Kaplan University Watch where you spend your money Cedar Raoids Iowa

I have attended Kaplan University for approximately 2 years. I am obtaining a B.S. in Legal Studies. I will finish in the coming year (2009). I myself have had only one problem with the Financial Aid department. They were contacting me for a supposed outstanding balance. I explained to them my understanding of the situation, and the issue was resolved within a week.

I have had no problems with the academic side of my education. The classes seem fairly tough, and seem to have substance. My Professors have been extremely helpful. I am maintaining a 3.2 GPA after failing one course (it was a very hard class, at least for me). I knew going in though that there would be classes that I was able to ace, and classes that would give me a very hard time.

After reading all the complaints on this site, I learned only one thing. The majority (not all) of the people who feel they were ripped off seem to supposedly have had some life altering experience that prevented them from attending more than one class. Could it be that instead of not being able to attend they merely decided it wasn't quite as easy as they thought it would be? These are the same people who are unable to spell the most common of words, or form a complete sentence. The same people who ramble on and on about how they were ripped off when in reality it was their lack of understanding of their financial aid or when they were allowed to drop a class without being charged, that caused the problem in the first place. One person even said he was told something was in the catalog but he had never heard of or seen a catalog. The catalog has been on the first screen of Kaplan's site for the last two years (maybe more). Clearly many of the people on this site were not ripped off, but merely underestimated how much work they would need to put into obtaining a degree. They would like their money back because they did not follow the clearly stated rules (the ones in that catalog that is so obscure it's right on the front page) regarding dropping/withdrawing from classes. They would like their money back because they believe they should not have to pay for something they agreed to pay for and later decided was just too hard.

I too got the hard sell' when talking to the admissions counselor. The difference I experienced is I took responsibility for myself. No one (especially over the phone or online) can make' you sign up for school. These people need to accept responsibility for themselves and realize that they made the decision to sign up.

For anyone with a genuine grievance against this school please know I am not speaking of you in this post. I know that every experience cannot be trouble free like mine has been. I realize that there are mistakes made by the school that are the fault of no one but Kaplan.

As a side note: Kaplan is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. This is regional accreditation. Accreditation by more than one regional accrediting body is not allowed by the US Department of Education. The six regional accrediting bodies recognize each other's accreditations.