American Public University Biggest Scam and waste of money! Charles Town, West Virginia

My experience has been you get out what you put into your education.  Prematurely quitting is a reflection on the students commitment to learning.  My experience in APU's graduate program has been very good.  Some people don't have the ability to work well independently outside of a traditional classroom and don't realize this until they've made poor grades in a couple of courses.  For the modern student with self-discipline, the education is a good investment. I don't have any complaints about their financial aid department. 

http://www.ncahlc.org/Information-for-the-Public/complaints.html

Can someone who is familiar with APU/ APUS financial aid please explain to me why after withdrawing from one class during the first week I owe the school 1,600? I withdrew from the class during the add/drop period, and the school did say it returned funds back to DOE and/ or Sallie Mae.

My intent was to take 9 credit hours, but I was only able to take 6. I did receive a refund from financial aid a month into my semester which is why the financial aid office or I should say the collections office is stating I have to pay them back 1,600.00 before I am able to register for additional classes. Being that I withdrew from the course during the time I would get a 100% refund and APU sent funds back to DOE, why do I then owe APU 1,600? I have asked this question to both the front and back end of the financial aid departments and now the collection department. The only answer I receive is since I dropped one class I was not entitled to as much financial aid, and since I got a refund I have to pay back additional money. If APU sent back the money to the DOE for my class, I still don't understand how I owe THAT much back to the school.... 1,600 is the amount for two classes...

If anyone can help me understand this, please respond... My refund I received was just shy of 1,500.

For now, and for obvious reasons (OK; I'm a chicken!!) I will remain Also Anonymous...Besides, I cannot afford to stir the pot. I am pretty much at their mercy, considering the fact that I need the money that they are still holding onto, out of my student loans. By "they," of course, I refer to the Financial Aid Department at American Public University (APU/AMU). This is my second semester at APU, and to tell you the truth, I am really wishing I had followed my gut, when it warned me against giving it another go, after last semester's financial aid fiasco.
 
My second semester started in the first week of August, I had all my paperwork done, months in advance, so it's not like I'm asking anyone to turn water into wine for me. Six weeks into my second full-time semester, I am still under-employed, (read: "still broke") still keeping my head above water with a little help from my friends and family, still waiting for a check (my share of the student loans I will be paying off for years to come!) and yet, here I am, more than a month behind, on my rent, and today, the financial aid rep e-mailed me, saying I could look forward to a check in mid-October!! Because September is a busy month, for them! (Gee...somebody might have seen it coming, and staffed it, accordingly!) ...WT@*#!!?!
Oh, and get this...according to my student account ledger, which I have to rely on, in the absence of a straight answer from a live person, the school has not even requested my Pell grant money for this semester, yet, so all that's left out of my loans after they take their share, is $70 some-odd bucks. I am still waiting for a reply from APU's financial aid department about the Pell grant issue,( and I hope I read that part incorrectly) but all I get are brief e-mails, referring me back to their Student Account Ledger Page.

 (F.Y.I...if you ask them to e-mail you a copy of that ledger, what you will get is the all-inclusive, self-explanatory version they think we get to see, too...No wonder they always refer us to the ledger, and act like we're dummies, if we don't get it. -They think we see the full copy they see.) Anyway, no matter how this goes, I'm done with this school. We have a local community college in my town, but it's a bare-bones operation, so I don't know what I will do next semester, except that one thing is for sure; I will not be returning to American Public University!!
Does anyone know of (or want to start??) a class-action lawsuit against American Public University, and specifically against their financial aid department? I'll check back here. And trust me; I am patient, sometimes to a fault. BUT YOU DO NOT RIP ME OFF, AND GET AWAY WITH IT!!!! I am a semi-retired former law clerk, so I'm no Perry Mason, but I do know my rights. And these days, I have got nothing but time, to see this through. Come on, APU...make my day!
     -Also Anonymous (for now)

I am sorry, but your comment about my experiences being "damage control" are false. There are companies who look down on "for profit" universities as well as online degrees, but the times, they are a changing. I have received positive feedback from several non-profits and companies regarding highly competitive internships. My credentials, in general, have been taken seriously and I will probably take an opportunity for one of them in the new year. 

I can understand people wanting to be cautious. To be honest, I was uncertain about going to APUS in the beginning as well. I am not an employee of the university, nor have I been paid for posting my comment. I am simply a former student who wants other people who are currently attending one of the APUS schools to understand that our education has value and does compare to other universities. 

There are lots of companies out there who go online and post positive reviews or positive rebuttals in order to bolster their image or for damage control. The "For Profit" universities are a giant multi-billion dollar business that make a ton of money off of student loans and could care less about providing quality education like endowment universities. Avoid "For Profit" universities like the plague unless you want your resume to be laughed at.

I have never responded to a report on this site, but I feel I must after reading this one. American Public University/American Military University (APUS) is a good school. I graduated with my bachelor's degree last year and have moved on to a Tier 1 school for my graduate degree. I can honestly say that I had to work for my grades, nothing was "given" to me as suggested by this complaint. My experience was that some of the classes did do activities outside of the textbook, but the syllabus usually had what chapters to read for each week. I think it is up to the student to read the materials, just as it is at all universities. 

As far as the quality of education that I received with APUS, as I said earlier, I read the materials as instructed, so I was well prepared for graduate school. My education can certainly hold its own with my current classmates. The majority of my professors were very helpful. I will be the first to admit that a couple of the professors were not very good at responding to emails. But, I found that if I sent a message in the classroom, it was usually answered. 

I personally never had an issue with the financial aid department. I attended another traditional university when I was younger and I found their policies very similar. I did, however, have an issue with registration one term. I was not getting the information I needed, so I emailed the registrar directly. She was extremely helpful and the issue was fixed within a day. 

I think people can complain about every school. It's just the way it is in the academic world. To anyone reading this review, please understand that the education I received from APUS has fully prepared me for my work at the graduate school level.