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Wharton Degree's Worth $435,000

Wednesday, Oct 14, 2009 | Updated 1:35 PM EST

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Frank Reynolds went on to get an M.B.A from the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T.

A biotechnology executive has won a legal dispute with the University of Pennsylvania over the value of a degree from its prestigious Wharton School of Business.

       A federal jury last week awarded more than $435,000 to the man, who thought his executive degree in technology management would
have the Wharton pedigree but later found it would not.

Frank Reynolds enrolled in 2002 and says he was told a year later that his degree would come from Penn's engineering school. He sued for breach of contract, telling the Philadelphia Inquirer, "a management degree from an enginerring school just doesn't even make sense."

Penn says the program was co-sponsored by Wharton and that students could use Wharton resources.

Reynolds, now the CEO of a biotech company in Massachusetts, declined the degree until earlier this year. He says the verdict compensates him for tuition, student-loan interest and other costs.

The Ivy League university plans to appeal.

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