition?

I started law school in Florida (private university) in August of 2009 as a first year law student. I amended my application prior to the beginning of classes to include previous criminal offenses that I had not included on the original application.

On September 17, after going through the school's internal due process system, I received a letter from the Dean of the school informing me I was being expelled. The school has kept the entire $16,000 tuition that they received through Federal and private loans. I mailed a letter to the Dean approximately 10 days ago requesting a prorated portion of the tuition be returned, but I have not received nor do I expect to receive a response.

I have done basic research on Westlaw of expelled students that have attempted to sue the school to recover tuition costs. It would appear that the school often wins unless the student was denied due process in the expulsion or it was done in an arbitrary manner.

Is my initial assessment from my basic research correct? Do I have a cause of action against the school for recovery of partial tuition? In layman's terms...is there anything I can do to receive the amount of unused tuition the school has kept?

Thank you,

Edit: I am a resident of the state of Pennsylvania and since this incident have relocated back to PA.

Hi, sorry this is happening to you.

Just a few questions---you said you 'amended your application'. I assume then, you were less than forthcoming when you initially applied?

Also, what does their policy state about tuition reimbursement ?

Have you contacted your student loan companies and informed them that you are not in school? Perhaps they could assist you in getting the money returned.

You do face an uphill battle if you were untruthful at the beginning (whether through oversight or intentionally) and if you were expelled after the designated period that allows for withdraw and refund of student loan payments/funds.

Thanks for the response GentleGrace. I did intentionally leave out information regarding my criminal background when I applied.

Try and shorten a long story....I dropped out of high school in 11th grade, worked full time and got arrested for alcohol and pot related stuff a couple times, realized I kind of liked the law through all of this, got my GED, then associates, then Bachelors, then received a dozen rejection letters from law schools over the next 2 years. Decided to leave out the criminal history part and got accepted. Packed up and moved to FL to start school with the intentions of "changing the world for the better" and decided that to start I should add in the stuff I left out of my application and honestly explain why I did it.

The 31 days I was in law school were the best I have ever had. I would go on campus at 9am and leave at midnight after reading and briefing every case I could manage to squeeze in. I was excelling in my classes, had been asked to lead a study session in Crim Law, was asked by Career Services Director to be part of a panel talking to students about preparing for the working world (I was a recruiter after graduating college), and was the only student out of 160 to receive a perfect score on a property brief assignment (the prof liked three page briefs with the entire analysis section IRAC'd for every issue in the case). My Crim teacher and Property teacher both made calls to the Dean to tell him I was a student that would succeed in their program.

None of that is really relevant aside from the fact I just wanted to vent. The application states that drop/add period ends on Friday of the first week and that no refunds exist after that. I called CitiBank and they were of no help and just told me the loan was deferred till 2012. I sent a letter to the Dean breaking down the tuition on a per day cost, acknowledged I should pay for the days I was there (and gladly, I really liked it) and simply asked for the equitable return of the prorated amount for the days I was not allowed on property.

The only other step I can think of is to send a second letter stating that I would file suit for return of the tuition in federal court. That is kind of ridiculous since I would be trying to figure it out on my own, but I can't imagine it would be good PR for a law school to have a suit filed against it. Plus, it would forever be searchable on the databases the the students have unlimited access too. Just a thought.

I don't think the fear of being sued is as troublesome to the school as you may think. Being a law school, you can rest assured when they assume a position, it is, most likely, one easily defended.

I, too, understand your passion and enthusiasm for the law. I experience it daily. Law isn't one of those professions as which you can excel unless you want it and want it badly. It sounds like you do, as do I.

However, where I see you are going to have a big problem is that you cannot plead ignorance in the fact you left out material that would have prohibited you from being accepted. What I am saying is the fact you applied before to other such institutions and were denied on the basis of your criminal record means you knew when you purposefully left out that information that it was the difference between being accepted or rejected. In other words, they would argue you could have predicted that this eventuality would happen. And I am interested in your thoughts-----what did you think would happen? Did you think once you were "in the door" they would be compelled to keep you once they found out? What did you expect to happen? I am not asking that critically, but curiously. What made you tell at that point? Did you think since you were in the door it was safe to tell that information? Why tell it then and not further down the road? They would argue the reason you didn't wait until longer was because you expected to be expelled and didn't want to have a few semesters paid for before that time came. To them, you were willing to risk a semesters tuition on a gamble. But, unfortunately, you lost.

I understand your desire to be in law but I also understand that at times there are choices we make in life that would keep us from what we desire to do, be, or have. I am NOT suggesting you abandon your dreams. I am merely saying that in this case, while I understand why you did what you did, I cannot imagine there being any legal basis for a situation which, as it unfolded, was or should have been entirely predictable.

What basis would you have to sue them? For adhering to their clearly posted policy regarding refunds on tutions, and even, I suspect, their policy about dishonesty on the application? What basis do you find in this situation where they did something wrong or not in keeping with their posted policies?

Good luck in your future endeavors.