An internal investigation at the City University of New York found that Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business purposely inflated the GPAs of about 15 students in their accelerated executive programs, the New York Post reported.
The reason? Certain college officials wanted to keep making money off the tuition from students enrolled in the program, which included many Wall Streeters whose firms were paying for the classes, according to the Post. To do that, they had to inflate the grades of certain students who were bound to fail out of the program.
The accelerated programs allow people in business/finance to work full-time and obtain a master's degree in finance in a year, or an MBA in two years. Tuition for the programs range between $45,000 to $75,000.
From the Post—
“It was done for money,” an insider said of the scam. “They get a lot more money from those students. They don’t want to lose these people, so they changed their grades.”
The result of the CUNY probe that uncovered the forgeries were reported to the Faculty Senate in March. Law enforcement officials have also been notified.
In addition, it appears that some students whose grades were inflated might not be able to hold onto their degrees, according to the Post.
Ouch. We just want to know which Wall Streeters were such bad students that they now have invalid business degrees.
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