Lawsuits originally filed by former students of Mountain State University over that school’s loss of accreditation have entered into a second round of mediation.

The lawsuits were filed when Mountain State University first lost accreditation for its Nursing program, then lost accreditation for the entire school.  The University closed shortly afterwards and was taken over by the University of Charleston.  Former students sued the school over tuition and other costs for a program that was now worthless in both their academic and professional careers.

Hundreds of these lawsuits were later transferred to West Virginia’s mass litigation panel, which referred them to mediation in August of 2013.  Lawsuits continue to join the panel, most citing fraud and breach of contract, and the panel sent the entire mass of suits back to mediation for a second time.  The second mediation round is scheduled for late March 2014.

The loss of accreditation does not invalidate credits earned in the Nursing Program or other majors at the former Mountain State University, but these credits may not be viewed as entirely legitimate by other institutions or employers.  The students have sued on this basis, as well as the fact that tuition continued to be accepted even when loss of accreditation must have been known by the school administrators.