LOS ANGELES — The University of Southern California's education school was sued Tuesday by former students who claim that officials violated state law by falsely advertising the graduate program's high online degree ranking, which was based in part on fraudulent data submitted to U.S. News & World Report's college rating list.
The class-action lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that USC and 2U Inc., a technology company hired by the university to recruit students and provide technical support for its online programs, "aggressively advertised" the Rossier School of Education's "fraudulent" rankings to bolster enrollment in online offerings.
"People certainly paid a premium given how expensive the school is," said Kristen Simplicio, an attorney representing the students. "That ranking was one of the reasons that school was able to charge as much as it did."
