The Shadow Over Concordia
Six women, all former graduate students of Concordia’s inaugural Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) program, are suing the university for $3.7M, claiming that the university jeopardized their ability to continue their education resulting in significant stress and financial loss.
In February 2021, Concordia announced that they would now offer a PsyD program in clinical psychology, the university’s first doctoral program. Nine students enrolled and began their studies that fall, however, just two years into the five-year program, these students received an email saying the university would be unable to offer them the requirements to graduate on time.
According to the statement of claim, the students’ spring assessment practicum course was cancelled in May of 2023 and later that month, students also learned their AHS clinical field placements were cancelled due to the school's failure to address concerns about the clinic manager.
Despite promises of finding alternative placements, the university later offered students part-time study or a lottery system for placements, with the caveat that graduating on time would require an excessive course load.
The students then faced a scramble to secure alternate arrangements. Three transferred to a similar program in California, one joined a PhD program at the University of Alberta, and the remaining two returned to private practice, postponing their studies indefinitely.
In an interview conducted with the CBC, Krista Buyer, one of the plaintiffs, expressed profound frustration with the situation, stating that her time and money spent at Concordia felt wasted, a feeling many students can likely sympathize with. Another plaintiff, Erika Damsgard, faced additional difficulties due to her study permit restrictions, which prevented her from becoming a part-time student. The alternative placement offer came too late for her to benefit from it, leading to substantial student debt and an incomplete degree.
The university has declined to comment while the case is pending but has stated that the issue of clinical placements was due to AHS withdrawing their offerings and that the university sought alternative placements for students.
The question remains, however, why is a program being offered with no realistic expectation of an on-time completion? University is expensive, time consuming, and stressful enough without having to scramble to find arrangements last minute. Where is the tuition money going? And if CUE cares as much about their students as they claim, why didn’t the University do more to help their students if and when placement opportunities fell through?
