University Of Phoenix ripoff incorrect and missing students info Arizona USA

Hello Chris3460,

I am former student (with a University of Phoenix Bachelors of Science in Business Management along with a University of Phoenix Masters for Business Administration degrees). I am also a former Academic Counselor for Axia College for the University of Phoenix Online. I worked there for 3 years from 2007 to 2010.

You talk about signing an enrollment agreement and knowing what tuition costs are have you actually looked at all your admissions paperwork. I can tell you point of fact tuition costs along with book fees are not listed on the enrollment agreement. The only thing listed on the enrollment agreement is the program of choice, Name, IRN, Number of classes that must be completed as foundation courses and core classes plus the total number of credits required. There is also a place to sign and date the enrollment agreement. NO WHERE and I MEAN nowhere does the enrollment agreement or admissions paperwork talk about cost of class tuition.

I can tell you for a fact that this information is supposed to be provided by the enrollment counslor when they are trying to sale the University of Phoenix's product, which is education. After the student is hooked, finance is supposed to restate the cost of classes ect. But I will also tell you that EA's (enrollment counselors) mislead the student as to the cost of classes and promise them financial aid funds that they have no way of knowing until the students financial aid has been certified.

I can't tell you how many times when doing a welcome call for a student with the finance counselor the student is suprized at the cost of tuition stating that they were quoted a different price.

Also another way that EA's lie to students during admission is when they walk them through the hardware/software agreement. The hardware/software agreement state that the studnet must own or have access to a computer/MS Office. Many students don't know one end of a computer from another, don't own a computer or have access to one for the required amount for an online class. ALso as for MS Office the informs the student that they can download a trial version that will get them through their first couple of classes and when their refunds from financial aid come in they can use the refunds for purchasing MS Office, Computers and Printer. 95% of the student do not qualify for refunds that are enough for the cost of a computer, Office and a printer unless they are unemployeed and have little source of income in the real world.

When you applied for University of Phoenix, you signed an enrollment agreement that went over all of the costs per credit, and the cost for books.  When you applied for financial aid, the government and the bank (not just University of Phoenix) would have both let you know what you qualified for.  It's simple math.  If the cost of tuition is more than what you are eligible for in financial aid, it's your own fault for not knowing.

One thing that is VERY important for people to understand when they are looking into pursuing an education/degree at a Vocational school(massage therapy, aviation, dental assistant, paralegal, medical assistant, chef)or any specialized school (computer technology, graphic design) is that even though they receive federal money and are "accredited," this in no way means they are a good school.

As a former "admissions counselor" at two of these University of Phoenix type schools, plus having gone on SEVERAL interviews for schools like Bryman, Mt. Sierra, American InterContinental University etc., I am somewhat of a veteran to this business. I refer them as "businesses" because that is exactly what they are! You will see lots if ads for these types of schools requesting you send or call for more information on their program and they will let you speak with an Admissions Counselor. These Counselors are merely SALESMEN-that's all they are! They have a very HIGH PRESSURE deadline to meet or they will be fired-it is VERY cut throat. This explains why a lot of people, like Julie above, feel "rushed" when signing up. The Admissions Reps needs their NUMBERS and so does their boss, the Director of Admissions-most probably the HIGHEST TURNOVER JOB in the U.S. next to Admissions Reps. They are highly trained in learning how to ACT LIKE YOUR BEST FRIEND! Also "rushing" people is a sales techinique utilized often in this industry as it keeps the prospective student from having a chance to think about it and say "NO!"

Now, it is the corporation that owns the school that creates these magical numbers of people who must be enrolled as students by the end of the month OR by the beginning of a start-this is SALES, plain and simple, and often, as in my experience, Financial Aid is aware of certain things that would probably keep the student from enrolling but purposely looks the other way as the pressure to meet Corporate goals is very strong!

Now, you ask, what does any of this have to do with getting an education? NOTHING! That's the point! All the money at these types of schools goes into MARKETINNG, ADVERTISING, and the CORPORATION/OWNER's POCKETS! They spend the bare minimum to maintain accreditation status on actual educational programs (accreditaion doesn't usually mean anything anyway), yet charge outrageous tuition fees! This explains why SO MANY people after enrolling are disappointed-not only are they not cared about anymore (Admissions Reps are too busy hunting their next kill so they can keep their very high-paying jobs) but the classes they enroll in are terribly sub-par, not to mention the "FINANCIAL AID FOR THOSE WHO QUALIFY" routine will keep them in debt for the rest of their lives.
What they don't tell you is that the government loans and grants will NEVER EVER EVER pay for the entire cost of the program, and once you have been wooed by the friendly, caring smiles and manipulative twists on how the school has a placement program, and how qualified the instructors are, then they tell you must take out a private loan with exorbitant interest rates! Many people when they graduate from these schools have to pay between $400-500 bucks a month for 10 years to pay back their loans! BUT THEY WON"T TELL YOU THAT IF YOU DON't ASK!

Bottom line-A lot of VOCATIONAL schools are only about sales, sales, sales! The people you meet NEED you to sign up no matter what so they can keep their jobs! They will use phrases "enrollment is limited" or "we're not sure you're qualified for our school" as mere ploys to get you enrolled!
LET THE BUYER BEWARE! SAVE YOUR MONEY and go to community college/university or a very REPUTABLE vocational school-University of Phoenix is not one of them. Ask the Admissions reps if they have a quota to meet each week-if they actually tell you the truth, that's your cue to RUN RUN RUN!

University of Phoenix financial aid department. I ended up in the same boat as many of you others, transferred in from another school, no Pell grant money available, they said not to worry.

As I began my journey into debt The wonderful study group experience, meeting each week, working on projects, each person doing their share...haha, then the night of our presentation, the "key" student with all the presentation materials, who had promised she could be there at least 1 hour early to get organized for us, doesn't even show up!.

Luckily I'm one of those people who never give out the last copy of anything, and I always believe in emailing important documents to a friend just in case, well it paid off in this case, he was able to email us back a copy of our presentation. Then to make things even worse the teacher told us before we even began that they highest grade could possibly earn would be a C because we were missing someone. Extremely unfair, we had no control over this person. Then there is the business of track schedules, as we progressed students dropped out like flies, I found myself alone, not enough students for them to schedule classes. Then they try to transfer me to another campus, ok, but still no class there for at least 6 weeks.

What they don't tell you is when your financial aid funds come in they "return" them becuase you are not actively enrolled. Now you OWE UOP more money, and they aren't on the payment plan. You start back in classes, after about 2 sessions they tell you you cannot attend any classes until you accout is paid in full. ...? That's when you find out your financial aid money has been "returned" and they have no way of getting it back to pay for classes you are taking and that it is your responsibility to bring your account current. They are NOT on the payment plan and want their funds immediately, using the same annoying tactics as collection agencies to collect. I ended up in small claims court. But you'll be happy to know they don't hold a grudge, once I had paid the judgement in full, they sent me a class schedule.

Julie sounds as if she had been listening to me talk to my friends about my experiance with admissions and finance at the UoP. Four weeks into my first class I get a call and informed that I'm going to need approxamately $4000.00 to $5000.00 dollars after the first 190 days.

If I had known this in the beginning, I certainly would have thought twice about the commitment thats required when an individual makes a decision as important as this is. The other issue is; how does one know what questions to ask? The program is presented in such a way that it appears that the universtiy is forth coming with all the information one needs to make an educated decision. Also, I have been so-called randomly chosen twice to be examined by the universiy finance specialist for reasons I still can't figure out. I'm sure it has to do with the bottom line and one's credit.

I will say this however, I am pleased with the format of the class. I would like to see the MIRC (internet relay-chat) format used because the class could be truly virtual and in real-time.

The philosophy of Teams is in fact a reality in todays business environment. I'm a 53 year old married father of 4 children, with all my kids under the age of 15. This is perfect for me because I wouldn't otherwise be able to go back and get a college degree.

I still may not be able to because of this expense that I just found about, and I'm already into them for $1,225.00. My next is class coming up quickly. I do feel cheated in how they did this but the degree and the promise of more money to support my family outway the UoP bottom line philisophy.