Editing Herzing Issues: Proctoring and Testing (section)

=== HU-139: Student AS: HESI exam would not load and repeatedly locked her out during intensive week; placed on hold with support for two hours with no answer or resolution; family waiting; student warned others not to test in a hotel; two-hour unresolved support hold is the core institutional failure ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
! style="width:14em" | Severity
| Medium
! style="width:14em" | Status
| CONFIRMED
|-
! Issue type
| HESI Exam Disruption / Repeated Lockouts / Two-Hour Support Hold with No Resolution
! Date added
| 2026-06-02
|-
! Owner
| colspan="3" | HESI / Elsevier (exam platform) / Herzing Testing Support / IT
|}
'''Finding.''' Student AS, a student in the Herzing Direct Entry MSN program, posted in the Herzing Direct Entry MSN Facebook group describing a HESI exam disruption while testing during her intensive week. She had signed up to take her HESI and was unable to complete it: the test would not load, she was repeatedly locked out, and she was placed on hold with support for approximately two hours without resolution or explanation. She wrote that no one could tell her why the test was not loading and that she kept being given the runaround. She attributed the issue to taking the exam on hotel WiFi (she was at intensive that week), and concluded with a warning to other students not to take the HESI in a hotel. While the student herself raised the hotel WiFi as a possible cause, the documented institutional concerns are: (1) the HESI testing platform repeatedly locked her out and failed to load, and (2) Herzing/HESI support kept her on hold for approximately two hours and could not provide any answer or resolution. The two-hour unresolved support hold during a high-stakes, time-bound exam is the core institutional failure, independent of the cause of the connectivity issue.

'''Evidence.''' Facebook post by Student AS (Rising contributor), Herzing Direct Entry MSN group, June 2026 (posted approximately 20 hours before capture). Source URL: [post link redacted].

'''Reported statement.''' According to the tracker, Student AS reported being on hold with support for approximately two hours while her family waited outside the room, with no one able to explain why her test would not load; she stated she was repeatedly locked out and given the runaround, and closed her post by telling other students not to take the HESI in a hotel.

'''Standards.''' ACEN Standard 5: technology and assessment systems supporting student learning and evaluation must be reliable and adequately supported. A HESI exam platform that repeatedly locks a student out and fails to load, combined with a two-hour support hold that produces no answer or resolution, documents a failure of both the testing technology and the support infrastructure behind it. 34 CFR 668.14 (administrative capability): institutions must maintain functional academic and assessment infrastructure, including responsive support for students experiencing technical failures during high-stakes exams. While the student raised hotel WiFi as a possible contributing factor, a robust testing and support system should be able to diagnose and communicate the cause of a loading failure rather than leaving a student locked out and on hold for two hours with no explanation. This connects to the documented pattern of HESI-related and platform-reliability concerns across the program ({{HU|HU-041}}, {{HU|HU-059}}, {{HU|HU-088}}, {{HU|HU-120}}, {{HU|HU-129}}).

'''Impact.''' Student AS was unable to complete her scheduled HESI exam, lost approximately two hours on hold with no resolution, and experienced significant distress (she described herself as very upset and noted her family was waiting for her). For a high-stakes, time-bound exam that students schedule around intensive weeks and family logistics, a platform failure with no support resolution can mean a missed exam attempt, rescheduling difficulties, and added stress. The student's public warning to others (don't take it in a hotel) reflects students developing their own informal risk-avoidance guidance in the absence of clear institutional support or testing-environment requirements. If the institution requires or permits HESI testing during intensives but does not ensure adequate connectivity guidance or responsive support, students are exposed to avoidable exam disruptions.

'''Notes.''' Attributed to student Student AS (Herzing Direct Entry MSN Facebook group, Rising contributor). The student identified hotel WiFi as a possible cause; this is documented as the student's own attribution, while the institutional concerns (repeated lockouts, platform not loading, two-hour unresolved support hold) are preserved as the substantive issue. This occurred during an intensive week, when students are often traveling and testing away from home. Cross-reference: {{HU|HU-088}} (HESI content concerns), {{HU|HU-041}} (recurring platform outages), {{HU|HU-059}} (Sherpath outage), {{HU|HU-120}} (Canvas breach / platform reliability), {{HU|HU-129}} (Sherpath outage during tutoring), {{HU|HU-126}} (NSG525 quiz technical/timing issues). POSSIBLE follow-up: whether Student AS was granted a retake or accommodation for the disrupted exam attempt.

Source Group: Facebook post, Herzing Direct Entry MSN group, Student AS (Rising contributor), June 2026, [post link redacted]; provided by the reporting student.

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