Premiere International College Student Defense Lawyer — Fort Myers

Premiere International College is a single-campus private for-profit institution in Fort Myers that finished 2025 just under the statutory nursing floor.

74.07% of 27 first-time candidates

The associate-degree program passed 74.07% of 27 first-time candidates against a floor of 76.05% — twenty passes and seven failures, about two points short. On a cohort of twenty-seven, that is within the range one additional result would cover, and it should be described that way rather than inflated.

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.

The honest reading is that the program sat marginally under a statutory floor rather than that it was failing. That still matters to a dismissed student, because a program on the line has a direct interest in not entering candidates whose result it predicts will be a failure — and a dismissal grounded in a prediction rather than in a published progression rule is a dismissal worth contesting.

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 Premiere International College case is filed

Fort Myers is in Lee County, in the Middle District of Florida, assigned by Local Rule 1.04(a) to the Fort Myers Division — subject to any forum or arbitration term in the enrollment agreement.

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 is set out on the Florida student defense page.

How many failed courses end a Premiere nursing program?

Premiere sets the limit at three failed core nursing courses, but its Institutional Catalog, Volume 14.0 (January 2026, revised February 16, 2026) states it two ways. Page 53 allows up to three failing grades (below 75%) across core nursing courses and two tries at the Capstone course. After a third failure, administrators decide on re-entry if the student asks in writing with a plan. Page 104 says students who fail more than three courses will be terminated.

The passing grade is 75% in nursing courses, 80% in the Capstone course and 70% in general education. Lab and clinical work must also be passed (pages 44–45). The Handbook for Nursing Students 2025-2026 rounds 79.5 up to 80 but 79.4 down to 79 (page 23). Dismissal also follows two straight terms below a 2.5 cumulative GPA, failing to follow an Academic Improvement Plan, or missing a required clinical after notice (page 52).

Page 178 separately requires 80% in clinical courses. Falling short brings a progress report, an improvement plan and probation “typically 2–3 weeks” long; the Executive Director or Campus President then decides on dismissal. A student terminated from any clinical site is also terminated from the nursing program (page 178). A positive drug test means dismissal unless backed by valid medical documentation, and a medical marijuana card does not qualify. A retest must be requested within five (5) business days, and an appeal to the Executive Director is due within seven (7) days (page 109).

Absences: the catalog and the handbook disagree

Premiere’s two rulebooks set different absence limits. The catalog says there are no excused absences, allows one missed lab, simulation or clinical day and says a second “will result in dismissal from the program” (pages 95–96). The handbook instead fails the course after more than two missed clinical days. It also counts a no-call/no-show as two absences, allows withdrawal after eight hours missed in a quarter and charges $45 an hour for clinical make-up time (pages 15–16). Yet the catalog’s pregnancy policy excuses such absences (page 40). Check which rule a dismissal letter cites.

Who decides a Premiere appeal, and how fast you must file

Most appeals end with the Executive Director, usually on a seven-day clock.

• Grades (pages 54–55). Talk to the instructor first, but the Grade Appeal Form is due within seven (7) calendar days after the grade was due at the Registrar’s Office. The Director of Student Services, and then the Grades Appeal Committee after hearing both sides, each decide within thirty (30) calendar days; the Executive Director decides last. Neither later step has a filing deadline.
• Academic progress (pages 52–53). A written appeal goes to the Program Director. The same passage says the Executive Director considers it and the Director of Nursing decides, “final and binding.” No deadline or hearing is mentioned.
• Conduct (pages 80–82). The Student Conduct Committee holds a formal hearing unless the matter is resolved informally, and the student may present evidence and bring a non-participating advisor. Appeals are due within seven (7) business days, and the Appeals Committee decides within ten (10) business days. The code sets no notice period and says nothing about interim suspension.
• Complaints (pages 86–88). Complaints go to grievance@picollege.edu or by certified mail and are decided within fourteen (14) business days. An appeal to the Executive Director is due within seven (7) business days, and that decision ends the internal process. After that, the catalog lists the Commission for Independent Education in Tallahassee and the college’s two accreditors.

The college’s Student Complaint/Grievance Procedures page describes another process: the faculty member within three days, then the Director of Nursing and the Executive Director within three “college days” each, then a Student Grievance Committee hearing, with the Executive Director deciding. It says a complaint to the Commission must be signed and show the college’s procedure was used first.

Title IX and disability accommodations at Premiere

Sexual misconduct reports go to the Title IX Coordinator under the catalog’s Title IX and Sexual Misconduct Policy (pages 17–30). The catalog does not list a working phone number for the coordinator, so report in writing or in person. Investigations aim to finish within 60 days, with seven (7) calendar days for both sides to review the report. Advisors, including attorneys, may attend but may only question witnesses at a hearing, which the procedure never describes. Appeals go to the Executive Director within seven (7) days and are decided within 14 days, yet the policy’s own definitions make the Director of Student Services the appeal officer for students. The Annual Campus Security Report (September 22, 2025) allows 10 days.

Students request accommodations from the Director of Student Services, with documentation from a licensed professional. Approved accommodations go into a written Accommodation Plan, and a denial can be appealed “through the College’s grievance process” (pages 42–43). Page 86 routes that to the non-discrimination procedure, where complaints and appeals both go to the same director, with seven (7) calendar days to appeal (pages 37–39). The separate “Disability Policy” the catalog cites is not on the college’s website.

Does Premiere require arbitration, and what else is in the fine print?

The catalog has no arbitration clause. It calls the enrollment agreement the binding contract, but that agreement is not posted online.

• Students must sign an Assumption of the Risk and Waiver of Liability form for COVID-19 (page 67).
• The social media policy bars “negative comments” about the college, even after a student leaves, and makes a violation grounds for termination with no tuition refund (pages 83–85).
• The college’s Accreditation Status Update reports that ABHES, its institutional accreditor, voted to deny renewal and withdraw accreditation, subject to appeal; the ABHES notices page dates the vote August 12, 2026, and shows an intent to appeal filed August 26, 2026.

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:

• Ringling College of Art and Design
• Robert Morgan Educational Center Dismissal
• Rollins College
• SABER College
• Santa Fe College
• Santa Fe College Andrews Center

Common questions about Premiere International College cases

What was Premiere International College’s pass rate?

74.07% of 27 first-time candidates in 2025 — twenty passes and seven failures — against a statutory floor of 76.05%.

Is a two-point shortfall on 27 candidates meaningful?

Only modestly, and it should be said plainly: one more pass would have cleared the floor. It supports the narrow point that the program was under a statutory minimum, not a claim that it was failing.

Does Fla. Stat. 1006.60(3) apply?

No. That statute governs Florida public colleges. This is a private for-profit institution, so the enrollment agreement, catalog and handbooks govern as a contract, under Sharick v. Southeastern University of the Health Sciences.

Which court covers Fort Myers?

The Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers Division. Lee County is assigned to Fort Myers by Local Rule 1.04(a).

How many nursing courses can a Premiere International College student fail before being dismissed?

The January 2026 catalog answers this two ways. Page 53 allows up to three failing grades (below 75%) across core nursing courses and two Capstone attempts, and it makes re-entry after a third failure depend on a written request and an action plan. Page 104 says students who fail more than three courses will be terminated, so check which passage a dismissal letter relies on.

How long does a Premiere student have to appeal a final grade?

Seven calendar days from the date the grade was due at the Registrar’s Office, using the Grade Appeal Form, after first raising the grade with the instructor. The Director of Student Services and then the Grades Appeal Committee each have 30 calendar days to decide, and the Executive Director decides last. The catalog sets no deadline for moving from one level to the next.