Saturday, December 15, 2007

Western Culinary Institute Students Raise Complaints

Willamette Week's Dave Mazza reports in this week's issue about a rash of student complaints at Portland's Western Culinary Institute. According to the article, some 800 students pay $39,000 for culinary training. According to the article, students claim that the trade school promises a rich and rewarding career in the restaurant business. The story details problems with program, including over crowded classes, limited facilities and over-promised rosy futures.

Those who know the food and restaurant trade will tell you that the average kitchen job rarely pays more than modest wages. Celebrity TV chefs are the exception. According to the article, many of these young men and women are incurring substantial debt and leave the school with limited options beyond low-paying work.

Here's the url to the story: http://wweek.com/editorial/3405/10113/

While it's hard to draw conclusions based on a single news story may, if the report is accurate, a number of these students may have various consumer claims. Thankfully, Oregon law provides a number of different avenues for those students who might choose to seek relief.

David F. Sugerman
www.pspc.com
Paul & Sugerman, PC

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Leaving aside whatever the facts of the Western Culinary Institute matter might be and instead speaking generally, depending on the circumstances an Oregon statute called the Unlawful Trade Practices Act may provide a vehicle for relief in a lawsuit which asserts wrongdoing arising from a consumer transaction.