Federal Judge Approves $5.5 Million Settlement In Temple U.S. News Rankings Scandal

Following up on my previous posts (links below): Wall Street Journal, Temple University Settles Suit Over Fudged Data on M.B.A. Ranking:

Temple University will pay nearly $5.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by current and former business-school students after the university acknowledged that its online M.B.A. program’s top spot in a nationwide ranking was based on false data.

Under the terms of the settlement, for which a federal judge issued a preliminary approval Thursday, Temple will pay $4 million to students and alumni of its online masters of business administration program.

An additional $1.475 million will go toward students from other Fox Business School programs for which the university said it also submitted incorrect data to U.S. News & World Report for its annual rankings.

The Philadelphia university admitted no liability or wrongdoing as part of the settlement. Temple said after a preliminary agreement was reached last month that it chose to settle because it was in the best interests of the university and its students. University officials declined to comment further after the judge’s decision.

Temple’s Fox School of Business was rated No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report for its online M.B.A program four years running, including 2018, until it disclosed to the magazine last year that employees had inflated student admissions-exam figures. The admission triggered an investigation that found rankings data had been misreported for six additional programs, including the Fox School’s executive M.B.A. and several specialized master’s degrees.

Prior TaxProf Blog posts:

• Rankings Scandal Unfolds At Temple Business School (Jan. 29, 2018)
• Temple Business School Dean Fired For Knowingly Submitting False Data To Inflate U.S. News Ranking Over Several Years (July 10, 2018)
• After Temple Admitted That Its Business School Misreported Data To Goose Its Ranking, U.S. News Demands Certification Of Other Schools' Data (Including Law School) (July 12, 2018)
• Temple’s Ranking Scandal Spreads To Six Additional Programs; University Also Admits To Three Errors In The Data It Submitted For Its Undergraduate College Ranking (July 30, 2018)
• WSJ: Temple Rankings Scandal Spotlights MBA Grads’ Swelling Debt (Sept. 7, 2018)
• Temple Reaches $5.5 Million Settlement In U.S. News Rankings Scandal (Dec. 24, 2018)