Student Contract Case Law
Mangla v. Brown University, 1998
“The student-college relationship is essentially contractual in nature.“
“contracts contain an implied duty of good faith and fair dealing”
Zumbrun v. University of Southern California, 25 Cal.App.3d 1, 101 Cal.Rptr. 499, 504 (1972)
“The basic legal relation between a student and a private university or college is contractual in nature.
The catalogues, bulletins, circulars, and regulations of the institution made available to the matriculant become a part of the contract“
Ross v. Creighton University, 957 F.2d 410 (7th Cir. 1992)
“education is a service rendered on an immensely greater scale than other professional services”
“It is held generally in the United States that the “basic legal relation between a student and a private university or college is contractual in nature.
The catalogues, bulletins, circulars, and regulations of the institution made available to the matriculant become a part of the contract”
Zumbrun v. University of Southern California, 25 Cal.App.3d 1, 101 Cal.Rptr. 499, 504 (1972)
Indeed, there seems to be “no dissent” from this proposition.“
“A contract between a private institution and a student confers duties upon both parties which cannot bearbitrarily disregarded and may be judicially enforced”
DeMarco, 352 N.E.2d at 361-62
Basch v. George Washington University, 1977
“the relationship between a university and its students is contractual in nature. It is also accepted that the terms set down in a university's bulletin become a part of that contract“
Dinu v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 1999
“That the relationship between a university and its students has a strong, albeit flexible, contractual flavor is an idea pretty well accepted in modern case law“
Russell v. Salve Regina College, 938 F.2d 315, 316 (1st Cir.1991)
“The terms of the contract may include statements provided in student manuals and registration materials“
Merrow v. Goldberg, 1987
“[b]etween a student and a college there is a relationship that is contractual in nature.“
Holert v. University of Chicago, 1990
“Some of the contractual terms and conditions between Holert and the University were embodied in the Graduate School of Business' Announcements catalog and its Dean of Students Handbook, as well as in the University's Student Information Manual“
Fellheimer v. Middlebury College, 1994
“Between a student and a college there is a relationship which is contractual in nature. E.g.,
Wilson v. Illinois Benedictine College,
112 Ill.App.3d 932, 68 Ill.
Dec. 257, 262, 445 N.E.2d 901, 906 (1983).
The terms of the contract are contained in the brochures, course offering bulletins, and other official statements, policies and publications of the institution“
Babcock v. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1989;
“The school publications, including the school handbook, create a contract that is subject to judicial review”
NASPA Journal, Vol. 40, no. 1,
Fall 2002, by Dennis E. Gregory
“The Student Handbook, Federal Law, and Electronic Technology”
“The student handbooks of colleges and universities, as well as other documents such as the college or university catalog, housing manual, and now perhaps the institutional web pages, are perceived by most authorities to be part of an ongoing contract between the institution and its students“
(Buckner, 1988; Correnti, 1988; Shur, 1988; Weeks and Davis, 1993; Kaplin and Lee, 1995; Hoekema, 1996).