Student to school: ‘You messed up my transcript!’
April 24, 2010 by Taylor HanniganPosted in: From the Courts, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
A student said his transcript didn’t list all his completed courses and got a grade wrong. So why did he lose his lawsuit?
Christopher Amaechi said his transcripts at the University of Kentucky (UK) didn’t include courses he completed at other schools. He also said the transcript wrongfully indicated he’d received a grade of “W” for a course he took at UK.
Amaechi sued UK and three members of its board of trustees, accusing them of violating his rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. He added claims under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and state law.
But he hit a hurdle that he did not clear: the immunity defense. As a state university, the Eleventh Amendment immunized the school and the board members from Amaechi’s claims. The court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state law claims.
Cite: Amaechi v. University of Kentucky.
Should state schools be immune to a claim like this? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
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April 28th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Why should a transcript from one school show courses completed at another school? He should get a transcript from each school he attended. Did the transcript get changed on the course he received a “W” in? Or was the school correct? Not enough information in the summary.
April 29th, 2010 at 9:43 am
In 40 years of teaching and advising I’ve handled thousands of transcripts. Rarely have I seen grades entered in error. Yet that does happen. In a kinder, gentler time a student dropped by after the Christmas break (or is it Winter Solstice Observation these days). I’d gotten off a line in entering grades on the old optically-scanned forms and given him an ‘F’. Did he litigate? No, he simply wanted me to know so that I could correct it. Wasn’t this ‘A’ student concerned? Not really, he recognized a mistake when he saw it and gave the institution an opportunity to correct it.
Disputes over transfer credit, on the other hand, are numerous and should be dealt with by the transcript evaluator at the student’s institution. Not everything taken comes from accredited schools and there is a difference in the treatment of technical credit (some junior college and most trade school work) and academic coursework. Often there are limits on transfer hours accepted. Conversely, residency requirements at the institution may trump counting every transfer hour. And, yes, they do usually have to appear (in some form) on the student’s transcript from his present institution. Review and clearance for graduation is done by the institution’s computerized student information system and everything must be accounted for in some digital document whether it’s called a transcript or a degree plan.
May 7th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
I am going back to school after 20+ years. Just sent my daughter through 4 years as a single mom.
Big decision, excitement, etc. Requested transcripts from community colleges (2) that I attended.
One was a-ok. The next, apparently, is in error! I save EVERYTHING and have my grades from 20 years ago, in a file. 2 of my “C” grades in the transcripts were reported as “F” and my “B” was reported as a “B-”. It’s crazy! They had to go back into microfiche to pull my grades for the transcripts, and I am just hoping everything is straightened out quickly! I wish I knew what to do, I certainly don’t have a “certified” report from 1987, but I have it and it does not concur with my “official” transcripts. I am certainly not looking to take an algebra course over again, and also suffer the reduction in my gpa. Does anybody have advice on this? My calls have yet to be returned from the school.
July 8th, 2010 at 1:01 am
I have a C in English on a transcript from a semester when I also received a certificate from the dean congratulating me for being on his list. Being on the deans list would have been impossible with that C. Still, nothing I can do as far as I know. All of those records were destroyed in a fire. I have a D from an institution where I only took one class in political science. I had always believed that I had an A. Transcripts aren’t sent without a request, and only one transcript is ever free in a student’s time at an institution. Teachers come and go, and nobody knows…
August 1st, 2010 at 8:05 pm
I took 3 Semesters of classes at George C. Wallace Community College in Selma Al, from May 2005 through spring of 2006. On the last Semester I was signed up for two classes with the help of a Student advisor. I needed someone to guide my through the courses I should take having had no knowledge of what to take myself and having no family members who had ever been to college. One class was a Math 98 and the other was a public speaking class. I had already made a 96 in a pre-cal class the semester before. I was under the impression that the math 98 class was the next highest math I was supposed to take. When I arrived to the class I realized it was the equivalent of a middle school math class. I canceled the class along with my public speaking class due to the misguidance of the student advisor. I no longer wanted to chance my future with the school being as how they were ignorant and misleading when it came to academic guidance. I received my refund and kept the receipts for a short time before throwing them away in the ignorance and trusting of my youth.
I did not try to re-attend a college for 2 years after that due to financial difficulties and the inability to receive government help due to my parent’s wealth and income. My parents being people who don’t believe in helping their children threw school. I am now 24 and a complete dependent of the state. I am eligible for FASF and government aid. My parent’s income is no longer a variable in deciding my future. So I give my information to Jefferson State who informs me threw registration that my GPA from G. C. Wallace was a 2.6 when it should have been a 3.8. After reviewing my transcript I discovered that neither one of my canceled classes had been dropped. I had received zeros in both and had went from an A student to a C- student threw the errors of a Ignorant community college. I filed for a grade appeal but the dean said it was impossible to make a change after 2 years. I want to be a doctor so I must have a High GPA in order to attend med. school. I now have to acquire an attorney at a rate of $180 per hour. This is breaking me since I do not make but 12$ an hour and I live on my own and have fully supported myself since high school. I am intelligent but I will probably never get to be a doctor now or do anything with my life due to the errors of this community college. There should be ways for things like this to be settled without so much hardship on a student who is trying to better themselves and their future. DO NOT ASSUME BECAUSE IT IS A COLLEGE THAT IT DOES NOT MAKE ERRORS. TRUST NO ONE IN LIFE AND YOU’LL NEVER BE LET DOWN. I will now use my dedication to ruin the credibility of this school much like they have ruined my life.
Chase Jones
August 2nd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Chase, go to the school financial aid office and ask how to apply properly for FAFSA and ANY and ALL state grants and aid for community college students. Re-take the classes you have the bad grades in. Your GPA will repair itself if you do that. As soon as you get your GPA back up, apply to a four-year university. If you apply to a public university, your fees should be lower. If you apply to a private university, your cost of attendance will be higher, but the process for getting in is less rigid. Don’t necessarily listen to the advisors at the community college about how many classes you need to take. If I had listened to them, it would have taken me another two years. Don’t take too many classes at once. Protect your GPA. AS SOON AS YOU HAVE As ON YOUR TRANSCRIPT, TRY TO TRANSFER. If you aren’t accepted, then you can continue on the path of classes listed for “transfer students” or you can ask the university what they suggest you do to gain admission. When you are accepted to university you can apply for federal grants and loans, and take out additional loans if necessary (totally normal). Don’t let this break you. Be happy that you are finally 24 and your parents cannot hold you back financially anymore. But also realize that in about a blink you’re going to be 27, and then 30 and so on. Get moving. This economy is so paltry. Get back in school. You could have a degree by the time you’re 27 and you will be a different person. You need a degree. Go get it. As for the crappy school – giving them a bad reputation isn’t going to make most people travel far away to attend a different community college. Schools know they have students between a rock and a hard place. Students cannot really appeal anything. They are just stuck with whatever the college decides, in my experience. Lesson learned: request records and keep them safe AND don’t assume anyone will help you. Don’t give up. The jobs your parents and family friends did will not be here when you think you will be working. ALSO: if you want to be a doctor, I recently read this article about GETTING INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL WITHOUT HARD SCIENCE at the New York Times website http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/nyregion/30medschools.html
Good luck.
September 15th, 2010 at 12:49 am
I’m having a transcript issue as well but mine isn’t so extreme. I enrolled in a community college fall/2006 semester. I was taking 4 evening classes, each from 6:00pm-10:00pm, as well as working 8:00am-5:30pm mon-sat. When classes first started I noticed I was extremely fatigued but chalked it up to the extra late nights of class/homework. Within a couple of weeks I learned that my husband and I were expecting our first child. Fearing I would end up missing classes from constantly having morning sickness accompanied by the 1st trimester sleepiness, I decided to drop two of the four classes to avoid having my grades suffer. Fast forward to fall/2010 and I’m just now going back to the same college. At enrollment I found out that one of the two classes I dropped shows on my transcript as an F. I realize that I can take the course again and the F won’t play a factor in my gpa but it will still stay on my transcript. Yeah I know a W isn’t great but an F is worse! The other class I dropped shows W so I don’t know where they went wrong. I have no proof so that makes me even more annoyed with myself. The assistant to the registrar was nice but said it couldn’t be changed. I hate having an F knowing I dropped the class. I plan on asking for a dispute form but I’m not very optimistic. Ohhhh and the same office that I used to drop the classes is the same office that misplaced my tax returns in 06 and I just received a letter today saying they don’t have my high school transcripts. Well theysaid that my file is “incomplete” and that I need to bring the official transcripts AGAIN. Not that this matters but after having the school look back I did pay for the “F” class out of pocket. I don’t want my money back I just want that nasty F gone! Good luck to everyone else with transcript issues!