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Three former students of Modern Technology School claim the institution misrepresented the accreditation of its Ultrasound program and lied about job opportunities for graduates, according to a class action complaint.

The_plaintiffs filed the complaint Aug. 13 with the Orange County Superior Court. The school and its parent company, M.T. XRay, Inc., have not yet responded to the complaint.

The plaintiffs say they each paid the school thousands of dollars to complete a program that cannot get them hired. According to the complaint, the students were told the program was accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.

Modern Technology School is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology, said Sue Shannon, campus director.

“We’re investigating the claims and we’ve been in business since 1981 and have never had anything like this happen before,” Shannon said. “We have also put out probably hundreds of successful graduates, and the claims we feel at this time are unsubstantiated allegations.”

Students who graduate from an accredited program are allowed to take a licensing exam after graduation. But the complaint says the program is not accredited and the students were left with debt instead of a job in the field. Medical sonographers earn about $35 per hour, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

CAAHEP lists only eight schools in California with accredited diagnostic medical sonographer programs. Orange Coast College and Cypress College are the only schools with accredited programs in Orange County.

A description of the Ultrasound program on the school’s Web site states “students completing the program will be able to sit for the national registry examinations in General Ultrasound and/or Vascular Technology given by the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers.”

Twelve former students at Newbridge College in Santa Ana filed a similar class action lawsuit against the school in July 2008. The students said they found out they were ineligible for medical jobs after paying thousands in tuition. Attorney Scott Schutzman, who represents the students, says he now receives frequent calls from other students in the same situation.(source)