A Connecticut judge gave final approval on February 27, 2025, to the Stone Academy lawsuit settlement, a $5,000,001 fund that resolves three related cases and pays former nursing students of the shuttered for-profit school based on how far they had progressed when it closed.1CT.gov – Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Tong Statement Regarding Court Approval of Settlement With Stone Academy The deal also bars owner Joseph Bierbaum from working in Connecticut higher education for five years and ends state investigations of nurses whose only issue was that they attended Stone.
Who Gets Paid and How Much
The fund is divided among roughly 971 to 981 eligible former students after attorney fees and administrative costs are deducted. The Milford firm Hurwitz, Sagarin, Slossberg and Knuff, which led the class action, was awarded at least $1.25 million.2Law360. Defunct School’s $5M Deal for Students Gets Final OK
Individual payments depend on how far a student got in the program. Students who had finished their classes and were waiting to sit for an exit exam receive at least $3,500. Students still working through the curriculum receive amounts tied to credits completed, running from about $240 up to $8,500.3WFSB. Settlement Checks Could Soon Be on Their Way to Former Stone Academy Students
The state kept none of the settlement money for itself. A $150,000 carve-out was set aside to help students prepare for exit exams.1CT.gov – Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Tong Statement Regarding Court Approval of Settlement With Stone Academy
How Students Receive Payment
Students whose transcripts had already been audited by the Connecticut Office of Higher Education are paid automatically. Everyone else needed to submit a claim form to the settlement administrator, Atticus Administration LLC, by February 19, 2025.4Stone Academy Class Action Settlement. Long Form Notice Checks were expected to begin going out as early as March 2025.3WFSB. Settlement Checks Could Soon Be on Their Way to Former Stone Academy Students
What the Settlement Changed Beyond the Money
The agreement carries several non-cash terms that matter to former students and their careers.
- Joseph Bierbaum is banned from employment in Connecticut higher education for five years. If he or other former owners or officers try to open or operate any for-profit school in the state, they must notify the Attorney General’s office.1CT.gov – Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Tong Statement Regarding Court Approval of Settlement With Stone Academy
- The Connecticut Department of Public Health agreed to stop investigating nurses solely because they attended Stone Academy. Graduates who had already passed the NCLEX had faced potential license revocation after the state’s post-closure audit invalidated most of their credits.1CT.gov – Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Tong Statement Regarding Court Approval of Settlement With Stone Academy
- A teach-out program at the Griffin Hospital School of Allied Health Careers gives displaced students a route to finish their studies. The 10-month course, normally $28,000, is free to eligible students.5WSHU. CT Nursing Students Education Stone Academy Griffin Hospital
- The Attorney General’s office agreed to support legislation expanding tuition reimbursement eligibility. If that legislation fails, the parties can return to court.3WFSB. Settlement Checks Could Soon Be on Their Way to Former Stone Academy Students
The defendants denied all allegations of liability as part of the agreement.4Stone Academy Class Action Settlement. Long Form Notice
Which Cases the Settlement Resolves
One settlement closes three separate lawsuits that had piled up after Stone Academy shut down.
The first was a proposed class action filed in May 2023 in Waterbury Superior Court, Ridenhour v. Career Training Specialists LLC d/b/a Stone Academy. Former students sued the school, owner Joseph Bierbaum, trustees Mark and Richard Scheinberg, and CEO Gary Evans for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act. The complaint alleged the defendants recruited students knowing the school could not deliver the promised education and kept collecting tuition as the operation collapsed.6Hartford Courant. Former Stone Academy Nursing Students to File Class Action Lawsuit
The second was filed on July 13, 2023, by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong against Stone Academy, Paier College of Art, and Bierbaum. The state alleged Bierbaum funneled Stone tuition money to Paier College, an institution he also owned. According to the complaint, Stone Academy subsidized nearly $1 million of Paier’s expenses annually between 2019 and at least 2021. Bierbaum was also accused of directing Stone nursing students to conduct COVID-19 temperature screenings at both schools and counting the work as clinical hours, though neither site qualified.7CT.gov – Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Tong Sues Stone Academy
The third was a class action filed by nine former students in December 2023 against the Office of Higher Education and the Department of Public Health. After the state’s audit invalidated 76 percent of student credits, some graduates who had already passed the NCLEX were told to take refresher courses or face license investigations. The students argued this stripped them of academic credits and licensure protections without any chance to appeal, in violation of their Fourteenth Amendment due-process rights.8WTNH. Stone Academy Students Sue State, Call Audit Denying Them Credits Government Overreach That case was withdrawn with prejudice as part of the settlement.9CT Mirror. Stone Academy Lawsuit Settlement Explained
Background on the Collapse
Stone Academy ran practical nursing programs at campuses in East Hartford, Waterbury, and West Haven. By 2022, NCLEX pass rates at every campus had fallen well below the state’s 80 percent threshold, dropping as low as 43 percent at some locations.10CT.gov – Department of Public Health. Stone Academy The Office of Higher Education identified eight compliance violations, including unqualified faculty and invalid clinical experiences.11CT Insider. Stone Academy Closing
After the U.S. Department of Education placed the school on Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 status, effectively restricting federal financial aid, Stone Academy told state officials on February 6, 2023, that it would close rather than submit to a requested independent audit. All three campuses were shut by mid-February, and accreditation was relinquished effective February 14, 2023.12ABHES. Relinquishments Roughly 850 students were left without degrees, many still carrying loan debt.
The state hired CliftonLarsonAllen LLP to audit student records anyway. Auditors reviewed more than 1,100 student files and over 17,000 clinical attendance entries and concluded that 76 percent of the 102,471 clinical hours on student transcripts were invalid. Some hours had been granted for activities unrelated to nursing, including a museum visit.13WFSB. Stone Academy Audit Report Reveals Thousands of Clinical Hours Are Invalid Of 184 faculty members reviewed, 21 percent were unqualified and another 12 percent could not be verified. Nearly $13 million in federal financial aid had gone to the school on behalf of its students.14WTNH. Connecticut Office of Higher Education Releases Audit of Stone Academy
What Is Still Open
Two pieces of relief sit outside the settlement itself and remained unresolved when the deal was approved.
On May 1, 2025, the Connecticut State House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill expanding eligibility for tuition reimbursement from the state’s Private Career School Student Protection Account. The bill targets roughly 300 former Stone Academy students whose credits were not transferable and who had been ineligible for the fund. As of the House vote, Senate passage was still required.15Inside Investigator. House Passes Bill to Expand Stone Academy Repayment Eligibility
Attorney General Tong separately petitioned the U.S. Department of Education for discharges of federal student loans related to Stone Academy. No formal federal response has been publicly reported.16CT News Junkie. Connecticut Reaches $5M Settlement With Stone Academy Owners Federal loan debt remains a separate question from the state settlement payments.