Students filed a class-action lawsuit against Pacific Oaks College alleging the college charged "inflated tuition" and used fraudulent advertising to sign up students in an early childhood education program. The lawsuit, which was certified Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court by Judge Alan S. Rosenfield, alleges students have been "damaged over $3,334,032.00 in lost tuition and lost opportunity" costs, having failed to receive the promised academic college credit. The students also claim they were deliberately misled into believing their course credits were transferrable to other colleges, the suit says.

The suit alleges, among other things, that Pacific Oaks charged at least 260 students more than $821,340 in tuition for its courses in early childhood education from 2004 to 2007. The college, according to the suit, "negligently ... and intentionally misrepresented" in written advertising that completed course work would be given "fully transferable academic credit."  A number of the plaintiffs in this case sought transfer at East L.A. College, and were not accepted, and on that basis they claim they were misled."