Agreement reached between UMES & students after program was shut down

A settlement between UMES and dozens of former students means the state of Maryland will have to pay out big money. Robin Cockey of Cockey Brennan and Maloney Law Firm represented the 30-plus students.

He explained how UMES shut down their physician assistant academic program after losing its accreditation, forcing students to go to a different college to finish up their degrees. Cockey tells 47 ABC they were able to negotiate a settlement with the assistance of Senator Jim Mathias and UMES president Dr. Juliette Bell.

The settlement money would compensate the students for the money they spent having to go to a different school for classes and for lost academic time. Cockey tells 47 ABC, “These are strong students with good credentials and the programs that admitted them were cooperative I think fortunately I think everybody has been able to move on and move in the right direction professionally.”

UMES officials tell 47 ABC that the university is committed to offering a physicians assistant degree in the future. But the university doesn’t have a plan in place yet to bring the program back.