Care Hope College Student Defense Lawyer — Jupiter, Florida

Care Hope College, at 10094 W Indiantown Road in Jupiter, reported one of the lowest first-time NCLEX pass rates of any Florida nursing program in 2025. A student dismissed from a program performing at that level is in a materially different position from one dismissed by a program that is doing its job, and the difference is worth putting in writing.

19.44% of 36 first-time candidates

The associate-degree program passed 19.44% of 36 first-time candidates in 2025 against a statutory floor of 76.05% — seven passes and twenty-nine failures. That is not a marginal shortfall. It is a program roughly 57 percentage points below what Florida law sets as the minimum. The college’s practical-nursing program also finished below its floor, at 60.00% of 10 first-time candidates against 77.17%, though ten candidates is too small a cohort to carry much weight on its own.

Under Fla. Stat. section 464.019(5)(a)1 a Florida nursing program’s first-time NCLEX passage rate must stay within 10 percentage points of the national average for comparable programs — in 2025 that floor was 76.05% for associate-degree programs and 77.17% for practical-nursing programs. Section 464.019(5)(a)2 puts a program two consecutive years below the floor at risk of probation and loss of approval, and section 464.019(5)(c) then obliges the program to disclose that probationary status in writing to its students and applicants — a failure to give that notice is an independent, statute-based misrepresentation theory against a school that enrolled a student while on probation. A single year below the floor is not probation, and the Board of Nursing publishes no probation roster — but the Department of Health’s licensing portal does publish a current status for each approved program, so it can be checked there as well as in the board’s minutes and orders. Every Florida program is tabulated on the Florida nursing program pass-rate page.

Why that matters to a dismissal: when a program fails four candidates in five, a dismissal framed as reflecting the student’s inability to meet the standard becomes considerably harder for the school to sustain. The plainer inference is that the program was not preparing anybody adequately, and that removing students before they sat the examination is one of the few levers a program in that position has. That is a case about what the school promised and delivered, not about the student.

A private school, so the statute students rely on does not apply

Most writing about Florida student dismissal assumes a public college, where Fla. Stat. section 1006.60(3) supplies notice, a hearing, the right to be accompanied by counsel and a burden that rests on the institution. This is a private institution. None of that section reaches it.

What governs instead is the enrollment agreement, the catalog and the student and program handbooks, read as a contract. Sharick v. Southeastern University of the Health Sciences establishes that a Florida student dismissed in breach of the school’s own contractual undertakings has a claim, and that damages can extend to lost future earning capacity rather than a refund of tuition. So the work is documentary: identify the exact promises the school made about process, and show which it did not keep.

Two further things matter at schools of this kind. Many enrollment agreements contain an arbitration clause, and whether it binds a student depends on the version signed, how broadly it is drafted, whether its cost terms are unconscionable and whether the school has waived it — that question comes first, because it decides whether there is a courtroom at all. And where a school is licensed by the Florida Commission for Independent Education rather than regionally accredited, the CIE complaint route exists alongside any civil claim and is often the faster pressure point.

Where a Care Hope case is filed

Jupiter is in Palm Beach County, which 28 U.S.C. section 89(c) places in the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division. I am based in Boca Raton, in the same county, and appear in that district regularly. The college moved to its Jupiter campus in July 2022; if the events in question predate the move, confirm which site they occurred at before settling venue.

What can a student defense lawyer do here?

• Resolve the arbitration question first, from the agreement the student actually signed.
• Assemble the enrollment agreement, catalog and program handbook for the correct edition, and pin down the promises about process.
• Test the progression arithmetic — withdrawals, repeats and clinical failures are often counted in ways the handbook does not authorize.
• Use the Commission for Independent Education complaint route where the school is CIE-licensed, in parallel with the civil claim.
• Press on the wording of the decision letter, which follows the student into every future licensure and transfer application.

How Florida student dismissal cases work generally, and what the first steps are, is set out on the Florida student defense page.

What Care Hope publishes about its own nursing programs

Nearly everything that decides a Care Hope case sits in one document: the Academic Catalog, Vol. 31, 2026-2027, certified “true and correct in content and policy” by the School Director. Ask for the edition in force when you enrolled.

Page 12 shows campus license #2076 from the Commission for Independent Education, granted November 13, 1998; the Commission’s school record gives a license status of “Annual.” Accreditation is institutional, through the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, as a Category II institution from October 24, 2023 through June 30, 2028. Page 13 adds a disclosure worth reading twice: the nursing program “is not programmatically accredited,” which the college says may limit transfer of credits and affect licensure outside Florida.

Twelve programs run at Jupiter, from a 75-hour home health aide diploma to a 120-credit BSN, including practical nursing at 1,350 clock hours, an LPN to RN bridge and an associate of science in nursing. One gap deserves a written question. The catalog and the Commission both list the associate degree, and page 12 prints three Board of Nursing license numbers; the Board’s own program record, read on September 17, 2026, lists only two Care Hope programs, a bachelor’s program and a practical nursing certificate, both “Approved.” That record carries only programs approved, on probationary status, or accredited. If the associate degree is yours, ask for its current Board status in writing.

The grading rule behind most Care Hope nursing dismissals

One sentence decides more of these cases than any other. Bridge, associate and prelicensure BSN students “must achieve a minimum of 75% on the combined average of all course exams to pass the course,” and must also hold a 75% overall course grade. If the exam average falls short, “the final grade for the course will reflect their exam average only” (pages 120 and 140). Assignments cannot lift a failing exam average.

The counting rules follow. Every component of a nursing course, lecture, lab, simulation and clinical, must be passed; failing one produces a D or F for the whole course. One repeat of the same course is allowed; a second failure of it ends the program, as does failing three courses in any combination. A “WF” counts as a failure, two “W” grades in one course count as a single failure, and three “W” grades in one course or across nursing courses end the program. Practical nursing uses the same counting on page 115, plus a Nursing Core Qualifying Exam needing at least 60 out of 100.

Attendance is a separate route out. Three or more absences or instances of non-participation, excused or not, bring attendance probation with a written warning, and any unexcused absence while on probation “results in failure of the term class/es and/or may lead to dismissal” (pages 82 to 84). A failed skills competency, after one remediation attempt, fails the whole course. Progress is checked each semester against a 2.5 grade point average and 67% completion, 75% for the BSN (page 95).

Who decides an appeal, and how long you have

The windows are short and differ by decision. A dismissal appeal must reach the Office of Academic Affairs within five calendar days of the first notice. An appeal to be placed on academic probation, after one term of academic warning, must be in writing within ten calendar days, and a student who does not appeal or whose appeal fails is dismissed (page 96). A final grade must be challenged by email to the course faculty within five business days of posting, then the program chair, then the Office of Academic Affairs at appeals@carehope.edu, answered in 14 business days (page 90). Disciplinary action can be grieved within thirty days of notice, answered in ten business days, and that decision “shall be final” (page 66).

The grievance route is published twice and the versions do not match. The catalog sets out seven steps: faculty member, program chair, a Grievance and Complaint Form in the Student Information System, the Office of Academic Affairs (five business days), the Executive Director of Campus Operations (five business days), the College President (seven working days), then the Commission. The Student Grievances and Complaints page gives a shorter ladder starting with the Executive Director of Campus Operations and a ten-business-day answer, and says complaints “sent electronically will not be accepted as official complaints,” while the catalog sends students to three email addresses. Follow the catalog and keep proof of delivery.

Title IX, accommodations, and what you signed

The Title IX coordinator is the Executive Director of Campus Operations, at titleix@carehope.edu (page 63). What the catalog does not publish is a procedure: no named grievance procedure with a date, no investigator, no hearing, no standard of proof, no appeal window. It tells complainants they will be notified of the time frames that apply, without printing any. That is also the officer at step five of the grievance ladder, so ask early who will investigate and on what schedule.

Accommodations get one paragraph (page 60): contact the Office of Academic Affairs “prior to enrollment.” No documentation standard, decision deadline or appeal from a refusal is published. Ask for the request form, the documentation wanted, and the decision in writing.

The enrollment agreement is not in the catalog, so get your signed copy. The refund terms disagree with themselves: page 33 gives diploma students a full refund on cancellation within three business days of signing, while page 34 gives degree students three calendar days and caps what the college may keep at $150, though the enrollment fee is listed at $95. After 40% of a course there is no refund, and a student withdrawn for grades is dated out on “the date of the last failed exam or make-up exam.” Nursing students must also carry individual liability insurance, with proof filed 15 days before an externship, and must report any change in criminal background, including a pending charge, within 24 hours (page 26).

Other Florida colleges

Every school writes its own dismissal, appeal and conduct rules, and the filing deadlines are rarely the same from one campus to the next. These pages set out the procedure at other Florida colleges:

• CF Jack Wilkinson Levy Campus
• Chipola College
• City College Closed — Student Rights
• College of Central Florida
• Daytona Beach
• Daytona College

Common questions about Care Hope College cases

What was Care Hope College’s NCLEX pass rate?

In 2025 the program passed 19.44% of 36 first-time candidates — seven passes and twenty-nine failures — against a statutory floor of 76.05%.

Does a very low pass rate help my case?

It can matter a great deal. Where a program fails four candidates in five, a dismissal framed as the student failing to meet the standard is much harder for the school to sustain, and the case shifts toward what the school promised and delivered.

Am I protected by Florida’s student discipline statute?

No. Fla. Stat. section 1006.60(3) applies to Florida public colleges. Care Hope is private, so the enrollment agreement, catalog and handbooks govern as a contract, under Sharick v. Southeastern University of the Health Sciences.

Which court covers Care Hope College?

The Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division. Jupiter is in Palm Beach County, which is in the Southern District under 28 U.S.C. section 89(c).

How long does a Care Hope student have to appeal a dismissal?

Five calendar days from the first notice, in writing to the Office of Academic Affairs at the Jupiter campus (Academic Catalog Vol. 31, page 96). An appeal to be placed on academic probation, after one term of academic warning, runs on a different clock of ten calendar days, and a student who does not appeal or whose appeal is refused is dismissed. Both windows start from the notice, so date-stamp everything and send it in a way that proves delivery.

Can Care Hope fail a nursing course when the overall grade looks like a pass?

Yes. The catalog requires at least 75% on the combined average of all course exams as well as a 75% overall course grade, and if the exam average falls short, “the final grade for the course will reflect their exam average only” (pages 120 and 140). Each component of the course, lecture, lab, simulation and clinical, must also be passed on its own. Ask for the exam-by-exam calculation in writing before doing anything else.