Al Collins Graphic Design School - Collins College - CEC Corporation Info Join the Class Action Suit? Here is some info about the Corporation behind this sham of a school Tempe Arizona

you can contact me at (((ROR redacted))). Was promised so many things, from housing to transportation. All lies to get money, they know you can not stop federal loans no matter what they get there money.

I found this article when looking for information to include in a speech to my Public Speaking class (In an actual legit school now, thank god) about how much I hate this school. I want to join and I know several other alumni who would jump at the chance to join this lawsuit if it goes to court. Not only am I an alumni of a now defunct program (Animation) but I am also an ex-employee and dated a current instructor for many years (note: I dated him before he was an instructor).

Like most people I have the same complaints against the school. I was lied to about the success rate and the amount I would be paid after schooling, I am wallowing in debt and now that I am trying to go back to a real legit school, I am having a helluva time getting financial aid. I agree with everything being said above and want to simply add a few more stories:

1. They lie about being able to help special needs students. My current Boyfriend, also an alumni, has dyslexia and struggled a great deal with his classes. The school was informed of this and promised they could help him. They did not. Not only was he not given any sort of tutoring or note taking or extra time, as you would in a legit college, but they repeatedly tried to kick him permanently out of the school so they could get his money and not have to deal with him. He paid for several classes many times over simply because he wasn't given a chance to get the education he needed. The teachers had little interest in helping him and the school didn't have any programs set up. My friends and I, who were ahead of him, were the only help he got and we were in the same boat because of the sh*ty education.

2. The teachers are often unqualified. My ex, who shall not be named because I am not a b*ch, was an adjunct teacher who went almost directly from being a graduate to being a teacher. I am talking within a year. He had no formal education on teaching and yet they had him teaching up to three classes a semester. Not only that, but they often had him teach classes he had never taken himself! I remember many nights he would stay up into the wee hours of the morning learning how to do the thing he would be teaching the next day. It was no more then glorified tutoring. Not only that but they f*k the teachers over financially as well. He was getting paid 2000 a month for a 5 week semester, which was awesome when he was teaching 3 classes per semester, but when they expanded the classes to 10 weeks, they did not increase the pay. So his pay was cut in half. And then he was told he couldn't have as many classes and could only do one a semester... so he went from making 6,000 a month to 1000... and that is how much I make at a crappy retail job. Yet did they lower tuition? F*k no.

3. If you go, you will have a hell of a time going somewhere else. I recently decided to attend a community college to hopefully get a non worthless degree and when I started I was informed, to my surprise, that Collins credits only work at other CEC schools. They told me they were accredited at most schools, but failed to tell me that it was only other trade schools. I had to start over with everything because of this and will have to pay much more now. AND I have a hard time getting loans because I already have a degree and as such, I can only be a 'maximum time frame student' where they will only pay for the classes they deem necessary. If there is an extra class I would like to take, even if it is for my degree, I have to pay out of pocket. So I am a 'freshman' whose previous experience means nothing... BUT I am treated like a Bachelor student for financial aid... all because of Collins and their lies. 

4.. The housing can kill you. I don't even mean that they put you in very bad areas... it could literally kill you! My first year in AZ, and at Collins, RnR put me in Hayden Place (I think that was the name... its been a while). It was a sh*ty apartment in a sh*ty area. There were already girls living there and damage had already been done to the apartment from previous tenants (More on that in a second). A month or so goes by and things are fine, but around October we start to have issues with our airconditioning dripping all over everything. They sent someone who did a sh*t repair job and gave us 50 dollars off our rent. It begin to leak again shortly after and then completely died. About the same time, the disposal started to back up and filled our sink with garbage sewage. They sent another inept repairman out who pulled out a small clog and basically told us "It's your fault" and didn't offer anything in return. No big, so we thought.

Thanksgiving comes around and I am the only one in the apartment. I am sitting with my BF at the time, just chilling, and we hear the telltale sign of the sink backing up. I ignored it at first because I knew it always stopped at the edge and would slowly filter out. Then I heard water hitting the floor. We went in to find sewage water spilling out of the sink and onto the floor and carpet. We tried to pour it into a trashcan and filled the trashcan (13 gall) and still had a 2-3 foot radius of water soaked into the carpet. Since it was a holiday it took 2 days to get a repairman out there, this time he found out that the issue was much deeper in the system (And not our fault). There was a huge clog that was causing 5 apartments worth of garbage disposal sewage to come out of our sink. That is rotten food and raw chicken grease soaked into our carpets. The air conditioner was also fully broken at this time.

This isn't even the worst part. We complained to the housing immediately and it took 2 weeks before someone came to clean the carpet or fix the AC. Since I didn't have a car, I lived in a sewage soaked apartment with no AC in Arizona for weeks. What did they give us in return? Either 1 month free of rent or we could break our lease for free, but not both. Oh and I couldn't have my security deposit back because of the damage caused by tenants before me. I moved out, needless to say, and never returned.

However, here is the kicker, my other roommate moved to a nicer apartment complex through RnR and spent the money for her own room. A few months down the road and she started to consider leaving to live with her BF. RnR got wind of this and since they had some prospective, and presumably rich, student whose parents were willing to pay for her to have her own room, they jumped on her and offered to give her back that months rent, let her break her lease for free and give her the deposit back IF she moved out that week so they could move this other girl in. It is all about the money with those bastards and you can bet if I had gotten poisoned by the raw chicken/turkey grease, they would have tried to shove it under the rug.

Whew that was nice to get off the old chest. Also, if we want something done, we should also all go bombard the better business bureau. They have Collins listed as an A+ school because only 6 complaints have been filed. That is insane. Collins should have an F... no, is there a grade worse then that? Because if there is one, they deserve it.

#24:

You definitely raise some valid points about many of the lackluster students who went to Collins. My class of 40 was reduced to a class of about 12 because of these students failing out, and we were considered a rather large class at the end. It is true that a many students failed because they felt entitled to having everything handed to them. I also agree that many of them try to blame the teachers when they were not at fault. I loved my teachers, they were about the only good thing in my experience there. 

But this marks where our agreement ends.

What you fail to take into account is that a majority of those who have posted here are alumni, AKA those that have graduated. Most of us are not people that dropped or failed out because of our own laziness. I personally made all A's and B's and graduated with a 3.7 GPA. My demo reel is still displayed in the schools front office. In other words, I worked very hard.

Now I am not noting this to sound arrogant or superior, but to make a point. Your experience is not the experience most of us have had. You were lucky. You shouldn't make assumptions about the rest of us, accusing us of being lazy or stupid, when it is quite clear that it is not the case. 

most of the issues that I, as well as many, had with the school were in regards to the administration, not the teachers or even the education. The administration are the ones who lied to us and stole from us. Just because you didn't have a bad experience at the school doesn't mean the rest of us hadn't, and to argue that all of our pain and misfortune is irrelevant because YOU didn't have a bad time is both insulting and unfair. I am sincerely glad you found a job and are happy with your education, and I hope this continues for you, but I would appreciate if you would stand back and let those of us whose lives have been severely harmed by an unfeeling and remorseless thief of a company get our chance at reparations. Thank you.