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The registrar at a public college in the US claims that a lecture course is "substantially equivalent" to a course that was to be held in a lab to teach lab skills. They also claim that being a public institution makes it exempt to state consumer law and 34 CFR § 668.71-75.
Student me wonders if the registrar is mistaken. The change in venue was not announced until the first day of class.
A state institution is subject to 34 CFR § 668.71-75. State consumer-protection laws probably do not apply, but there are 50 states so it depends. Here are the laws for Washington. State universities have not yet found to be "businesses" in WA, so it is unlikely that those laws apply to university conduct. Whether or not a certain practice is legally actionable depends on what the action is: there is no misrepresentation, given what you describe, just consumer dissatisfaction.
