Northwestern California University

Review: NWCU Scool of Law is a Private Online Law School. They are a private business.I was an online student at NWCU 2014-2015. NWCU did not fulfill its contract to give me course credit for the tuition paid. NWCU did not perform as advertised.I received my late graded B+ average midterm exams from NWCU in October 2015 and then I attempted to sign up for the final exams. It is only after I tried to sign up for the final exams that I received an email that I was dismissed from the program. I was not dismissed from the program before I tried to sign up for the final exams. I received no warning that anything negative was impending in all the correspondence that I received from NWCU. NWCU did not fulfill their online advertisement to be as good as a traditional school. NWCU advertised grading done in 10 days. NWCU graded real exams took over a month. Additionally, NWCU was late in sending school material and graded assignments late. NWCU did not match the expectations that I, as a consumer, would get from their advertisement. I believe it is fair and just that since NWCU took my tuition money and did not perform as NWCU advertised, then NWCU refunds my tuition. I had no idea that NWCU was going to do this to me. NWCU, an online education merchant, owes me a consumer refund. NWCU cannot arbitrarily reserve the right to not perform as contracted. Tuition is a basic. Like money you pay for a car service, tuition is paid to receive an educational service. It is illegal for NWCU to take money and not give something in return. Other people have complained about NWCU. Please help me with this matter. p.s You can read about other peoples complaints concerning NWCU here in this article. Times Investigation Nearly 9 in 10 students drop out of unaccredited law schools in California [redacted]Desired Settlement: I believe that NWCU, an online school, should pay me a refund.

Business

Response:

This letter is sent in response to your letter of December 4, with regard to a complaint you received from a former student at Northwestern California University School of Law (NWCU). Per your request, I will not identify the student in this letter; however, please note that the complaint you sent us did include his name, so I was able to review his file to refresh my memory on both the issues and our responses to them.The student’s complaint includes several allegations. These are addressed below using the student’s wording from his complaint, and the school’s response directly below using the students wording from his complaint, and the school’s response directly below each allegation. Student Allegation: “NWCU School of Law is Private Online Law School. They are a private business.”School’s Response: NWCU is categorized by the State Bar of California as a “correspondence” law school, although most of its program is online and most correspondence with its students takes place via email. The school is a private business, founded 33 years ago and is now the oldest continuously operating degree-granting online law school in the country offering online correspondence-based distance education. Student Allegation: “I was an online student at NWCU 2014-2015.”School’s Response: This is correct. Student Allegation: “NWCU did not fulfill its contract to give me course credit for tuition paid. NWCU did not perform as advertised.”School’s Response: NWCU does not offer course credit for money. The school’s contract requires that students complete 864 study hours per year during a period of not less than 48, nor more than 52, consecutive weeks of study in accordance with California State Bar Regulations. Students in the program complete required assignments and take proctored final exams. Students who do not successfully complete an academic year of studies do not receive course credit for that year of study despite having paid tuition. They must pass each course. NWCU fulfilled its contract with the subject student by enrolling him in the program and providing him with access to the school’s online courses, faculty, and learn materials for the entire year. The school performed as advertised. Student Allegation: “I received my late graded B+ average midterm exams from NWCU in October 2015 and then I attempted to sign up for the final exams. It is only after I tried to sign up for the final exams that I received an email that I was dismissed from the program. I was not dismissed from the program before I tried to sign up for the final exams.”School’s Response: This student was administratively dismissed from the program because he exceeded the maximum time to complete his year of studies. The State Bar of California requires that students in distance or correspondence law schools, like NWCU, must complete each year of studies in a time period of no fewer than 48 weeks and no more than 52 weeks. This information is clearly provided many times to each of the school’s students. In this student’s case, he requested final exams after his year of studies had already ended. When a student is dismissed for exceeding 52 weeks, the effective date of the dismissal will be the date that the student went beyond 52 weeks. Student Allegation: “I received no warning that anything negative was impending in all the correspondence that I received from NWCU.”School’s Response: NWCU communicates very clearly with students about important dates and deadlines. As is the case for all NWCU students, this particular student signed an enrollment contract which states in relevant part:“The School’s Bar Law Study Program is regulated by the California State Bar. The school requires that all students in the program complete 864 study hours per year during a period of not less than 48, nor more than 52, consecutive weeks of study in accordance with California State Bar Regulations.”Additionally, since NWCU students do not all start their law studies on the same date, the school individually emails each student a list of important dates that apply to his or her year of studies. For example, this student was sent a personal email which contained the following:“We also want to remind you of several important dates that you will need to carefully add to your calendar. As a lawyer, keeping track of important dates will be part of you job and if you miss a deadline, it could cost you a case. Thus, during your time at NWCU, we will expect you to meet deadlines. If you ever have a question about a deadline or date, please ask early so that you don’t miss an important date.Important Dates:- Your enrollment/contract date: [redacted]- Your start date for your first year of studies: [redacted]- Your end date for your first year of studies: [redacted]- Final Exams must be taken: from [redacted] inclusive- Request final exams 30 days prior to the date you wish to take them.”Considering that the school offers a post graduate college education, training individuals to become attorneys, it is realistic and reasonable to expect students to meet deadlines after being clearly informed of what those deadlines are.NWCU students are expected to meet deadlines just as they will be expected to do as attorneys. For example, in our “study module” for Introduction to Law and Legal Writing, which all first year students, including this particular student, must take, the following task is included:“’Calendaring’ is an important task for all lawyers. If you miss a deadline on a case, it could mean that you lose the case. So start now with careful calendaring of important dates. Map out your 1L calendar with numbered weeks. Week 1 is the first week beginning with your start date. Week 52 ends one year later. Choose a tentative date to take final exams during the four week window from weeks 48-52. You will receive and email from NWCU Administration about 2-4 weeks after you enrolled, which lists your official start date and the dates during which you can take your finals. Verify these and add them to your calendar.” Student Allegation: “NWCU states in its advertisement that it will ‘combine the best features of traditional education with Internet based, online and recorded instruction.’ Among the ‘best features of traditional education’ is warning the student about exams and dates the school takes seriously. If a school takes a date seriously then it is a feature of traditional education to warn the student of an approaching test date. NWCU failed to do this. If you had your own school would you not want to want the students of test dates?”School’s Response: Same response as for the prior allegation. Student Allegation: “NWCU did not fulfill their online advertisement to be as good as a traditional school.”School’s Response: The school’s advertisement doesn’t say this. In the Dean’s welcome message on the school’s website, he recommends that students who can attend a brick-and-mortar school should do so. However, he and professors believe that NWCU’s program is as good as or even better than a traditional law school because at NWCU there can be more interaction with professors and more flexibility for scheduling and individualizing studies.This student seemed happy with the NWCU program until he was dismissed for exceeding the required time period in which to complete his studies. Student Allegation: “NWCU advertised grading done in 10 days. NWCU graded real exams took over a month.”School’s Response: This student submitted his midterm exams via our online submission system on August 28, 2015. Exam grades were emailed to him nine business days later, on September 15, 2015, using the email address that he had provided to us. On October 9, 2015, he contacted the school office stating he had not received his grades, and provided a new email address. On October 12, the midterm exam grades were re-sent to him at his new email address. Student Allegation: “NWCU advertises that it will mail grade responses as approximately 10 days. Yet NWCU exceeded 4 weeks in graded responses.”School’s Response: Same as above. Student Allegation: “NWCU was late in sending school material and graded assignments late.”School’s Response: The student was provided access to all school materials on September 16, 2014, the date his year of studies began. All assignments other than midterm exams were completed by the student and were awarded a passing grade during the first six months of the student’s year of study, as is recommended in the course syllabi. As to midterm exams, it is recommended to students that they submit them during their 7th or 8th month of studies, but this student submitted his midterm exam answer in his 11th month of studies. The answers were graded in a timely manner, as described above. Student Allegation: “NWCU did not match the expectations that I, as a consumer, would get from their advertisement. I believe it is fair and just that since NWCU took my tuition money and did not perform as NWCU advertised, then NWCU refunds my tuition. I had no idea that NWCU was going to do this to me. NWCU, and online education merchant, owes me a consumer refund. NWCU cannot arbitrarily reserve the right to not perform as contracted. Tuition is a basic. Like money you pay for a car service, tuition is paid to receive an educational service. It is illegal for NWCU to take money and not give something in return.”School’s Response: as already stated, NWCU met its contractual obligations to this student. He was enrolled and studied law at NWCU for a full year. During that time, he participated in the school’s online classes, had access to all its course materials, and performed quite well on his midterm exams despite waiting until the last minute to complete them. The student exceeded the time limit for completing his year of studies despite clear communication to him that he must complete his studies within the time requirement set by the State Bar of California.NWCU’s refund policy is quite generous among colleges and universities in that a student who withdraws will receive a pro-rated tuition refund if the student has been enrolled for a period of time that does not exceed 60% of the academic year. In the case of the subject student, he did not request a refund until he had exceeded a full year if enrollment and participation, and was therefore not entitled to a refund. Student Allegation: “Other people have complained about NWCU” (referencing an L.A. Times article and statement that nearly 9 in 10 students drop out of unaccredited law schools in California.)School’s Response: The article in question is completely unrelated to this student’s complaint. The article discusses the attrition rate from unaccredited law schools. NWCU’s attrition rate for students in the first year of its program is estimated to be between 50-60%. This is due primarily to the fact that its students tend to be older than the average recent college graduate who attends a traditional law school. The average age of NWCU students is 38-40, and most have careers, families, aging parents, and a host of other obligations that make law school more challenging to complete. At NWCU, with a very low tuition rate and generous refund policy, the investment students to see whether law school is workable for them makes the opportunity well worthwhile, even to those who chose to withdraw prior to completing the first year. After the first year, the attrition rate drops significantly. Student Allegation: “NWCU Breached its Advertisement this Breaching Advertisement Law. NWCU stated in its advertisement that it will ‘combine’ “the best features of traditional education” with Internet based, online and recorded instruction.’”School’s Response: The school’s website does state that “the school’s programs are designed to combine the best features of traditional education with Internet based, online and recorded instruction.” We stand by this statement. The program included what we at NWCU consider to be the best features of traditional brick-and-mortar schools, with more innovative technological capabilities and online, distance education. For example, the school uses the same outstanding casebooks and curricular materials that traditional schools use; has excellent, experienced law professors who teach regular real-time classes – but classes are online so that students can participate form anywhere in the world; utilizes similar assignments such as learning of legal terminology, briefing cases, and taking exams; and NWCU professors provide individualized feedback to our students. Student Allegation: “The students waited until midterm exams were graded to signup for the final exams. It took over four weeks to receive the midterm grades. This delay wasted valuable time.”School’s Response: The student was not required to wait for midterm grades prior to requesting final exam grades. His choice to do so did, indeed, waste valuable time. Since he submitted midterms during the four-week window in which he was required to take final exams, he was running very late in completing his course requirements within the allowed time period.While the school allows students to submit midterms at any time during their year of studies, so long as they submit midterms prior to requesting final exams, it is recommended that they submit midterm exams during the 7th-8th month of their studies. For this student, that would have meant submitting midterms sometime between late March and early May; he submitted his midterms on August 27 and 28, just 2 ½ weeks before his year if studies ended. Student Allegation: “The school states in its advertisement that it has ‘discussion boards’ to provide communication between students and faculty members.”School’s Response: This is true. NWCU has discussion boards on which both professors and students may post. Professors typically post questions about legal issues, and students respond, thereby facilitating learning by allowing a dialogue between them. Additionally, students may post questions and receive a response from a professor. Student Allegation: “Yet no communication to the student about the exam requirement was given to him.”School’s Response: This is not true. As already covered, this student was given many communications about deadlines, including the deadline for his final exams. Student Allegation: “NWCU advertisement states that remoteness of location would not prevent individuals from studying law. This means that NWCU advertised education to remote location. Remote location education implies that NWCU would do more to communicate to students farther away than student closer.”School’s Response: There is no implication that NWCU would communicate “better” with students farther away than it does to students who live closer. The school provides clear communication to all its students regardless of their location. What is meant by the statement that “remoteness of location … would not prevent deserving individuals from studying law” is that students who live far away may enroll and receive the same quality education as students who are nearby. Student Allegation: “NWCU stated that it has a ‘proven record of success’ yet when the student looked up the record after NWCU did not honor its contract the record showed that NWCU has poor record of success.”School’s Response: This allegation is untrue. With regard to the student’s contract with NWCU, the school fully honored its contract. NWCU provided the student with a full year of its educational program as agreed. The enrollment contract clearly stated the 52-week time limit for each year of studies, the student exceeded the time limit, and he was therefore administratively dismissed from the program.As to the school’s record of success, we stand by the statement that the school has “a proven record of success.” NWCU students’ pass rates are published on the “Bar Examination Statistics” of the school website, as well as on the website of the State Bar of California. Further, NWCU fully discloses its statistics to all enrolling students, as is required by the State Bar of California. This disclosure was sent to the subject as part of his enrollment contract, and on August 25, 2014, the student signed an acknowledgment that he received it. Yours truly,[redacted]Academic Dean EnclosuresNWCU enrollment contractEmail to student with deadline dates (names redacted)