[Source CNN]

Alumna sues college because she hasn't found a job

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A recent college graduate is suing her alma mater for $72,000 -- the full cost of her tuition and then some -- because she cannot find a job.

Trina Thompson has sued her alma mater, Monroe College of New York.

Trina Thompson, 27, of the Bronx, graduated from New York's Monroe College in April with a bachelor of business administration degree in information technology.

On July 24, she filed suit against the college in Bronx Supreme Court, alleging that Monroe's "Office of Career Advancement did not help me with a full-time job placement. I am also suing them because of the stress I have been going through."

The college responded that it offers job-search support to all its students.

In her complaint, Thompson says she seeks $70,000 in reimbursement for her tuition and $2,000 to compensate for the stress of her three-month job search.

As Thompson sees it, any reasonable employer would pounce on an applicant with her academic credentials, which include a 2.7 grade-point average and a solid attendance record. But Monroe's career-services department has put forth insufficient effort to help her secure employment, she claims.

"They're supposed to say, 'I got this student, her attendance is good, her GPA is all right -- can you interview this person?' They're not doing that," she said.

Thompson said she has fulfilled her end of the job-search bargain, peppering companies listed on Monroe's e-recruiting site with cover letters, résumés and phone calls. But no more than two employers have responded to her outreach, and those leads have borne no fruit.

Her complaint adds, "The office of career advancement information technology counselor did not make sure their Monroe e-recruiting clients call their graduates that recently finished college for an interview to get a job placement. They have not tried hard enough to help me."

She suggested that Monroe's Office of Career Advancement shows preferential treatment to students with excellent grades. "They favor more toward students that got a 4.0. They help them more out with the job placement," she said. iReport.com: "Don't sue your alma mater"

Monroe College released a statement saying that "while it is clear that no college, especially in this economy, can guarantee employment, Monroe College remains committed to working with all its students, including Ms. Thompson, who graduated only three months ago, to prepare them for careers and to support them during their job search."

Thompson says she has not hired an attorney to represent her because she cannot afford one. When she filed her complaint, she also filed a "poor person order," which exempts her from filing fees associated with the lawsuit.

Asked whether she would advise other college graduates facing job woes to sue their alma maters, Thompson said yes.

"It doesn't make any sense: They went to school for four years, and then they come out working at McDonald's and Payless. That's not what they planned."

I'm sorry but this woman is an idiot.

• It can easily take longer than 3 months to find a job
• Good attendance isn't exactly something I would be proud of
• 2.7 isn't a good GPA
• College's aren't required to find you a job.

I mean, I guess if you're that much of a moron to think a lawsuit like this will work and then think a company will hire a lawsuit happy employee I guess a 2.7 GPA would be high for that person, but anyone else, good luck.

I'm sure she spent all of two hours peppering companies with her poorly written cover letter and resume and she expects them to hire her over someone with at least a 3+ GPA?

I love how she also pretty much says by asking for her entire tuition back that the entire education was worthless and cannot be used.  That's another thing an employer would love to see!

Is this for real? This whole suing thing is getting out of control.

Wouldn't this kind of behaviour scare potential employers off?

Frivolous lawsuits are really annoying.

Is this a joke or something? She's suing because it's been 3 months and she's not making tons of money yet? She had DECENT (not even particularly impressive) grades, and is complaining that people that worked harder than her, and are more qualified than her get preferential treatment from employers? This is sickening. If I see this lazy ass "entitlement" generation slack ass, I'm going to punch her in the face.

I wouldn't hire this woman.

• It's odd.  For some people, finding a job takes 2 weeks.  For others it can take months and months.  Just depends on the credentials.
• Good attendance is worth being proud of whether it be in school or on the job.  It's not exactly a huge resume booster though.
• 2.7 isn't a good GPA but what was her in-major GPA?  I know a lot of people who have 2.x GPAs overall but 4.0s in their major.  It just means that they're really interested in their field and not-so-much anything else.  It's a mixed message, but it's something to consider.
• A University has a statistic known as a placement rate which is in essence a promise to the student.  If the University brags about a high placement rate and doesn't actually have one then there are grounds for misrepresentation so things can get a little fuzzy in that area.

I also think this woman is an idiot and expect her to get laughed at in court simply because the possible precedents a case like this could set if anything else happened are scary.

My company won't even look at you unless you have like a 3.5 GPA or higher. (which, I find somewhat bothersome as I know lots of people who shaped up in grad school and had excellent GPA then, but blew it in undergrad)

Anyways she can toss ever getting a job if this really hits the news, I'd never hire a sue happy person just because they didn't get what they wanted but didn't work for it.

Completely agree that good attendance is something to be proud of but what idiot would put that on their resume?  Does she also tell all her potential employers that she got the perfect attendance award in High School too thinking they actually care?

I'm assuming her best GPA is 2.7 (of course this is assuming she's smart to realize she could just put her in-major GPA) and a 2.7 GPA isn't something I would go around bragging about.  Anything lower than a 3.0 I wouldn't even consider putting on my resume and even a 3.0 is pushing it for some jobs (as nordlead pointed out).  If you're doing an engineering degree and you don't have a 3.5 or better, you just leave off your GPA (or at least it's that way where I come from).

Also, even if the college boasts a 99% placement rate, that doesn't mean you're automatically going to get a job.  I'm sure if they said they have a 100% placement rate and you are absolutely garaunteed a job upon graduation then maybe, *maybe*, she would have cause to bitch, but otherwise, someone had to be in that 1% not placed.

Also, lol3months.

-edit-

And I'm not trying to say someone with a 2.7GPA can't find a job, they just have to try harder and wait longer than 3 months in most cases.  The site she gets all her sources from are being hammered by everyone else in the same boat as her and the people with higher GPA's.  Assuming they are trying just as hard as her, the people with higher GPA's are probably going to get the jobs first.  She gets the scraps (assuming she only uses the sources they give).