Rasmussen University (Rockford, Illinois): Student Discipline, Dismissal & Federal Court

How do student discipline and dismissal cases work at Rasmussen?

Rasmussen University’s Rockford campus, at 6000 East State Street in Winnebago County, is part of a private, for-profit system: on August 4, 2026 Rasmussen combined with American Public University System, which the Higher Learning Commission accredits and American Public Education, Inc. wholly owns. The rules are national — the Rasmussen section of the APUS 2026–2027 System Catalog, effective August 6, 2026 — which lists Rockford for the Professional Nursing associate degree (an off-campus site of the Romeoville/Joliet program, which holds initial ACEN accreditation), Surgical Technologist and Medical Assisting. For nursing students the rule that matters most is blunt: one failed NUR course is allowed, and a second means administrative withdrawal from the nursing program — with the quickest way back taking two full quarters and a committee exception.

Rasmussen University is a private institution. There is no state action, so there is no constitutional due process claim, and arguing one wastes an appeal. The theory is contract: Illinois holds that a college and its students have a contractual relationship whose terms come from the catalog and the handbook — Raethz v. Aurora University, 346 Ill. App. 3d 728 (2004), restated by the Fourth District in Urso v. Bradley University, 2023 IL App (4th) 230165 — while adding that the relationship “is unique and cannot be strictly categorized or characterized in purely contractual terms.”

The limit is the standard of review, and it decides most of these cases before anyone reaches the facts. A student has a remedy for an adverse academic decision only if it was made arbitrarily, capriciously, or in bad faith. Frederick v. Northwestern University Dental School, 247 Ill. App. 3d 464 (1993), puts it bluntly — courts have been loath to review, much less overturn, academic dismissals — and Bosch v. NorthShore University Health System, 2019 IL App (1st) 190070, holds that a school which departs somewhat from its handbook still wins unless the departure was material. The federal courts in Chicago apply the same test: in Doe v. Columbia College Chicago, 933 F.3d 849 (7th Cir. 2019), the Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of a student’s contract claim where the college had investigated and reasoned its way to a decision, and in Gash v. Rosalind Franklin University, 117 F.4th 957 (7th Cir. 2024), it held that calling a process arbitrary or predetermined, without specific facts, is not enough. What survives is specific: in Liu v. Northwestern University, 78 F. Supp. 3d 839 (N.D. Ill. 2015), a former law student’s claim went forward where the school imposed what amounted to an integrity charge while denying her the handbook procedure for contesting one. Federal law does not care that the school is private: Title IX, Title VI and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act apply because it takes federal funds, and the ADA applies to it as a place of public accommodation.

A federal claim arising at Rasmussen University’s Rockford campus is filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois — Winnebago County sits in its Western Division under 28 U.S.C. § 93(a), and the statute fixes the places of holding court for that division at Freeport and Rockford. I am a member of the general bar of that court, admitted on my Florida license under its Local Rule 83.10, which opens the general bar to an attorney in good standing before the highest court of any state. That means a Title IX, Section 504 or ADA complaint for a Rasmussen student is one I file and litigate under my own name, with no pro hac vice motion. The Northern District abrogated its local-counsel designation rule in July 2023, so a member of its bar with no office in the district no longer has to designate local counsel. One limit, stated plainly: the court keeps a separate trial bar, and under Local Rule 83.12 a general-bar member who is not on it — that is me — appears alone in everything except testimonial proceedings, meaning evidentiary hearings and trial, where a trial-bar member must sit as advisor unless the judge grants the rule’s narrow waiver.

Nursing progression: two strikes, then the reentry clock

The School of Nursing Repeating Courses and Course Withdrawal Policy for Pre-Licensure Programs covers the Practical Nursing diploma, the Professional Nursing associate degree and the accelerated BSN options. Students may fail “one core course as designated by course prefix NUR or PRN,” but a second failure, in the same course or any other, means “an administrative withdrawal from the nursing program.” A failed or withdrawn course must be repeated the next time it is offered. Withdrawals are counted separately: one withdrawal or drop from the same core course is allowed, and a second means administrative withdrawal at the end of the quarter, although documented and approved medical and military leaves are not counted. Graduation requires a C or better in every NUR course. In the health sciences programs, Surgical Technologist and Medical Assisting among them, a clinical, externship or practicum course is failed if its required hours are not finished within the quarter.

There is one exception. A student who fails in the final quarter — the quarter of first enrollment in the Capstone or Transition to Practice course — and so reaches two failures may be granted one more attempt in the next quarter, if meeting SAP and clinical compliance and continuously enrolled. Coming back otherwise runs through the Reenter Policy: a student withdrawn for two failures or two withdrawals may return to the same program “after two full academic quarters” if Rasmussen’s Academic Appeal Committee approves an exception; otherwise the wait is four full quarters, by which time every core nursing course has expired. A student dismissed from nursing “for disciplinary or conduct reasons” cannot reenter nursing or any Rasmussen program. See nursing school dismissal and readmission after dismissal.

The testing rules can end an exam before it starts. At in-person assessments, a student who arrives “after the doors are closed, regardless of check-in status,” is turned away, “forfeiting their opportunity to take the exam.” Testing accommodations must be flagged to faculty at least 24 hours ahead.

Conduct: two levels, five business days, no hearing

The 2026–2027 Conduct and Disciplinary Action Policy reaches disruptive, unsafe or dishonest behavior, unapproved recording in class and — unusually — “conduct that is detrimental to the student’s academic progress or ultimate success in the field for which they are being educated.” It adds that “it is not the responsibility of the Academic Unit to identify the intentionality of conduct violations.” Nursing and some health sciences students also answer to programmatic handbooks that are not posted publicly.

Level One consequences — documented warnings, sometimes with a Conduct Improvement Plan due “within 5 business days” — come from faculty or a leader such as the Campus Executive Director. Level Two — suspension with an improvement plan, or dismissal — comes from the Campus or Online Executive Director. Before any finding, “non-disciplinary” interim measures can include “temporary restriction from attending classes or clinical placements.” Finishing a suspension does not automatically reinstate you, and “students who are dismissed due to misconduct are not eligible to re-enroll in any program within the Academic Unit.”

The policy publishes no hearing, no standard of proof and no advisor rule. The only review is a Conduct Disciplinary Action Appeal Form filed “within five (5) business days of receipt of the disciplinary action decision,” on three grounds only: the conduct did not occur or you were not responsible; the sanction is disproportionate; or conflict of interest, bias or retaliation affected the decision. Appeals that justify the conduct or simply disagree may be deemed ineligible. The committee decides within ten business days, and its decision is final. See conduct code charges.

Academic integrity, AI and the other appeals

Under the Academic Integrity Policy and Honor Code, misconduct “whether intentional or unintentional” may be a violation, and violations are cumulative. Misusing generative AI counts as cheating and plagiarism; AI help with brainstorming and editing must be cited, and AI “should not be used by students to complete assignments or deliverables in total.” Faculty can require a redo or give partial or zero credit; the Academic Integrity Committee can impose an F with withdrawal from the course, or dismissal, after which a student “may not reenroll.” An appeal may argue only that the misconduct was not committed — “Attempting to justify the act of misconduct is not an acceptable basis for an appeal” — and is due within 5 business days at each level: to the faculty member and then the Associate Vice President, Dean or Nurse Administrator, or, for committee actions, to the Academic Appeals Committee. See AI academic integrity accusations.

The other routes are narrow too. A final grade appeal is limited to a clerical or computational error or a grade that “does not align with the expectations of the course syllabus,” and is due by 11:59 p.m. Central on the Thursday before the next quarter; the Academic Leader’s decision is final. On satisfactory academic progress, a student must regain good standing within two quarters or be terminated with “SAP Dismissed” status — a termination that may be appealed through the Academic Review Committee process — and financial aid appeals are decided by the Compliance Director and General Counsel, whose ruling “cannot be appealed.”

Sexual misconduct at Rasmussen

For sexual misconduct, the federal rule is the 2020 Title IX regulation: the 2024 rule was vacated nationwide on January 9, 2025, in Tennessee v. Cardona, and on September 29, 2026 the Department of Education formally repealed it and restored the pre-2024 text (91 Fed. Reg. 61,308). The 2026–2027 System Catalog does not reprint Rasmussen’s Title IX procedures. Rasmussen’s Title IX page points to its catalog and addendum, and the latest Rasmussen catalog, for 2025–2026, says Title IX proceedings use preponderance of the evidence and that the formal grievance process “will include a live hearing with cross-examination” — consistent with the federal rule, because the 2020 regulation requires postsecondary institutions to hold a live hearing at which each party’s advisor conducts cross-examination. Rasmussen’s Title IX page also lists confidential advisors for Illinois students. Ask the Title IX Coordinator in writing which procedure document governs your case.

What a student defense lawyer can do here

Most of the value is early and quiet. It is reading Rasmussen’s policy against what the school actually did and finding the gap; writing the response or the appeal so it argues the grounds the policy recognizes rather than the ones that feel most unfair; preserving the federal issues — Title IX, Section 504 and the ADA, FERPA — so they are in the record if the case ever leaves campus; and identifying comparators, because a sanction far outside what similar cases drew is one of the few arguments that reliably moves a decision-maker.

At Rasmussen two moves are specific. First, audit the count before accepting a nursing withdrawal: list every NUR and PRN grade and withdrawal with its quarter, mark any covered by an approved medical or military leave, and check the final-quarter exception — then build the request for an Academic Appeal Committee exception, which halves the wait to reenter. Second, treat the five-business-day conduct appeal as the only hearing you will get, frame it within the three permitted grounds, and contest the sanction as hard as the finding, because a misconduct dismissal closes every Rasmussen program.

What a lawyer cannot do is turn a campus process into a trial. The rules of evidence do not apply, there is no discovery, and the school decides its own case at first instance. That is exactly why the written record built during the campus process is the whole ballgame: by the time a court looks at it, the record is closed.

The one Illinois statute that gives you procedure

Illinois has no general statute setting notice periods, hearing formats, standards of proof or appeal rights for college students. The Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5, has a detailed suspension and expulsion scheme, and it applies to elementary and secondary schools, not here. The exception is the Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act, 110 ILCS 155, and it is a real one. It reaches every higher education institution in the state — public universities, community colleges, and private not-for-profit and for-profit institutions alike — and it requires timely written notice of the allegations to all parties, an investigation that is adequate, reliable and impartial, written notice of the outcome, and appeal rights. It requires the school to make confidential advisors available, trained to a statutory standard and kept separate from the people deciding the case. Both parties are entitled to an advisor of their choice, and that advisor may be an attorney — although the institution may limit how far an attorney-advisor participates in a hearing, which is why Rasmussen’s own rule on that — which it does not publish — still governs what your lawyer may do in the room. The standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence, applied the same way to both sides.

What to do first

1. Diary the clock. Conduct appeal, integrity appeal and Conduct Improvement Plan: five business days each. Final grade appeal: the Thursday before next quarter.
2. Ask in writing for your programmatic handbook — the School of Nursing Undergraduate Handbook for your cohort — and for every document the decision-maker relied on.
3. Pull your full grade history and mark each NUR or PRN failure and withdrawal with its date and any approved leave.
4. Save the August 2026 System Catalog, and the 2025–2026 Rasmussen catalog if your incident came before the merger, as dated PDFs.
5. Put any disability on record now, at least 24 hours before the next exam for testing accommodations. See Section 504 and ADA accommodations and the Illinois student defense hub.

One honest caveat about geography. Illinois has three federal districts. I am admitted to two of them, the Northern and the Southern. A federal claim arising at a school in Springfield, Peoria, Champaign-Urbana or the Quad Cities falls in the Central District; I am not a member of that bar, and those matters I handle with local counsel in that district or by pro hac vice admission. Appeals from the Northern District go to the Seventh Circuit, which keeps its own bar; my appellate admission is in the Eleventh. I say so before a retainer rather than after.

Where I am licensed. I am licensed to practice law in Florida. I am admitted to the bars of the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida, the District of Colorado, the Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois, the District of Nebraska, the District of New Mexico, and the Western District of Wisconsin, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Federal court admission is not a license to practice the law of the state in which the court sits. I am not licensed in Illinois and do not advise on Illinois state law or appear in Illinois state court.

The federal money on the line at Rasmussen

Rasmussen University students and families, across all of its campuses, took on $132.3 million in federal Direct Loans in the 2025–26 award year — including $2.2 million borrowed by 145 parents through Parent PLUS.

Every dollar of it rides on academic standing. A dismissal, a failed Satisfactory Academic Progress evaluation, or a mid-term withdrawal sets off federal rules that decide whether aid continues, whether money already disbursed has to go back, and — under the borrowing caps in effect since July 1, 2026 — whether a student who leaves can still finance a return. The academic fight and the financial aid fight are the same fight, and the windows are short. How those rules work: SAP appeals and academic dismissal.

On the Department’s financial responsibility test, Rasmussen University’s most recent published composite score is 1.1 (fiscal year 2022–23) — in the 1.0-to-1.4 “zone” on the –1.0-to-3.0 scale, where a school keeps participating in the federal aid programs under extra monitoring (34 C.F.R. §§ 668.171, 668.175). The scores run about two years behind and are one signal, not a verdict. How to read them: the federal warning signs guide.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid Data Center, Direct Loan volume by school, award year 2025–26 (cumulative through June 30, 2026). Institution-wide federal Direct Loan totals, all campuses.

Other schools in the Northern District of Illinois

Every school writes its own dismissal, appeal and conduct rules, and the deadlines are rarely the same from one campus to the next. These pages set out the procedure at other schools in the Northern District of Illinois:

• Rockford Career College
• Rockford University
• Roosevelt University
• Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
• Rush University
• Saint Anthony College of Nursing

Common questions about Rasmussen student cases

How many nursing courses can I fail at Rasmussen?

One. In the pre-licensure programs you may fail one core course with an NUR or PRN prefix; a second failure, in the same course or any other, means administrative withdrawal from the nursing program. Withdrawals are counted separately — a second withdrawal from the same core course also ends enrollment — but approved medical and military leaves do not count. A final-quarter exception may allow one more attempt at a course failed in the quarter you first take the Capstone or Transition to Practice course.

How soon can I come back to Rasmussen nursing after being withdrawn?

After two full academic quarters if the Academic Appeal Committee approves an exception to the repeat policy; otherwise after four full quarters, when all of your core nursing courses will have expired. Either way, readmission depends on space. A student dismissed from nursing for disciplinary or conduct reasons is not eligible to return to nursing or to any Rasmussen program.

How long do I have to appeal a conduct decision at Rasmussen?

Five business days from receipt of the disciplinary action decision, on the Conduct Disciplinary Action Appeal Form. The appeal must rest on one of three grounds — the conduct did not occur or you were not responsible, the sanction is disproportionate, or bias, conflict or retaliation affected the decision. The committee rules within ten business days, and its decision is final.

Can I bring a lawyer to a Rasmussen hearing?

Conduct and academic integrity cases at Rasmussen are decided without a published hearing, and neither policy says anything about advisors, so the written appeal is the case — and a lawyer can help you write it. In a formal Title IX grievance, the latest Rasmussen catalog provides a live hearing with cross-examination, which advisors conduct; ask the Title IX Coordinator in writing for the current procedure.

What standard of proof does Rasmussen use?

For conduct and academic integrity cases, Rasmussen publishes none. The conduct policy says only that reports will be reviewed and investigated, and it does not require the school to establish that a violation was intentional. Title IX proceedings use preponderance of the evidence. Ask in writing what standard the decision-maker applied, and build your appeal on the permitted grounds.