Unemployed Woman Sues College for $70,000
An unemployed New York woman is suing her alma mater because she can’t find a job.
Trina Thompson graduated in April with a bachelors degree in IT. She claims her college did not deliver on its promises and is suing for $70,000 of tuition.
Really lady? Suing your college because you haven’t found a job in (gasp !) four whole months? Because you’re unemployed in the worst recession in decades? While lifelong employees are being kicked to the curb?
Alright Ms. Thompson. If you can sue Monroe college for your joblessness, I’d like to sue some people, places and things in my life that didn’t exactly “deliver on their promises.”
People to Sue
• My seventh grade art teacher, for falsely telling me I had artistic talent (and for seating me next to batsh*t crazy Jamie Wilkinson).
• My childhood piano teacher. Ten years of lessons and no Grammy. Never wrote a piece from beginning to end. Can’t even sing while playing. Mrs. Givens, you really did a number on me.
• My former swim coach. Year after year in the pool for two hours a day, five days a week – all I ever had to show for it was chlorine-damaged hair and a strong distaste for exercise.
• My parents, for making me just 5’3″ while my brother stands a whopping 6’2”. WTF?
• Speak of the devil, my big brother, for teasing me as a child, resulting in the development of various unfounded insecurities.
• The United Kingdom, for seeming way more interesting (and sophisticated) in the movies and television.
• Stride gum. You last a reasonably long time, but by no means is your longevity “ridiculous.”
• That shooting star I saw in 1997 — still waiting for that wish to come true.
• God, for not literally answering my prayers, for the recurrence of natural disasters and for the general misery of the human condition. Oh wait, someone already did that!
Who would you sue?
OMG, this is ohhh too good. THANK YOU for sharing. Well written, shocking and entertaining!
While on some points I agree with you – I mean how many of us are out of work? I also happen to side with Ms. Thompson. She’s suing because her Career Services office at her school is basically useless. And no kidding. How many Career Services offices at schools across the country are equally useless? How many don’t answer the phone, pass you around to others in the office until they can “forget” about you? How many people chose their school in part because of the promise of help finding a job? Even in a GOOD economy people have a hard time getting help from their college’s Career Services office. Or maybe that’s just my experience and the experience of everyone I’ve ever talked about it with.
Good, time to hold those “academic” institutions accountable. They all sell the naive and ignorant the implied notion that in order to get a “job”, one must obtain a degree (costing thousands) with the a fiduciary duty and implied guarantee that one will be able to use their degree to obtain employment. If one cannot find employment within a reasonable length of time, then a lawsuit is in order. Especially for those “tech” schools, i.e., medical “assistants”, chefs, forensic studies, etc…. including genuine 2-4 year earned degree programs. It is high time we hold those “academic” institutions to the fire for false advsertising, fraudulent inducement and using tactics to woo 20 somethings to massive loan debt, lies, and bloated statistics.
Very interesting piece…right now there is a discussion on FiredUpNetwork about the pros/cons of getting advanced degrees, specifically MBAs and JDs. It’s worth checking out: https://firedupnetwork.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=75 and https://firedupnetwork.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=80
If you can’t get a job, you can’t blame your school. You can blame the economy. You can blame yourself for going to an unimpressive school. But don’t blame the school.
Makes no difference “impressive” “school” or not. what is the reason to go to a school nowadays? No one is hiring, if they are hired it is mostly based on cronyism, nepotism, having the right last name, buddy system, and ageism. Substance and merit do NOT matter in the rigged employment search pogo stick.
Many “colleges”, and “schools” purport in their glossy brochures and catelogs about earning a job with a “degree” from that “great” school, college etc….–which is blantantly false, misleading, and fraudulent. It is about time someone (other than a california candy-ass) sue an “academic” institution for fraudulent inducement. Nice to see an individual with testicles/ovaries instead of sheeple. Rock on and sue those “academics” who sell the notion of a college “degree”–useless waste of time and money as many are now finding out.
Going into debt for a degree in order to qualify for a dead-end job is like gambling in a casino.
Amen, dude. or better yet, betting on the 30-1 shot at good ‘ol Del Mar.
I would like to sue my narcissistic asshole ex for wasting 8 years of my life. However, I would give half of whatever I got back to him just for doing me the favor of sparing me any additional wasted years and finally doing what I didn’t have the balls to do.
Monroe college charges $5800 in tuition per semester for a full class load. It appears that Trina is asking for more than her tuition.
Perhaps, punitive damages too? good for her. most schooling is waste anyway.
YES! Absolutely brilliant. Heard about this. What a craze.
…not to say that we wouldn’t like to sue a little educational instiution of our own…
Thanks for continuing to make us laugh!
~the ramendiaries girls
Ramendiaries.blogspot.com
No one is hiring since we are in a depression–govt. of labor info biased and underreported labor stats re: unemployment. Who in right mind would go/continue to go to “college” or “schooling” for a non-existent job “market”.
I have recently found myself unemployed (only a 45 day member of the club) I just stumbled on your blog and it’s great!
I personally would like to sue either my hairdresser from when I was 5 for not preparing me for Olympic stardom since I distinctly remember my mother asking her to give me the “Dorothy Hamill” haircut. Or, perhaps Dorothy Hamill herself for misrepresenting what this hair cut could do for me.
Not sure of the statute of limitations but, I guess I may have missed the boat on this?!
My Unemployment Blog
Why do so many people and “academic” institutions purport that one must go to school to get a job when this a a farce and not correct. Who is getting jobs these days, most companies are in hiring freezes, or hire based on buddy system, nepotism, or cronyism. The job market is dead in the USA. Colleges, schools and other “institututions” of hiring learning MUST give strong caveats and warnings (similar to ciggarettes) prior to signing your life away in never-ending student loans and no response job hell. Welcome to the USA–boomers still working, will never retire, and no job turnover, combined with hiring freezes and more mergers/bankruptcies—welcome to the depression 2010-style.
I’d sue my parents. After all, I DID NOT ask to be born. Jeez.
maybe you should sue your parents, the boomers are not retiring, even at 65-70 yo they are STILL working FT?! No jobs=more unemployment, more foreclosures, more bankruptcies maybe it is time to go to kenya and do the boogie woogie (dancing) with Billary Cliton. The country is in a depression, govt. stats are biased and unreporting the severity of the grave situation, but heck, those student loans are due each month pay em or else. Change you can believe in=a change in employment status.
And did you see her GPA? Not like she was setting the world on fire academically. Another example of someone wanting life handed to them on a plate.
80% of all engineering and science grad students in US Colleges are foreign students on a visa. Unrefutable proof that America’s young generation is unwilling to compete at world class levels. B.A. degrees rarely succeed in tough economic times. A EE with above 3.5 GPA can virtually walk in and start the same day.
Of course lots of these guys start their own company if nobody is hiring. Its all in the value you can produce. You will never fool a seasoned businessman who lives with this fact every day. Trina is delusional, she thinks she is up to par with others doing the job but obviously isn’t or she would have a job. Has she designed any systems or made any inovations, projects to show her skills? Would you want Trina to be your neurolgist or pilot? Her attitude is for losers, and if you agree with her you will be joining her at some point in you life.
then how do you explain all the billion dollar (tax-payer) bail-outs/welfare to corporations and to aid/assist companies with CEOs, CFOs, extra who created junk (i.e.i american cars==plastic junk), that attitude is for losers, and perhaps all those companies, mutual fraud companies, junky american car companies will be joining “trina” as they sue everyone for everything to get ahead in this sinking ship called the usa.
She should sue Pres. Clinton for signing NAFTA… Outsourcing really helped the American people…SIKE!
Ahhhhhh….such a refreshing snapshot of reality. I wonder if I should sue my parents because they were both teachers before they retired. While I am at it…I think I should sue myself, because I was unemployed for a year and a half and went back into the field of education. Ya! That’s it! I will sue myself!
Very comical. While school may not help you land a job, it teaches you about life in many ways. If I had to do it over again though, I wouldn’t pay for school. I’d rather go to the school of hard knocks!
“The United Kingdom, for seeming way more interesting (and sophisticated) in the movies and television.”
LOL. Perhaps I can sue Hollywood for portraying the UK in a very unrealistic manner?
Seriously though, I really cannot fathom what she was hoping to achieve by this. Win or lose, she has set her unemployability in stone. I can’t imagine that many graduate jobs are open to someone who is proven to sue at the drop of a hat. What happens when she feels that she’s not getting promoted quickly enough?
And my hours of bass guitar lessons never made me a rockstar! It’s shocking!! I loved this article, thanks for brightening my day.
I’ve been a graduate for 6 months and am yet to land my dream job, but I can’t see that I’d be more likely to find it if I wasted a lot of time and money taking my uni to court! Instead I have sought help from ‘the professionals’. The Graduate Recruitment Bureau (www.grb.uk.com) in particular have been fantastic, from CV advice, to interview coaching, and now they’ve even offered me a temp job to gain more experience whilst I continue searching for the elusive ‘dream job’. If your uni or college careers service is letting you down then just look elsewhere! This lady is wasting her time, and damaging any hope she had of finding a job in the middle of a recession!
Hi I heard about this story on another blog. It looks like this is terrible on the face of it. What about all the other jobseekers who have been successful in obtaining a job?
I am sure if we all took this attitude, there would not be very many universities left to go to! As a media graduate I know how difficult it is to get a job but I would never even contemplate suing my university because of my inability to get a job. What about all those on her course who did manage to get a job?