Nearly 200 students sue Overland Park-based Wright Career College

Nearly 200 former and current students of Wright Career College have signed onto a lawsuit accusing the Overland Park-based school of fraud and misrepresentation.

The initial lawsuit was filed about a year ago in Jackson County Circuit Court by four former students against Mission Group Kansas Inc., a nonprofit corporation doing business as Wright Career College. The lawsuit was amended last week to add 195 students and former students from Wright’s five campuses in Overland Park; Wichita; Oklahoma City; Tulsa, Okla.; and Omaha, Neb.

The lawsuit contends that Wright “purposefully enticed prospective students to enroll and apply for student loans they cannot pay back through a systematic, deceptive marketing scheme” conducted through publication and television advertisements and school enrollment advisers.

It also says Wright deceived students about the true cost of attending, the value of the school’s accreditation, the quality and reputation of its academic programs, and the employment prospects graduates could expect.

Mission Group Kansas denied the allegations.

“Wright Career College ... strongly refutes the absurd allegations contained in the lawsuit,” said Stacia G. Boden, general counsel for Mission Group Kansas.

Boden said the school’s programs have been approved by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools and the Kansas Board of Regents.

The regents give private, nonprofit schools like Wright approval to operate in the state. Wright is governed by its own independent board of directors.

“The college has resources that it offers to all of its graduates to be successful,” Boden said. “It has never promised nor guaranteed employment after graduation. A graduate’s success depends in large part on the decisions they make and actions they take in their professional and personal lives.”

She said the college would vigorously defend its 30-year reputation.

Andrew Smith, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, said his firm, Humphrey, Farrington & McClain in Independence, maintains that the school targets vulnerable, low-income, urban residents with visions of improving their standing in life. Smith said school officials helped students apply for federal loans that cover the cost of the tuition. “But students don’t get what they bargained for,” Smith said. “It is the perfect scheme.”

The plaintiffs want Wright to refund their tuition. They also seek unspecified punitive damages.

This story was originally published October 12, 2014 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Nearly 200 students sue Overland Park-based Wright Career College."