Can I file a Lawsuit Against Maestro College?

Our law firm is investigating reports about problems students at Maestro College are allegedly having. These include problems with their student loans, refusals to release student loan funds, poorly run classes, and other misrepresentations and false advertising. If you’re a current or former student there, and you had problems, we may be able to help. Our lawyers investigate consumer protection claims, and we’d like to hear more about your experience. Fill out the form below, or call us at 404-800-1378, and we’ll collect information that will let us figure out if you’ve been injured and have a claim.

Maestro College is an online college that marketed itself as an AI University – a new kind of school that would be run primarily using artificial intelligence as a teaching tool. It was advertised on social media with some people claiming they were told it was completely free, and that students would get a free laptop. They’re based out of Texas, but the students are all over the country. The school bought a real university called Peleton, which is located in Dallas. This let them start out as accredited immediately – which means not going through the full review process.

There are lots of complaints, and many of them focus on the use of Pell Grants. Rather than being “free,” some students claim that Maestro College is funding everything through Pell Grant funds. A Pell Grant is a federal need-based financial aid program that doesn’t have to be repaid. But there’s a lifetime maximum of six years – so anyone who uses it for Maestro College would be using up part of their eligibility. And some people allege online in their complaints that they weren’t aware of this.

Maestro College has also recently run into severe problems, including issues with its accreditation. An entity called National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (also called “SARA”) has put them on provisional status as part of an investigation. They acknowledge this on their own website, so this isn’t a rumor.

Reports online claim that the Utah branch of SARA initiated an investigation into Maestro College – and the Texas branch followed. That’s a big deal, because accreditation is extremely important to students. If a school loses it, their students may not be able to get federal financial aid at all. Another big problem is that the students’ credits may not be transferrable to other schools. A lot of people were using Maestro College as a springboard to community college or a full university. And if you can’t transfer your credits, you can’t do that.

Recently, students are complaining about being removed from their classes and enrollment for lack of attendance, even though they’ve attended all their classes. And other students are claiming that the AI tutors aren’t actually teaching them much at all.

We think that if these allegations are true, students will have legal claims. Texas actually has a strong consumer protection statute called the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (the “DTPA”). And if you’re not in Texas, you may have access to other consumer protection laws in your own state. Those laws prohibit fraudulent or misleading advertising, and any conduct that is “unfair.” If it turns out that Maestro knew about any of this, it would be a very serious violation of the law.

Kneupper & Covey is a consumer protection and civil rights law firm. We’ve obtained tens of millions of dollars in settlements in class actions. And many of our lawsuits focus on misleading advertising. For example, we sued over the “fake Shark Tank” ads that were going around the Internet several years ago, and shut down multiple schemes that signed people up for subscriptions without them even knowing. We’ve sued fake business opportunity courses and many others. And we’ve been able to recover money from the individuals behind various fraudulent schemes, even when they think they’re safe.

Fill out the form below, or call us at 404-800-1378. Our attorneys will review your claims and see if there’s a basis for you to sue Maestro College.