Penn Foster Career School Dressmaking & Design-on your checkbook and nowhere else! Scranton, Pennsylvania

I am a single Mom and I have enrolled my daughter in a Dressmaking and Design school at Penn Foster to the tune of $713.00 hard-earned dollars. My daughter had always hand-sewn all kinds of things. This course was supposed to teach her dressmaking and design but fell short in so many areas and is a downright Rip-Off in EVERY sense of the phrase. First off it did include a sewing machine- a bottom of the line "Brother" sewing machine. Early on, the test questions, such as what type of sewing needles should be used when that wasn't covered in the text and she hadn't even gotten her sewing machine yet.Then they bugged her because they said her progress was not fast enough. What do they care? It was supposed be be at a student's own pace. The course material was old and outdated. When you called what they laughingly referred to as "Student Services", they never answered or told you to E-Mail your question. I'm sorry if you have a question, you should be able to talk to a live human being,after paying that much, and that simply wan't the case. My other complaint is the Design part of the course, as there simply isn't anything  in the text or anywhere that addresses design. They also did not go over patterns, which is only the MOST important element in dressmaking and design. I found a wonderful local person to give her "hands on" experience which was never addressed at Penn Foster.When my daughter submitted her final project, it was filled out in detail,pictures were taken of all angles of a dress, that she redesigned the pattern as well.She used a zipper top to bottom in the front of the dress, very daring for a beginning seamstress. They sent it back and gave her a 54, because they said the dress was "unattractive". Well that is an opinion, it wasn't unattractive and she shouldn't have been marked down because they didn't like it. The only thing that should have mattered was that the coursework was completed and done correctly.They also said the material should have been "pre-shrunk" The "instructor/grader" should have know that because it was a nylon /polyester blend and not a natural material, it didn't need to be preshrunk. Only natural materials like wool, linen, cotton needed to be preshrunk. You would think an "instructor with 25 years experience" as they put it, would know that.They use outside graders, exposing students to possible idenity theft.Your name and address and student number gets mailed to an outside person. I wrote to what I thought was the Head CEO, a Stuart Udell, and I found out that this person was no longer there.I guess he saw what they were like and had the good sense to quit. 

I forwarded my Email to the new CEO Tom O'Keefe and received an E-Mail from him and a call from a Susan McGrath who gave my daughter 2 options. She could accept the 54 and get her diploma as she had a 90 grade average, or resubmit it. She opted to resubmit it and they came back 2 weeks later and gave her a 60. We were so disgusted at that point, my daughter asked them to send her diploma. Penn Foster, if they had a modicum of sense, would encourage young people, instead of ripping up their dreams by judging someone's work so harshly, that they are discouraged from ever trying again. Part of being a school ,is to train the next generation and help them with their goals. They surely have this idea in the glossy brochures they send out, but the image doesn't hold up to reality in the cold light of day. The most laughable thing is when they sent her diploma , they "invited" her to take more classes. Well Penn Foster, not one more penny from us. It is also my hope that no one else will not be drawn in by Penn Foster's lack of substance or credibility. I hope their slick advertisng campaign will not ensnare anyone else to invest their hard-earned money and valuable time and shatter their dreams as they did my daughter and to others on this website. STAY AWAY and Shame,shame,shame on you Penn Foster!