Former Master Of Social Work Students Are Suing USC

Former University of Southern California (USC) Master of Social Work (MSW) students are suing the university over claims that it did not provide students in the online program with the education promised. The suit is being brought by the Project on Predatory Student Lending (PPSL), a non-profit legal aid organization that represents students in cases like this.

USC has, along with for-profit company 2U, run a Master of Social Work program that has grown rapidly since 2010, when it had around 300 students per cohort, to over 3,000 per cohort today. Most of this growth has come from online-only students. The suit alleges that USC told students that its online and in-person programs were the same and then delivered an inferior experience to online students in which the educational quality and support were more limited.

In a press release, Eileen Connor, President and Director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending, said that “USC used its brand to deliberately deceive unsuspecting students to create a ‘cash cow’ through its inferior online MSW program at students’ expense.”

In addition to concerns about the high cost, the suit alleges various other problems with the program. The suit claims that USC marketed its MSW program as being taught by the same faculty as its in-person program when most instructors were adjunct faculty who did not teach in the in-person program. The program also tells students that clinical placements and other support services are provided by USC when they are actually run by 2U. Finally, the suit suggests that program marketing targeted students of color for recruitment, as they were viewed as more likely to enroll.

Students represented by the suit feel as if they were deceived. “When I found out the truth about this program and just how much USC lied to us, I was livid. The fact that the MSW program was used as a moneymaker and to deceive people like myself and the communities that I come from is not okay, and something needs to be done because people continue to be recruited,” said Stephanie Luna, a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Luna is Mexican-American and a first-generation college student.

USC’s MSW program has come under fire for several years for offering an expensive degree that may not lead to earnings large enough for students to make a dent in the vast debts they often take on to pay for the program. For example, the median salary for a social worker with a master’s degree range from just over $40,000 to a little under $60,000, depending on the area of practice. Students who took out federal student loans to pay for the USC program borrowed a median of $112,000.

Master’s programs have, over the past decade, become money-spinners for schools trying to increase revenue. Universities like USC, with valuable brands, have worked with Online Program Managers (OPMs) like 2U to start programs that often seem to offer lower educational quality than their more traditional on-campus offerings while charging just as much tuition. Many contracts between the OPMs and colleges pay the OPMs a share of tuition revenue in exchange for recruiting students, designing course content, and in some cases, helping provide instruction to students.

This suit is not the first indicator that all is not well with programs like USC’s MSW. In 2022, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) delivered a report analyzing the role OPMs play in higher education. The report found that OPM contracts were on the rise, many included payment provisions that might violate federal regulations, and the Department of Education was doing too little to monitor the arrangements.

Luna noted that what she and other students were being taught seemed in conflict with USC’s approach. “We were taught that as social workers, our job is to advocate for people who don’t have voices and who are from underserved communities, so to have USC preach these values while lying to our faces and taking advantage of us is so hypocritical.”

Online program managers, such as 2U, have claimed they provide vital funds for universities to start online programs with limited risk to the institutions themselves. Advocates for greater accountability view OPMs as drivers of predatory recruitment tactics that come with reputational costs to colleges and might be driving up tuition prices.

Analysis from the Urban Institute has shown that Master’s degrees that lead to high debt and low earnings are particularly prevalent at private non-profit universities like USC. In addition, the Urban analysis showed that degrees that led to high levels of debt and low wages were particularly prevalent in fields like social work and counseling. However, the report also showed that debt levels were significantly lower for programs run by public colleges, leaving students with much more reasonable debt-to-earning levels.

When asked to comment on the suit, USC provided a university statement, saying, “We haven’t been served but will review the lawsuit in detail when we receive it.”

Connors said, “Our clients believed they’d enrolled in a prestigious, reputable, non-profit university but instead wound up in an expensive diploma mill. They paid an unjustifiably high price for a program that was promised to be the same as the on-campus version when it was run by a for-profit education company. Students were lied to and now are standing up and fighting back.”

How the suit plays out, along with ongoing oversight from the Department of Education and Congress, will play a significant role in shaping the future landscape for graduate-level programs supported by OPMs.