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University of Akron pays $550,000 to 12 students after letting program accreditation lapse—Akron Beacon Journal

The University of Akron last week paid $550,000 to settle a lawsuit with 12 former students whose dual therapy and counseling doctoral program lost one of its two accreditations before they graduated. …

“When you have a PhD that’s accredited in two different fields, obviously your career opportunities are going to be different,” the plaintiffs’ lead attorney Peter Pattakos said. …

[T]he settlement provides some relief for the 12 doctoral students, who were all nearing the end of their programs and had invested years of time and money into the dual PhD program but left with only one accredited degree.

“We’re grateful that the university has acknowledged that our clients were wronged here and a settlement of this size is a substantial recognition of the wrong that was done,” Pattakos said. “We were grateful that we were able to resolve this with the university.”

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