The Chicago School of Professional Psychology had been Elizabeth Schmidt's first choice when she began considering graduate school. And six months after submitting her application, she was accepted into its doctoral program.
At least sort of.
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In spring 2008, a school official called Schmidt to say she had been admitted to the institution's new Los Angeles branch and could join its first class of students. Until that call, Schmidt didn't even know the well-regarded Chicago School had a California campus.
"(It's) just like the program offered at the Chicago campus, only warmer," Schmidt recalled Dr. Michele Nealon-Woods, the LA campus' first dean, telling her, according to court records.
The school gave Schmidt material about the LA location, including a student handbook that made reference to the program being accredited by the American Psychological Association. Schmidt said in a sworn declaration that she also met with administrators in Chicago, where she says that they assured her the program had the necessary accreditation to launch the doctoral program's first class.
Schmidt's statement says it wasn't until she showed up in Southern California for orientation in August 2008 that she was confronted with a reality colder than any Chicago winter. The LA campus' doctoral program was not accredited by the APA, meaning its graduates would face significant professional obstacles such as being ineligible for licensure in some states and disqualified from working for many federal agencies.
Six years after the LA campus opened, it still hasn't earned APA accreditation and its graduates must deal with the consequences. In Schmidt's case, she says she has paid about $250,000 — and gone into serious debt — for what she describes as an inferior degree.
Schmidt and about 25 classmates are suing the school in California state court, claiming the institution traded on the Chicago campus' stellar reputation to establish a "degree mill" in Los Angeles. The students say documents filed as part of their lawsuit show the administrators steered applicants toward LA and downplayed accreditation questions, even as applicants expressed concerns.
"TCS' Los Angeles Campus was in fact 'a degree mill,' a dubious provider of educational offerings or operations whose degrees and certificates may not even be acknowledged by other institutions when the student seeks to transfer," the students' lawsuit states. "They knew there was a substantial risk to any student entering a program that was not accredited."
School spokeswoman Elinor Gilbert declined to answer most questions from the Tribune because of the ongoing lawsuit, though the institution previously has acknowledged that students with degrees from APA-accredited schools have "increased opportunities." Gilbert said the accreditation process can take a while and that it took eight years for the Chicago campus' doctoral program to get its first APA accreditation.
"Because of the litigation, our hands are really tied," she said.
The Chicago School, a nonprofit graduate school founded in 1979 that focuses on psychology and related behavioral and health sciences, serves about 4,500 students in 20 degree programs at three campuses and online, according to the institution. All of its campuses are accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, a regional accrediting body.
But only the Chicago doctoral program has the highly valued APA accreditation.
"We feel proud of our institution and the work we've accomplished to educate and train our students in the community," Gilbert wrote in an email.
Gilbert declined to say how many students were in the inaugural cohort, though a document in the court file shows that 53 students began in that initial class. Of those, 25 will have graduated by summer's end. Even if the APA eventually accredits the program, it will mean nothing to those graduates because the accreditation cannot be applied to a degree retroactively.
The students declined comment for this story through their attorney, Michael Reznick.
The Chicago School began diverting applicants to the Los Angeles campus in early 2008, about six months before the new location opened. Records show students were offered spots in the Southern California program though many did not apply there or even know it existed.
And administrators weren't particularly selective in their enrollment. According to a document filed in connection with the lawsuit, the LA campus had 250 applicants in 2008, though it's unclear how many were Chicago campus applicants who were steered toward the Southern California location. Of those, 243 were offered admission.
The California campus' marketing materials filed in connection with the lawsuit — prominently featuring the slogan "The Chicago School with an LA climate" — made no mention of the important accreditation distinction between locations. Fliers also referred to the school as being "an accredited institution," a nod to its approval by a regional group but one that is wholly separate from the doctoral program's APA standing.
The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, which oversaw the Chicago School's regional accreditation until 2012, states that schools should disclose "publicly and clearly the consequences" of an unaccredited program.
According to the commission's standards, institutions should make "clear to students the distinction between regional and specialized or program accreditation and the relationships between licensure and the various types of accreditation."
While some students say they didn't inquire specifically about APA accreditation, emails obtained by the Tribune show that a few raised questions almost immediately.
"The admissions office has started to receive phone calls from accepted LA students inquiring to APA accreditation ... the office needs to be prepared to answer the question," one employee wrote in an email to Nealon-Woods in February 2008. "Can you email me a pat answer so I can have them respond to those questions. There is simply no way around students contacting the office for further questions."
Nealon-Woods, who is now the system's national president, responded that students should be told that the Chicago campus' doctoral program had a "stellar reputation" with the association and the school's leadership team has "a great deal of experience applying for and securing accreditation." It should also be stressed that because the application process was "well under way for LA," the goal was to "have our accreditation in place by the time we graduate our first student cohort."
"Anything beyond that, send them back to me!" Nealon-Woods wrote.
The school's timetable was ambitious even under the best of circumstances, as institutions cannot submit their self-study applications until the first class begins its internship phase, usually during the third year. Once the APA receives those documents, it typically takes an additional 18 months before the organization reaches a decision.
Some schools have received accreditation before their first cohort graduates, though most experience a longer process.
"It's not as easy as some would want it to be," said Susan Zlotlow, the association's associate executive director.
Without a degree from an APA-sanctioned program, a graduate would not be able to practice in at least four states and could face expensive bureaucratic hurdles in several others. Many hospitals, universities and federal agencies won't consider applicants who graduated from nonaccredited programs. Graduates also would be ineligible for several student loan reimbursement programs offered to psychologists employed by some government agencies. That includes the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the nation's largest employer of psychologists.
School administrators acknowledged the value of accreditation in an email exchange in April 2008.
"Our internal apps that were offered LA are actually quite upset with us," Nealon-Woods wrote to Tamara Rozhon, then the school's vice president of administration and student affairs. "They believe they have been given a lesser deal and are being given LA becaus (sic) they were somehow not good enough for Chicago but are being used to fill up LA slots ... they are asking how come if I was accepted to the program I cannot just come to Chicago where I want to be. Some have already said 'no' to the offer because of the level of upset they feel."
"Bummer," Rozhon responded. "I assume you are telling them there are two psyd programs in place, and they've been accepted into the one that we feel is a better fit for them. But our psyd apps now (sic) the value of apa so I'm not surprised by the reaction altogether."
After classes had begun, administrators held monthly meetings with students and the accreditation process was discussed at nearly every gathering, according to agendas obtained by the Tribune. The students say in court records that they were repeatedly assured everything remained on schedule and the program should be accredited before graduation.
However, problems arose during the students' third year when they began applying for internships, many of which accepted applicants only from accredited programs. The students were given a form letter to provide prospective employers that explained the accreditation status and likened the program to the Chicago campus, which has been continuously accredited since 1987.
According to the letter, the LA campus planned to submit its accreditation application by Sept. 1, 2012. The application would contain information about the inaugural class's internship year, a requirement of any school seeking accreditation.
"We anticipate hosting an APA site visit in the Spring of 2013, with the expectation of accreditation beginning that semester," Megan O'Banion, the school's director of clinical training, wrote in the letter.
The school, however, failed to meet that timetable. According to the association, the LA campus did not submit its application until April 2013 — seven months later than the students were led to believe.
The APA does not reveal details of its review process, Zlotlow said. But clearly additional problems emerged. Last August, school administrators told students that the association had asked the California branch to withdraw its 2,000-page application "so it could further align the program with the APA's model."
One year later — and six years after admitting the school's first class — the LA campus has not been accredited. The Chicago School opened a Washington, D.C., campus in 2010 and partnered last year with Xavier University in Louisiana to launch a doctoral program.
Its website points out that neither is accredited by the APA.
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