Mount Marty grads sue over failed accreditation

Six graduates of Mount Marty College are suing the school after learning that the Yankton school's nascent nurse practitioner's program failed to earn accreditation.

The college learned May 19 that the program will be denied accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. That was five months after the program's first class graduated.

Those 18 students and another graduate from May now cannot be licensed as nurse practitioners.

They will need to complete additional coursework through a different institution to earn an accredited degree.

Six of the 19 graduates sued Friday in Minnehaha County, one day after the college issued a news release about the denial of accreditation.

"Defendants failed to disclose that eligibility to sit for the nurse practitioner licensing examinations, and working as nurse practitioners, depends upon graduating from an accredited nurse practitioner program," the lawsuit says.

The school failed to disclose in its marketing materials that it didn't obtain pre-approval from the accrediting agency and "implied" that the program was accredited, the lawsuit contends. The students learned it was not accredited after being accepted, taking out student loans and started classes.

Susan Kaslow, the school's vice president of academic affairs, said the accreditation decision has been "devastating" for the graduates.

"They have kids, they have bills," she said. "These aren't your typical 18- to 22-year-old college students."

Nurse practitioner programs cannot be accredited until the first class graduates, said Mount Marty spokesperson Kristi Tacke.

The school began offering the program in January 2011. The accrediting agency visited the college in November to study the program and identified two issues: a short staff and inadequate meeting and office space.

Since that visit, the college has hired another full-time clinical coordinator and leased space from Avera hospital. Kaslow said the college sent a letter to accrediting commission saying it intended to address the issues, but admits it could have been more explicit about its plans.

Upon learning about the accreditation denial, Kaslow said, the school was told it could appeal at a cost of $10,000 and wait six months or look to other schools to see whether a transfer of credits is possible.

An appeal proceeding wouldn't allow the college to present evidence of improvements, Kaslow said, so the school intends to apply for re-accreditation, an 18-month process.

How to help the graduates and current students is an open question.

The college has been trying to find other schools that will allow the graduates to transfer credits and fill in coursework to earn post master's certificates, which would allow them to be licensed as practitioners.

One man and five women who already graduated filed their lawsuit Friday. They allege that the college assured them that they would be able to get to work once they completed their studies.

"If plaintiffs want to work as nurse practitioners, they will have to pay for and retake all of the classes that will not transfer to other schools that have an accredited nurse-practitioner program," the lawsuit says.

Tacke declined to comment on specific allegations in the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages.

Michael Bornitz, the Sioux Falls lawyer representing the plaintiffs, also declined to comment.