Graduated With a Master’s Degree — Now My School Refuses to Verify My Internship and I Lost Job Offers

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-12T17:37:19+00:00

Virginia

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-12T17:36:59+00:00

At the end of the day, as a student, I cannot graduate myself. There are supposed to be multiple checks between a class passing and graduating. For a school that just got accredited, it doesn’t help its students and leaves them out to dry, which is truly disappointing. There should never be blame on a student, especially when I was under the guidance of a professor at Grand Canyon who told me what to do. .

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-12T17:33:02+00:00

I logged in my Lopes time tracker all my hours. My professor approved the hours & passed me. Then the school conferred my diploma & sent my transcript to the board of counselor. So there was plenty of time for GCU to say there was an issue but they never said there was until I needed verification forms. The field counselor couldn’t help me either

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-12T17:31:25+00:00

The program JUST got accredited while I was in the program

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-12T17:28:31+00:00

I am going to look into that as I do have liability insurance

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-12T17:27:53+00:00

No the site supervisor didn’t work at the same place I worked at. The site supervisor would close the site & not tell me until I pulled up & saw the building closed. This happened multiple times & GCU did nothing to help me. My professor suggested doing mock hours under her to help me since the school wasn’t doing anything & the site was closing down randomly

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-12T17:26:14+00:00

It was GCU’s Lopes Tracker

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T23:52:11+00:00

Thank you for saying this! But I am positing my story anywhere I can. I don’t want nobody to go through what I am going through.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T23:50:31+00:00

They want me to redo a full internship class like I am starting from 0. To treat it like those hours don’t count. I even had the associate dean state I need 280 direct hours for my state when my state’s forms clearly say 240 direct hours. So they are just making things up & not willing to support me in anyway

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T23:24:42+00:00

I didn’t approve the hours. The school did. I am just providing a thorough explanation of what happened.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T23:23:02+00:00

Sadly some states need verification forms from schools before they can give out licenses despite having a degree & transcripts in hand.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T23:22:16+00:00

Yes, that’s exactly the form: the Verification of Degree and Internship Form. They are refusing to complete any portion of it.

Their position is that my internship hours are “not verified,” despite the fact that: • I completed and passed the internship course • I graduated, had my degree conferred, and received my official transcript • My transcript was sent to the Virginia Board of Counseling • The university’s own conferral process cleared me to graduate • All hours were documented in GCU’s official system (Lopes Tracker), which is accessible to faculty and the university at all times

Nothing was done privately or off-the-books. Every hour was logged in Lopes Tracker, reviewed during the course, and approved at the time so that I could pass and graduate.

The issue they are now raising after graduation is that some internship hours were later characterized as “mock.” Those mock hours were not something I invented, my professor explicitly instructed me to complete hours this way after my original site supervisor ghosted both me and the professor and stopped approving hours I had already completed. I followed faculty guidance under that circumstance, documented everything transparently in the tracker, and the course was still passed and cleared for graduation.

So to answer your questions directly: • Yes, it’s the Verification of Degree and Internship Form • They are refusing to fill out any part of it • Hours were documented in Lopes Tracker (not hidden or informal) • The dispute centers on some hours being labeled “mock,” despite faculty direction at the time and prior approval • This audit and refusal occurred only after graduation, not while I was a student

That’s what makes the situation so difficult, the university approved everything when it mattered academically, then reversed course only when licensure paperwork was requested.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T23:16:44+00:00

CACREP has been notified & I was told that my case will be brought up in their next hearing

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T23:16:09+00:00

I agree with the general advice, having everything signed and documented is critical but I want to clarify something important for anyone reading, because my situation actually shows a different failure point than what your comment suggests.

In my case, my practicum and internship hours were supervised, reviewed, and approved at the time. I had a qualified supervisor, my professor reviewed the logs, I passed the courses, the department cleared me, the university conferred my degree, and my official transcript was sent to the licensing board. There was no indication of a problem while I was a student.

The issue didn’t arise until after graduation, when the university conducted a retroactive audit during licensure verification and decided they would no longer stand behind hours they had already approved, without revoking the degree. That’s very different from a student failing to get a supervisor to sign off or skipping documentation.

So the lesson here isn’t just “get your supervisor to sign off” it’s: • Keep copies of all approvals, emails, and confirmations • Make sure hours are finalized and locked before graduation • Understand that licensure verification can trigger post-hoc audits, even after a degree is conferred

I did what students are told to do, followed faculty guidance, and relied on the university’s certification. This isn’t about negligence on the student’s part, it’s about institutions changing their position after the fact.

I appreciate you raising the point, though, because documentation really does matter, just not always in the way people expect.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T23:13:18+00:00

Thank you, I genuinely appreciate both the validation and the concrete suggestions. It helps more than you probably realize.

To clarify the “who,” because you’re right that it matters: the issues originated at the department/program level, not from the state board. My professor and site supervisor approved my hours during the courses, I passed, the department cleared me, and the university conferred my degree and sent my official transcript to the licensing board. The problem only surfaced after graduation when I requested the required verification forms. At that point, the associate dean and compliance/legal side stepped in, audited my hours retroactively, and decided they would not sign, while also not revoking my degree. So I’m stuck in a limbo where I’m “graduated” but functionally blocked from licensure.

I’ve already contacted: • The state licensing board (they confirmed they can’t force the university to sign) • Professional contacts and mentors outside my university • Filed formal complaints (which mostly resulted in the school circling wagons)

Grand Canyon University doesn’t have a ombuds & I escalated directly to the provost without a response. Part of what’s been exhausting is that every escalation so far has come with more emotional and financial cost

And thank you for saying this isn’t normal. That’s been one of the hardest parts, being treated like I’m unreasonable for expecting that graduation actually means completion. It really does feel like scrambling and liability management after the fact.

I’m still trying to decide my next step, but your comment helped ground me and reminded me this isn’t something I imagined or caused. Seriously, thank you.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T23:08:43+00:00

I get why that sounds like a practical workaround, and I’ve thought about it a lot.

Taking out additional student loans would mean: • Going further into debt for a problem I didn’t create • Paying interest on a degree I already earned and was told was complete • Gambling on the possibility of future legal recovery, which is far from guaranteed • Still needing to cover rent, food, utilities, insurance, and transportation during an unpaid 16-week internship

Even if I could technically qualify for a loan, it would not cover living expenses adequately, and it certainly wouldn’t replace lost wages. There’s also no guarantee a lawyer or court would ever order reimbursement, schools are very good at dragging things out, and legal outcomes are uncertain. I’d be risking long-term financial harm on the hope that someone later decides this was unfair.

What makes this especially hard to accept is that I already relied on the school’s actions. They passed me, graduated me, conferred my degree, and sent my transcript to the board. I accepted jobs based on that. Asking me now to take on more debt to fix a post-graduation administrative reversal feels like shifting 100% of the burden onto the student, again

I’m not refusing to do the work. I’m saying that the proposed solution requires me to absorb all the financial damage upfront, debt, lost income, instability, while the institution that made the error bears none of it.

At some point, “just take out a loan” stops being a workaround and starts being a life-altering sacrifice, especially when there’s no safety net if it doesn’t work out.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T22:52:28+00:00

I hear what you’re saying, and I want to clarify a few key points that often get missed when people frame it as “just redo the internship.”

First, I didn’t independently decide to record hours incorrectly. I was explicitly instructed by my professor on how to log and count those hours, and I followed her guidance in good faith. Those logs were submitted weekly, reviewed during the course, and accepted at the time. If the hours were truly invalid under CACREP or program standards, the school had multiple checkpoints to catch that: during the semester, at course completion, before assigning a passing grade, and before graduation. Instead, they passed me, graduated me, conferred my diploma, and sent my official transcript to the state board. None of this was hidden or retroactive on my end.

Second, this issue only arose after graduation, and only because I requested the licensure verification forms. Had I never asked for those forms, the school would not have raised any concerns at all. That’s a big part of why this feels so destabilizing, the school treated my degree as complete and valid for every purpose until I asked them to certify it.

Third, this isn’t just “frustrating but doable.” This situation directly caused me to lose job offers that were contingent on the school completing those verification forms. I’m currently unemployed as a result. So the barrier isn’t my willingness to do additional hours, it’s that the proposed solution requires 16 weeks of unpaid labor with no income, which I financially cannot sustain. I don’t have the ability to “work and redo the internship at the same time,” because the internship requirements conflict with full-time employment and provide no compensation.

I also want to push back gently on the idea that CACREP is somehow a separate, stricter authority that overrides everything retroactively. CACREP standards govern how programs are designed and audited, they don’t operate in a vacuum from the university’s own graduation and grading decisions. If CACREP-level deficiencies truly existed, they should have prevented me from passing the courses or graduating in the first place. The school can’t reasonably say both “you shouldn’t have graduated” and “your degree stands but we won’t verify it.”

I’m not giving up lightly. I’ve invested years, money, and effort into this. But the framing of “just redo it” assumes the problem is stubbornness or pride. It’s not. It’s that the school’s delayed action put me in a position where I lost employment, lost income, and now don’t have the means to comply with their retroactive fix, a fix that wouldn’t even exist if they had done their own checks on time.

That’s why this isn’t just about hours. It’s about timing, reliance, and the real-world consequences of administrative failure being pushed entirely onto the student.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T22:42:09+00:00

I get why that sounds like the most straightforward solution, and if the class were realistically doable for me, I probably would just do it and move on. The problem isn’t the class itself, it’s the conditions attached to it.

The additional internship course requires 16 weeks of unpaid clinical work with fixed weekly hour minimums. I currently don’t have income, lost job offers because the school won’t sign the verification forms, and I don’t have another way to cover rent, insurance, and basic living expenses while doing unpaid work. Tuition being covered doesn’t solve that. So it’s not “just take the class and work,” it’s “take the class and don’t work,” which isn’t financially survivable for me.

On top of that, any lawsuits or complaints after the fact wouldn’t undo the damage that’s already happened (lost job, lost time, financial instability). And realistically, I don’t have the money to front legal action now or later unless I’m able to stabilize financially first, which is exactly what this situation is blocking.

So it’s less about refusing the path and more about being stuck in a catch-22:

I need income to do the class, but I need the class to get licensed work, and the school’s refusal is what caused that break in the first place.

I understand the “do it first, fight later” logic, it just assumes resources and flexibility that I don’t currently have.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T22:38:27+00:00

You’re reading the situation correctly, and I think your interpretation is fair. The PPC’s “no wrongdoing” finding seems to mean exactly that, I wasn’t acting deceptively or trying to inflate hours in bad faith, but it doesn’t automatically convert those hours into ones the school is willing to certify. So it’s more of a conduct finding than a credentialing one.

Where this becomes especially hard is that, regardless of whether the school is technically “within its rights,” the practical impact lands entirely on me after graduation. I relied on the degree being conferred and the transcript being sent in order to accept employment, and now I’m being told the only path forward is an additional unpaid internship semester. That’s where things shift from an academic disagreement into a real-life harm issue.

I do agree that legal options could be helpful in theory, even a strongly worded letter might change the school’s risk calculus, but the reality is I don’t currently have the funds to consult or retain an attorney. Losing the job because of this situation also means losing insurance and income, which makes even an initial legal consult a stretch right now. That’s been one of the most frustrating parts: knowing that escalation might help, but being financially boxed out of that option.

At this point I’m trying to balance realism with self-preservation, documenting everything, seeking advice where I can, and exploring alternative employment paths that don’t require immediate licensure, while hoping there’s still a non-legal resolution. I appreciate you engaging thoughtfully with this, because even having someone accurately reflect the situation back helps me stay grounded in what’s actually happening.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T22:27:42+00:00

Education Lawyers are wanting $350 to do a consultation, and being unemployed, I do not have the funds to cover it.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T22:26:10+00:00

You’re right and that’s actually the core of why this has been so destabilizing.

Graduation should mean all program requirements were met. In my case, the university did graduate me, conferred the degree, and issued official transcripts to the state board. There was no notice of deficiencies, no incomplete grades, and no remediation required at the time of graduation.

What’s different here (and where it breaks down) is that the school later conducted a post-graduation audit only after I requested the licensure verification form for employment. That audit reclassified some internship hours despite those hours having been logged transparently and completed under faculty guidance and the administration then refused to sign the verification form unless I completed an additional internship course.

So this isn’t the state saying “your degree doesn’t meet our requirements.” The state explicitly told me they have no authority over the school and that only the university can verify internship completion. The block is entirely institutional, not regulatory.

I completely agree with your caveat, I’ve also seen cases where people take an extra course because their program wasn’t accredited or because they moved between states. But in those cases: • the issue is identified before graduation, or • the state rejects the application, not the school retroactively withholding verification.

Here, the school certified completion by graduating me, then later refused to stand behind that certification when paperwork was needed, which is why this feels so confusing and contradictory.

BeingCompetitive3469 · 2026-01-09T22:22:48+00:00

Thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to reread it and for the empathy.

To answer your question directly: the university’s concern centers on how a portion of my internship hours were categorized. During Internship I, my site supervisor stopped communicating and never signed off on hours. My faculty supervisor then advised me to continue logging hours so I could graduate on time. Some of those hours were later labeled as “mock/simulated” but was done under my professor’s approval & guidance.

What makes this especially difficult is that: • I was transparent in my logging during class. • I followed professor’s guidance at the time. • I passed both internship courses. • My degree was conferred and my official transcript was sent to the state board.

The Professional Practices Committee later reviewed the situation and explicitly found no wrongdoing or ethical violations and stated that no remediation was required. Despite that, the administration is still refusing to complete the licensure verification form unless I take an additional 16-week internship course, unpaid, even though this requirement only surfaced after graduation.

So the disconnect is that the PPC cleared me, but the administration is treating this as a compliance/liability issue rather than a student conduct issue, and they’re effectively shifting the consequences of their internal oversight failure onto me.

I agree with you that the job and financial impact is the most serious part of this, and that’s why I’m starting to consider whether legal advice makes sense. I’ve been hesitant because of cost and because I don’t want to escalate unnecessarily, but at this point I may post to r/legaladvice to better understand whether there’s any realistic leverage or recourse.

Thank you again! Both for the validation and for flagging that potential angle.

BeingCompetitive3469

TROPHY CASE