Five former nurse anesthesia students have sued Texas Wesleyan University, claiming the Fort Worth school accepted more students than its clinical sites could handle, then quietly dismissed a chunk of them after collecting a full year’s worth of tuition. The lawsuit, filed October 2, centers on students enrolled during the 2024-25 academic year in the university’s Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice program, a doctoral track required for anyone hoping to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist.
According to the suit, as reported by the Star-Telegram, Texas Wesleyan accepted roughly 10% more students into the program than it had capacity to place, since clinical site placements are typically reserved for second- and third-year students rather than first-years. The five plaintiffs named in the filing are Aleksandra Castro, Linet Koshy, Alyssa Torrez, Eric Barretto and Katherine Cox, all of whom say they were dismissed from the program without the transparency or due process they were owed.
The students allege the breakdown started in the classroom, not the clinic. Two anatomy and physiology courses were allegedly used to gatekeep students before they could even reach the clinical portion of the program, according to the lawsuit detailed by the same Star-Telegram report. Grades and graded exams, the suit claims, weren’t posted or returned in a timely way, leaving some students under the impression they were passing right up until they were told they’d failed a final exam and were being dismissed.
Records Access Cut Off During Appeals
Beyond the grading disputes, the plaintiffs say Texas Wesleyan blocked their access to their own education records while they were trying to appeal their dismissals, a move they argue violated federal privacy law. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, institutions are generally required to comply with a student’s request to view their own records within a reasonable period, and no more than 45 days, per the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy office. The lawsuit also claims some dismissed students had disabilities or unexplained medical emergencies and were not given appropriate accommodations, according to a release describing the plaintiffs’ allegations…