Westwood College Online Overpriced and useless degree Westminster Colorado

Well I have been reading a lot of the posts on how Westwood is bad and I attended the school and I have a different opinion. I do have to agree that the high price tag is not really justified due to all the public institutions offer online. The college isn't really even very hard, I got my AAS in Network Engineering and didn't feel like I learned much. I was in the military and am a War Vet that did tours in OIF 1 and OIF 3 and my job in the military was network related so I am sure that is why it seemed easy to me but maybe it was just easy. But one thing I do disagree with is that the degree is worthless it opened a lot of doors for me. When I got out of the military I didn't have it completed and was in the Fort Bragg area and couldn't find a job for anything it really sucked. But almost right after I got my degree and built up some certs related to the networking field (A+,Network+Security+,Project+,CCNA,CEH,CNST,CST) doors just opened for me. Now I am the youngest person to be in the position I am in I work with all 40 to 50 year old retired military people and they aren't my bosses we have the same position I even get paid more. I work for DRS which is a really good company for the field I am in and make a very very good living. Also this may be helpful but my wife has a degree from a regular public school in web design and since her portfolio is small companies won't look at her. My brother has his BS from the University of Maryland in programming and has already created two video games and video game companies won't even look at him. I think it is sucky that the days of entry level jobs are gone it seems like you have to have experience to even get the lowest level jobs and if you are fresh out of school that does become a problem. I'm not saying that everyone isn't trying hard enough but Westwood just gives degrees out after that its up to the person what they will do with it. Me I am about to go back to attend the Network Management program, my company will pay for the whole thing and then maybe my masters in something but who knows.

so i got a "bachelors degree" for westwood. its more like a $60k reciept, hell they didn't even give me my diploma.

to the kat with 3 kids (Jimmy) and all proud of westwood, make sure work about $400-700 (pending tution increases) into your monthly budget after you graduate to pay these fools back--otherwise your kids are going to go hungry. deferments and consolidation only last so long.

wow, a 3.9 -- i was either drunk or hungover and i managed a 3.7 or 3.8. it probably would have been a 3.9/4.0 but i was put into a class that didn't even exist. i didn't meet the instructor for the first couple weeks since he was actually teaching another class--it was a surprise to him. things got behind and i couldn't contact him so i ended up with a C or D bringing my average down.

westwood's "job placement" program is basically a link to craigslist, monster, and hotjobs. if i would have known, i would have requested references from employers they have worked with (other than "echostar, ups, and fedex" for all you denver alumni).

i could have gotten more education out of 60 bucks in used books rather than going to westwoods campus. alot of outdated equipment, software, and "industry knowledge".

anyone is better off going to a community college, attending workshops, or just learning by yourself than attending westwood.

thanks for reading my rants.

so i got a "bachelors degree" for westwood. its more like a $60k reciept, hell they didn't even give me my diploma.

to the kat with 3 kids (Jimmy) and all proud of westwood, make sure work about $400-700 (pending tution increases) into your monthly budget after you graduate to pay these fools back--otherwise your kids are going to go hungry. deferments and consolidation only last so long.

wow, a 3.9 -- i was either drunk or hungover and i managed a 3.7 or 3.8. it probably would have been a 3.9/4.0 but i was put into a class that didn't even exist. i didn't meet the instructor for the first couple weeks since he was actually teaching another class--it was a surprise to him. things got behind and i couldn't contact him so i ended up with a C or D bringing my average down.

westwood's "job placement" program is basically a link to craigslist, monster, and hotjobs. if i would have known, i would have requested references from employers they have worked with (other than "echostar, ups, and fedex" for all you denver alumni).

i could have gotten more education out of 60 bucks in used books rather than going to westwoods campus. alot of outdated equipment, software, and "industry knowledge".

anyone is better off going to a community college, attending workshops, or just learning by yourself than attending westwood.

thanks for reading my rants.

so i got a "bachelors degree" for westwood. its more like a $60k reciept, hell they didn't even give me my diploma.

to the kat with 3 kids (Jimmy) and all proud of westwood, make sure work about $400-700 (pending tution increases) into your monthly budget after you graduate to pay these fools back--otherwise your kids are going to go hungry. deferments and consolidation only last so long.

wow, a 3.9 -- i was either drunk or hungover and i managed a 3.7 or 3.8. it probably would have been a 3.9/4.0 but i was put into a class that didn't even exist. i didn't meet the instructor for the first couple weeks since he was actually teaching another class--it was a surprise to him. things got behind and i couldn't contact him so i ended up with a C or D bringing my average down.

westwood's "job placement" program is basically a link to craigslist, monster, and hotjobs. if i would have known, i would have requested references from employers they have worked with (other than "echostar, ups, and fedex" for all you denver alumni).

i could have gotten more education out of 60 bucks in used books rather than going to westwoods campus. alot of outdated equipment, software, and "industry knowledge".

anyone is better off going to a community college, attending workshops, or just learning by yourself than attending westwood.

thanks for reading my rants.

I'm not reading through that entire sermon. You're pretty much the only one who defends such a rip-off institution such as Westwood. There's a reason why they're only nationally accredited. Why is it that so many other colleges that are along the same lines as Westwood are regionally accredited? According to the DOE (that's Department of Education), Regional accreditation is the highest accreditation they could receive. It's because they're better, provide more to their students and not nearly as watered down of an education as WOL has. Yes, WOL is in the process of getting that. But they won't unless they can change their unethical tactics. I had a 3.75 GPA in my year+ at WOL before transferring to DeVry. Yes, ALL of my credits transferred. Seems like a pretty good GPA right? Well, I didn't earn it. Later in my time there, I put very little effort into the work because the instructors put little effort into their students. I wasn't earning my grades for doing the assignments, I was earning it simply because I turned something in. I even took a couple classes at the North Denver campus. It was group work the entire time and the instructor was more of a moderator than a teacher. I didn't learn a single thing and still passed with an A. The class was Algebra 1. I am not an A student in any math whatsoever, but apparently I am in that one. Currently at DeVry, I'm seeing more of a real GPA and what I'm really like as a student. I can't half-effort anything here because it definitely does not go un-noticed. I like having the extra attention and the care even when learning online.

Are you going to post your long, boring rants on ALL of the other 70+ complaints about Westwood just on this site alone? Because you don't have a life it wouldn't surprise me if that's all you're going to spend your days doing.

You're in the minority on this one. The extreme minority. Admissions reps are taught to "do what it takes" to get students. They sugar coat everything on that hour long+ interview that is really not necessary. As mentioned in many other complaints, their only goal is to suck $100 out of students mostly for their job security. The other part of their job security is to make sure they start school, even if they find another option for education. Even if a student decides on something else, complete degree changes included, admission reps are immediately placed on the chopping block. The overall turnover rate, especially for the online side, is astounding. That's not good for any company.

One more thing, a friend of mine graduated from Westwood's north Denver campus in 2003. She got her bachelors degree in Web Design. No one would hire her because of the degree she received from Westwood. They say it wasn't a respectable enough degree. It took her another 3 years to find a design company that would hire her and they only got her a rather low paying position; less than $10/hour. During that whole time she was working as a secretary, a receptionist and a nanny (not at the same time). And during that whole time Career Services didn't even help her out. To this day they pretty much ignore her requests for assistance. Their only excuse was "well, no one is hiring those with Web Design degrees". Ok, what a friggin waste of 3 years she had to deal with. Plus, any degree like that from any other college will get you a very high income because it is a very popular industry and always in demand. I'm sure the folks here at ripoff report had to hire some web designers as well. I can probably guarantee none are from Westwood.

So Jimmy, keep on praising such a watered down and overpriced education and keep on unearning your very high GPA. I'll just agree to disagree with you and we can all move on with our lives.

No thanks, I don't want a cookie. The killer job I get when I graduate will be enough.

Just to be clear about something: first, it's kind of ignorant to think that a *good* student with a high GPA that is very satisfied with his or her education absolutely HAS to be an employee of the system that they're promoting. I smell paranoia... maybe a hint of schizophrenia. Tin foil for the lining of our hats, anyone? It's an argument that satisfies a fallacy to its fullest: the fallacy of false dilemma. Look it up on Wikipedia if you don't know what it is - I learned about it from (*gasp*) attending Westwood! Basically, you're saying that I either have to be a disgruntled student/ex-student that thinks Westwood is a scam, or the "opposite extreme" in that I have to be some sort of drone who works for the company. Oh no, I simply *can't* be a satisfied and successful student. That would be impossible, right? *You* are allowed to exist, the disgruntled ex-student/employee, but I am not. Thus, that means my reasons for wanting to stand up for my school are invalidated as well - in essence, you think I have to be some sort of employee just to have a reason to defend the school. If *you* can be *extremely mad* about the quality of service you saw and received, why can I not be the exact opposite, with just as much passion for defending it as you have for attacking it? Oh, that's right, because intelligent opposition creates a negative impact on the message you're trying to convey: "Westwood sucks, and I want compensation for my inability to find a decent job." My apologies - I didn't mean to take a leak in your bowl of I-Hate-Westwood flavored Cheerios. Such an attack on my credibility would even only hold if I was simply an employee of Westwood/Alta Colleges, and *not* a student like I say I am... which brings me to the second point.

Second: having said all this, it does so happen that I am a *student tutor* for Westwood. I just started this term, about eight weeks ago. Of course, I've been a successful student *much* longer than I've been an employee, and I work from my not-so-comfy chair in front of the computer desk in my bedroom. Hopefully, my eloquence, the strength behind my words and the passion I have for defending my education's namesake obviates the fact that I'm not simply spouting propaganda, but that I'm genuinely concerned over the welfare of my education's credibility. If you are allowed to tear it down, I'm allowed to defend it and rebuild it. But the fact still stands that if you think a long winded rant equals employee over concerned student - as I said, such ideas reek of paranoia, and borderline on schizophrenia. I have no inside information. I also hold no logical bias, except with the interests of the name of my education in mind. My motivation is preventing a bad reputation from circulating, due to purported statements of scamming and lies, when I am living proof to the contrary. In mathematical and logical proofs (something else I studied extensively at Westwood), it is easier to disprove something by contradiction than it is to *prove* something by brute force execution (i.e., finding boatloads of students who are dissatisfied with the education). Even if you did find those boatloads, my single existence disproves the fact that Westwood is *as bad as you say it is*... in other words, a complete scam and waste of money. This is because I am the opposite extreme of a jobless, disgruntled student with an ineptitude for findign employment. Obviously, I've done something right (mostly on account of the school) where others have failed - and that means the failings are not the school's fault. And I'm sure you've had a bad experience, otherwise you wouldn't have come to Ripoff Report. And I'm not calling you a liar, by any means; don't misconstrue my words. I'm simply saying that calling Westwood a scam in its entirety is bogus, when your reasoning is simply because you were given a quota to meet as an online admissions rep and you didn't like the sales tactics. So what? I was a telemarketer for a while, and hated it - but it was for fundraising. I had issues with telling 90 year old grandmothers that their fixed income was better placed with the Children's Miracle Network or St Jude's, or whatever, than it was in her wallet. I wanted to help the kids and others for whom I collected, but not at the expense of someone else who might be suffering. The bottom line is that it didn't exactly leave a warm fuzzy inside, but it was what I was supposed to do - collect money. So, since I disagreed, I quit. I moved on. But how else are you supposed to collect donations if everyone you meet says they can't do it? I've lied on the phone to collectors of donations and my personal finances - plenty of times I *could* have done it but didn't for some reason I had or another, which was really none of the collector's business anyway. I just prefer to donate on my own terms.

But with Westwood, there is a big difference, and that is this: Westwood promises each student the same thing, and that is to be educated, and educated well. Essentially, they really are "selling" something, and that is an education to be used as a tool for the future. When that promise is bad, or broken by a bad instructor, or by some admissions rep who (may be told) to make false promises, I agree that a student *should* be entitled to complaints and/or reparations. For the student that had a poor instruction and can prove it, at the very least a free re-take of the class is necessary. But, that's not always going to happen - likely, it won't *ever* happen - and that's life. So re-take the course and move on - better for you to pay a little extra now and eat the term's worth of costs than it is to move on uneducated and blame the school because you didn't speak up soon enough and get things corrected by any means, at any cost. As for sales reps who do purposely or are told to promise students things that cannot be guaranteed by the college, it requires whistle-blowing to rectify the situation - and not on Ripoff Report (at least not at first). I mean whistle-blowing within the company. If you take it as high as it goes and it fails, then I can see going public. But the problem here is that the admissions reps from WC that I talked to made no false promises, gave me no delusions of grandeur, and were very frank - this was in 2005, and continued on through continuing student services until present. My student advisors and financial aid reps I've spoken with are the same; no B-S, straight to the point, very polite, and fix their mistakes promptly and efficiently. So if there's a problem, communicate. Make noise. Do SOMEthing. Don't sit just sit there, and then complain when things go wrong later in a way that gets nothing accomplished.

As for your website, www.online-colleges-and-degrees.com, so what? For your one that doesn't even rank Westwood, I can find these that do rank them in the top ten, AND, at least one of these (OEDb) is itself an accredited system for ranking colleges, as it draws much (if not all) of its information on colleges from the College Navigator database from the Institute of Education Sciences, which is a subdivision of the US Department of Education:

http://oedb.org/rankings
http://www.degree.net/articles-news/Internet-ten-best-colleges.html
http://www.top-online-university.com/

Let's start with an examination of my own findings, versus yours. From OEDb:

Rank College Avg. Rank _AR__ FA __GR __PW _RR ___SC __SF __YA
9___ WC__ _15.428 ___4.08 1.00 _5.85 _28 _38.50 _32 __6.00 8

In other words, if the table is unreadable:

Rank = 9;
College = Westwood College;
Avg Rank = 15.428;
AR = 4.08;
FA = 1.00;
GR = 5.85;
PW = 28;
RR = 38.5;
SC = 32;
SF = 6.00;
YA = 8;

AR is Acceptance Rate; FA is Financial Aid; GR is Graduation Rate; PW is Peer Web Citations (other sites like OEDb); RR is Retention Rate; SC is scholarly citations; SF is student-faculty ratio; YA is years accredited.

Now, according to this, they are tied for rank number 1 in the department of Financial Aid, about 4th place in its Acceptance Rate, about 6th for Graduation Rate, and only has a glaring weakness in its Retention Rate (for lack of peer web citations and scholarly citations within the educational community - lack of remarks proves neither good nor bad about the college). So, why is it that the retention rate is low? Well, obviously, it's linked to the 52% graduation rate, where that other 48% either fails or drops out. Considering that most other schools have roughly the same levels of graduation/fail rate, why is Westwood at 38.5? Retention Rate, as quoted by OEDb, is "the percentage of first-time bachelor's (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduates from fall 2005 who again enrolled in fall 2006." From personal experience, I can tell you that the major offerings of Westwood Online are the Game Software Development and Game Art Design Majors, and courses in Criminal Justice, Interior Design, and others are offered at the online campus. My major is Game Software Development - and for as successful as I am, *I* was tempted to quit after my first year, but not because of the quality of education; it was because of the difficulty of the material. I wasn't sure if this was going to be something I could do. But, through peer and instructor encouragement, and continued successes due to the help I received, I kept at it, and here I am - with a 3.94 GPA. Woohoo for me, right? Well, the students I participate with are all brilliant, and willing to go the extra mile, with the exception of a select few (which speaks to the levels of acceptance for the college - but I'll get to that). That first year is difficult and contains most of the "harder" programming courses in all likelihood because it is probably the college's attempt to weed out the quitters. And to hell with them, anyway - if they can't take the heat, then so be it! WC has an acceptance rate of 41% - less than half of all applicants get accepted. This is because of Westwood's rejection, NOT because students decided not to sign up. This figure is based on who applied and were willing to sign up but got passed over for other students wanting in to the same classes. And I quote: "A college's overall quality and prestige is in part determined by its selectivity (of which acceptance rate is an indicator). The acceptance rate figures are provided by the College Navigator database from the Institute of Education Sciences, as mentioned above. The data is for the fall 2006 entering undergraduate class." Westwood ranked 3rd on the chart, but its adjusted rating was 4.08.

Now, let's skip over my middle link (which is just a site that puts WC as one of its top ten) to get to my last link... notice something funny here? Yes, that's right - the college that ranked number 1 on the site you provided (Western Governors University) is ranked in with the same bunch as Westwood - in the top ten!

So, is my site reputable, or is your site *not* reputable? It's got to be one or the other. The rankings of prestigious colleges wouldn't be intermixed with those that scam.

And with Westwood ranking so high in the FA department of at least one reputable source that we know (a website working in conjunction with a subdivision of the US Department of Education!), I don't know how you get off saying they're so disorganized. And the calls? Well, I've never been bugged by five or six at a time, but I definitely have been called a lot in regards to my financial aid. Why? Because it's important, and WC is trying their best to get their ducks in a row before they risk educating a student for free, without funding. In addition, it helps *me* out to be funded - the quicker they get me funded, the more likely I am to get approved for more of it. But hey, what's $10k out of their pocket due to a clerical error, right? And if nothing else, I'd say the "harassment" from FA totally contradicts what you said about disorganization in the first place.

On another note as to the FA Department, you don't have to have perfect credit to go on the in-house funding - I have extremely BAD credit, thanks to my years as an idiotic teenager unlearned in the ways of finance, and I don't even get to try for student loans with a co-signer... *I'M* on in-house credit. I have been for two years. In addition, I've defaulted on a previous student loan before coming to Westwood, which I paid off in 2005 *right* before I started. And they trust me, which is good - I got my life together, and with the education I'm getting, it's a good investment on their part. Oh well. I'll just let my own personal testimony and my findings speak for themselves in contrast to your arguments.

And "if you really were an ex-employee that was worth his salt," it's sad that you "don't know half of how the economics of education works." See, credibility means dollars in Westwood's pocket. So the more students they screw, the less money they get. It's not profitable to create a "scam farm" or "diploma mill" where they just suck students in for their FA and then give them the boot without a care. It's much more profitable to actually educate the students, and have those graduates succeed in their careers. It builds what is called "prestige" and helps attract more newcomers who hear the good word - called a "sneeze effect." If little Johnny goes to WC and succeeds and tells ten people about it, and even one of those ten go to WC as a result, then WC is profiting. Scamming creates quick bucks, but scams get quashed quickly. WC has been around for quite a while, and doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon - so the idea that they're one big scam op is out of the question. And even if there are bad apples in the bunch that need to be ejected, that doesn't mean that the whole orchard needs burned down. It doesn't mean that the basket you picked needs thrown out, either - it just needs to be scrutinized and combed over to remove the bad apples, and subsequently filled with more good apples.

Now, about tutoring... I became one because I wanted to *be* one. I simply fit, and it's got benefits beyond a paycheck: I'm good at what I do, it looks awesome on a resumee that I helped newbies earn their stripes, and I was inspired by the WOL student tutors and instructors I talked to. And like I said earlier, when I couldn't get help at WOL, I got it at Smarthinking. And it's always been that way, since my first term. The only improvement to tutoring that I've seen is the increase in the number and availability of WOL tutors. Further, the jobs for which I qualify, at such places as Bethesda Softworks, Big Huge Games, Bioware|Pandemic, etc that are all BIG names, should be more than happy to accept my education. After all, at least one has no educational requirement at all, requiring only that you have knowledge of programming and design. Another of those requires a product submission using their proprietary development toolset. I have the skill and talent to do it - and Westwood has helped. I don't know if it was on this thread or what where I said it, but when I *do* break in to the industry, I'll take my commemorative photo of my first paycheck with a bunch of my new co-workers, smiling from ear to ear. Then I'll post it on my MySpace page: www.myspace.com/master_of_the_void. I'm confident in my skills and in my education, so much so that I know I can sell Westwood even if it WAS ranked as the crappiest college on the planet. I said it on another thread, and I'll say it here: you have to sell the college, not the other way around.

The point is, I can see why you might've failed as a student, and even as an admissions rep. Unless you can prove me wrong on this, it seems to me that your research skills are sub-par, your debate/diplomacy skills are sub-par, and your reasoning is either circular or faulty. Please - I CHALLENGE you - prove me wrong. Show me that there is concrete evidence that Westwood is a scam and that they deserve to be sued. Do it. That's what this site is about, right - proof? While my proof doesn't concretely say Westwood is perfect, I never said it was. Even the truly "best" schools aren't perfect - dissatisfaction is a part of human nature. What I'm arguing is that WC isn't a scam op that deserves shut down, and that from *my* experiences, I haven't once been lied to or scammed. There's your shot, so take it. Prove that Westwood scams and lies. Besides, if you don't, all you're doing on here is literally just venting and blowing hot steam - no lawyer with half a brain would take a case like this that has no evidence of your claims, other than the allegations of a few dozen other people out of the thousands who attend or have attended Westwood. And at that, even if you CAN prove it, do you really think it'd be very long before Westwood fixed its problems and replaced its staff with higher quality individuals? They're still in business for a reason, and it's NOT because they're racketeers. All the while, my motivation remains the same - to defend the name of my school, because until you can concretely prove what you're saying, it's all just hearsay - which, despite its truthfulness, can unjustly tarnish a reputation. Please... provide us proof. Do that, and not only will I shut my mouth, but I'll give you the biggest a*s-kissing public apology the world has ever seen. After all, when I started my first response to this thread and titled it "You're all delusional" it wasn't my aim to say that you couldn't have legitimate complaints. It was my aim to make it known that ranting about refunds and lawsuits and downing the college by saying they're scamming liars was delusional. Complain all you want - but get everything straight (and have some concrete proof) *before* making such outrageous allegations as these.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Wow, Jimmy, do you want a cookie for being practically the only student to actually have a good experience at that place???

It's hard to believe you're actually a student. Why would students go on this LOOOONNG rant about how great their school is? Typically, employees who haven't really seen the light, or don't have light bulbs go on, are the ones who post rants like this.

Check out this website: www.online-colleges-and-degrees.com Westwood isn't even in the top 20! Heck, some of those rankings don't even have one single college; just a bunch of semi-accredited ones!

If you really are a student, then you don't know half of what's going on behind the scenes. Financial aid has got to be the most disorganized department in the entire operation. Students have 5-6 different reps calling them in a day making them do their stuff, even if it's been done! And on top of that the school leads students to believe they can actually afford a $70k education, done entirely online, no matter how much they make. Some people even tell them Sallie Mae will cover all costs and they don't have to pay back ANYTHING until they graduate. So what's up with the bills for thousands of dollars they receive while in school. Oh, the college must have missed something and now they have to go through the extensive process of doing the $150/month thing, which hardly anybody gets. And then there's their own program, but you need to have perfect credit, at least one cosigner and be able to do the 18% interest.

Don't even get me started on the education. I had one class, Accounting I, and the instructor just didn't care. He gave me full credit for turning in blank excel templates! The only thing he graded people on were the discussions! I know, this was one extreme isolated incident, but there were several other instructors who pretty much did the same thing and didn't get back to their students who had questions until it was too late. They're "required" to respond within 24 hours. Most of the time, it's usually by the next week and the instructor is wondering why their work wasn't done properly.

The tutoring, or lack thereof is a joke. Instead of getting an actual tutor, because I was having trouble in my Algebra I class, I kept on getting referred to website after website after website. Got nothing accomplished there. When I had to use career services, they just referred me to a resume building website and I was matched with exactly ZERO employers. I adjusted my automatic search, because the career service advisors couldn't refer me to anyone themselves, and eventually came up with 5 employers who were 1500 miles away. If this college is so "recognized" then why did I do such a general search and came up with just a handful of worthless employers that all but like two were actually in my city?

So Jimmy, enjoy your non-recognized by any useful employer degree. Or should I say, your career as an admissions rep because you'll make a better one at WOL than what you're doing now. If you fell for their antics and lived to talk about it in such a positive way, then you can convince others to do the same thing.

I don't know what kinds of experiences you all had as individuals, and it sounds pretty sorry. But to say that Westwood isn't a school that is noteworthy is a load of crap.

I'm currently attending the online campus, and have been since August of 2005. I'm graduating in October. The only people who I can envision failing to find a job after graduating would be quitters like Mr. 3-months here, and people who have a hard time managing their schedules and studying like they should.

The courses are far from watered down. Did any of you take Calculus? How about Discrete Mathematics? Or maybe you never tussled with Artificial Intelligence for Games or Compiler and Interpreter Design? I took the rudimentary College Algebra I course, and yes, it was a joke... but only because Algebra I is a joke, not the school. It's easy math. If you're saying it's a joke, that means that either 1) you don't understand math well, and shouldn't use math in your career choice; or 2) you need to go to a school that has live classes inside a room with four walls and a ceiling, because learning from a book and threaded discussions isn't the right learning tool for you. But then again, you can't blame Westwood for that - you should know when you sign up for a thing like this that you're not going to have hands-on, face-to-face help one or two days out of the week. Of course, there are tutors (and instructors) who hold live chats, but hey, who's keeping score?

I personally am a low-income student with a wife and three kids. Guess what? I'm not even on the $150 a month plan. I *am,* but they're not enforcing it - my financial aid is enough to cover my terms. And what's so bad about the in-house crediting with Westwood as the lender? I've checked in on everything, and it all looks kosher to me. Please, I challenge anyone to provide me *concrete proof* as to the fraudulent nature of Westwood, it's accredation, or it's financial backing. I don't want hearsay. I don't want ticked off, disgruntled ex-employees flaming me with their contrived and/or embellished horror stories. I want facts.

I'm currently a part of a game design team who meets up using Westwood's online chat service. One of the other members is a friend of mine from Michigan, and *HE CAN'T **STOP** GETTING JOB OFFERS.* Most of the offers he's gotten has been out of his league, but only because of certain strengths and weaknesses of his as a programmer, which he openly recognizes. And it's no fault of Westwood's - it's his own and he knows it.

I personally have a 3.94 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and am about to graduate in October. I've made a total of two A-'s and two flat B's since August of 2005, and have made straight A's for all the rest. Why? Not because the instructors are lax or don't care. I earned my grades because I'm intelligent, eloquent, and hard-working. I also know how to manage my time so that I absorb the most from my classes, readings, lectures, assignments, and participation in the threaded discussions. Westwood didn't have to teach me that; it was common sense. As for my wife and three kids, they're a handful - I have a job to manage, on top of my education, on top of the fact that my wife is disabled and can do no more than about 10% of the house chores. Thus, I'm a full-time dad and babysitter, a house maid, a breadwinner, AND a virtually straight-A student.

I'm not saying some of these rumors have no possibility of being true. I have no idea if some program director (or whomever) was in their office looking at porn, or soliciting prostitutes, or escorts, or whatever. I wasn't there. But hey, don't you think that whoever found out should have blown the whistle instead of quit, and then go to a board like this and rant about it? I'm sure that the director could have been investigated, and if this was found to be the truth, subsequently fired. The point is, such "ethical concerns" over staff and faculty has no bearing unless there's concrete proof of such behavior.

On the other hand, I am also not trying to claim that Westwood is perfect, either - but who is? There was a slip-up on the end of the program administrator, and I wound up being put in a more advanced class than what I was supposed to be in. Luckily, I had an instructor who most certainly DID care about my education, and most certainly DID care that I walked away from the class with as much knowledge as the students who had taken the prerequisite course. Through communication and proper guidance, I still wound up making a B in the course, and the instructor was impressed that I was able to manage it. So was the rest of the programming team that I am on, who has elected me lead AI Programmer.

How about this: everyone who's got a complaint about Westwood and how "crappy" their education is, who says they can't get a job, etc, keeps a watch on this thread. In a few months, I PROMISE, that when I get a nice job in the game industry, I'll post back, with a picture of me and my new co-workers uploaded to my MySpace page, which I will openly share once I've got the pictures uploaded. I'll make sure to be holding my degree in my hands for the picture too, as well as my first paycheck.

My feelings are that I'm getting a *wonderful* education from Westwood, and after doing outside research, I have found it to be comparable with NYU, the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (a local one for me!), and even Stanford University - the book for my Compiler and Interpreter Design class has obviously been a staple of THEIR CID class for a while now, because it's mentioned in the book's introduction that "... Courses from material in this book have been taught at Columbia, Harvard, and Stanford. At Columbia, a senior/first-year graduate course in programming languages and translators has been regularly offered using material from the first eight chapters..." (Alfred Aho, Monica Lam, Ravi Sethi, Jeffrey Ullman: "Compilers - Principles, Techniques, and Tools (Second Edition)," published by Pearson/Addison-Wesley). The course has been difficult and bumpy, but I'm walking away with a lot of knowledge. The instructor is patient and understanding, which should not be confused with a lack of concern for my progress. And speaking of which, I haven't had a teacher *yet* who *wasn't* concerned with my progress. I got no free passes. The closest thing to a free pass I got was when my third child was born, and my instructor gave me a "bye" on my two assignments I missed until the end of week 9, where he agreed to grade them with no penalty if I submitted them before he got his final grades turned in to the school. I wound up with an A in that class - it was Trigonometry. Oh, and don't forget the nice teacher I had who understood a widespread power outage in my community that lasted for over a week. He understood, and I was able to turn in my assignment with only a light penalty - only because his take on the issue was that I should've had my work done before Saturday of the week it was due, in the first place! That was Advanced Programming, and I got an A-.

I have to agree with that other Jim guy... you all need to check your resources, and check what you're saying, before you go flaming the school publicly. A lot of this could be considered slander without proof, and *then* who do you think is going to be looking down the barrel of a lawsuit...? I'm pretty tempted to contact my student advisor about it... hmmm... I just don't know if I'm that ticked over all the badmouthing that I'd sacrifice my integrity with not even any personal gain in it for myself. Oh well. I suppose some of you people will find out sooner or later, eh?

My feelings are that everyone's entitled to an opinion. But I was raised to make sure of the facts of something before spouting off at the mouth about it. Like I said, I couldn't tell you about on-site campus life, or the inner workings therein. But I most certainly can attest to the quality of education I'm receiving, and I can attest to the fact that if anyone attended Westwood and DIDN'T get a job, it's because of their own mistakes - not Westwood's. So to those people, I say this: stop pointing the finger and take responsibility for your own actions and/or failings/shortcomings. Don't blame the school because you can't or didn't make something of your education. Get a life.

I signed up for Westwood being a very gullible, but good student who wanted a fast track school. Boy was I a fool. They classes were a joke, even for my networking degree, and the loans that were taken out in my name are all outstanding.
They taught remedial algebra and even though some of the teachers tried the students were taking it as a joke. I ended up quitting but not before I owed money and I have to eat this money as student loans have to be repaid.
The job office does not place grads, and the only happening degrees at the Los Angeles Campus were Corrections Guards. The library was like two sections of books/two stacks.
I admired some of the teachers because they really were trying but at best it seemed a place to park unruly that don't want to go to college.
Very sad. The only thing I got out of it were some books and fact that I learned City College wasn't such a bad idea after all.
The Los Angeles School goes through support staff like water so I geuss I missed all the clues!
Shame on me. I would ignore the glossy brocheres and the pep talks and realize if you jump for Westwood you will be paying a lot of money. A lot of money and its going not towards your education!

As an ex employee, I have realized what goes on at Westwood College. All they care about is getting your money and getting you to sign up and undergo their financial aid for a 75,000 degree that is only NATIONALLY accredited. Admissions representatives are trained to call leads up constantly. Once they do finally get a hold of you, they pretend that they are evaluating you as a candidate for the school, however, they are praying that you sign up for their own job security. As long as you have a GED or high school diploma, you are pretty much in. Thus, no evaluation is really needed.

During the phone interview, the admissions rep was trained to find what your reasons for going to school are and use them against you at the end of your phone conversation if you do not agree to pay the $100 application fee. Do not fall for the evaluation and false promises that you may hear on the phone. Most of them are false and based on old data.

If you are looking to go to a college, there are much better colleges out there that are cheaper and that are regionally accredited. Even a lot of community colleges have many online classes available. It is quite saddening that a lot of people have had issues with this college and many are in debt. My advice is not to enroll in this college, but to find one that is fully accredited and cheaper.

Jim, first and foremost the accreditations you say Westwood is about to get is in the "pending process". Which means, Westwood and individual campuses have a lot to prove they are worthy. If you do your research you will see facts that state the school is clearly a joke. I'll bet a dollar in a few years time the only schools that will be open within the company will be Denver and California based schools and possibly the Online school if they clean up their acts as well. As a current employee, I can guarantee the Texas based schools are close to closing down. It's sad what this does for the students and faculty who are there to change lives and not rip people off like the directors of the school. The career development is a huge joke and has caused a lot of lawsuits within the past 3-4 years. Of which, law suits Westwood pays students to stop. With the new CEO that took over recently, after taking the company public they will share the name of Westwood to another competitor. While this is not fact, but is my strong opinion. I can honestly say both campuses in the Dallas area are loosing money on a daily basis. The management and turn over rates suck. Nobody wants to stay at Westwood when they find out all the illegal and unethical situations involved. We caught one director soliciting prostitutes on the internet from their company owned computer.

All I can say is find a lawyer and sue the crap out of them. If you are a current student, research those papers you were asked to sign. Find out clearly how much you are paying and when the payments start. If you are on the Westwood "in house" financing (which is a huge joke); do your research on the credit agency behind that. You might find creditors calling you later that do not wish to send you a summary of the charges...why do you ask? because it's all fraud. It's all about the fat cats in Denver ripping innocent students off.

Jim, first and foremost the accreditations you say Westwood is about to get is in the "pending process". Which means, Westwood and individual campuses have a lot to prove they are worthy. If you do your research you will see facts that state the school is clearly a joke. I'll bet a dollar in a few years time the only schools that will be open within the company will be Denver and California based schools and possibly the Online school if they clean up their acts as well. As a current employee, I can guarantee the Texas based schools are close to closing down. It's sad what this does for the students and faculty who are there to change lives and not rip people off like the directors of the school. The career development is a huge joke and has caused a lot of lawsuits within the past 3-4 years. Of which, law suits Westwood pays students to stop. With the new CEO that took over recently, after taking the company public they will share the name of Westwood to another competitor. While this is not fact, but is my strong opinion. I can honestly say both campuses in the Dallas area are loosing money on a daily basis. The management and turn over rates suck. Nobody wants to stay at Westwood when they find out all the illegal and unethical situations involved. We caught one director soliciting prostitutes on the internet from their company owned computer.

All I can say is find a lawyer and sue the crap out of them. If you are a current student, research those papers you were asked to sign. Find out clearly how much you are paying and when the payments start. If you are on the Westwood "in house" financing (which is a huge joke); do your research on the credit agency behind that. You might find creditors calling you later that do not wish to send you a summary of the charges...why do you ask? because it's all fraud. It's all about the fat cats in Denver ripping innocent students off.

Jim, first and foremost the accreditations you say Westwood is about to get is in the "pending process". Which means, Westwood and individual campuses have a lot to prove they are worthy. If you do your research you will see facts that state the school is clearly a joke. I'll bet a dollar in a few years time the only schools that will be open within the company will be Denver and California based schools and possibly the Online school if they clean up their acts as well. As a current employee, I can guarantee the Texas based schools are close to closing down. It's sad what this does for the students and faculty who are there to change lives and not rip people off like the directors of the school. The career development is a huge joke and has caused a lot of lawsuits within the past 3-4 years. Of which, law suits Westwood pays students to stop. With the new CEO that took over recently, after taking the company public they will share the name of Westwood to another competitor. While this is not fact, but is my strong opinion. I can honestly say both campuses in the Dallas area are loosing money on a daily basis. The management and turn over rates suck. Nobody wants to stay at Westwood when they find out all the illegal and unethical situations involved. We caught one director soliciting prostitutes on the internet from their company owned computer.

All I can say is find a lawyer and sue the crap out of them. If you are a current student, research those papers you were asked to sign. Find out clearly how much you are paying and when the payments start. If you are on the Westwood "in house" financing (which is a huge joke); do your research on the credit agency behind that. You might find creditors calling you later that do not wish to send you a summary of the charges...why do you ask? because it's all fraud. It's all about the fat cats in Denver ripping innocent students off.

Jim, first and foremost the accreditations you say Westwood is about to get is in the "pending process". Which means, Westwood and individual campuses have a lot to prove they are worthy. If you do your research you will see facts that state the school is clearly a joke. I'll bet a dollar in a few years time the only schools that will be open within the company will be Denver and California based schools and possibly the Online school if they clean up their acts as well. As a current employee, I can guarantee the Texas based schools are close to closing down. It's sad what this does for the students and faculty who are there to change lives and not rip people off like the directors of the school. The career development is a huge joke and has caused a lot of lawsuits within the past 3-4 years. Of which, law suits Westwood pays students to stop. With the new CEO that took over recently, after taking the company public they will share the name of Westwood to another competitor. While this is not fact, but is my strong opinion. I can honestly say both campuses in the Dallas area are loosing money on a daily basis. The management and turn over rates suck. Nobody wants to stay at Westwood when they find out all the illegal and unethical situations involved. We caught one director soliciting prostitutes on the internet from their company owned computer.

All I can say is find a lawyer and sue the crap out of them. If you are a current student, research those papers you were asked to sign. Find out clearly how much you are paying and when the payments start. If you are on the Westwood "in house" financing (which is a huge joke); do your research on the credit agency behind that. You might find creditors calling you later that do not wish to send you a summary of the charges...why do you ask? because it's all fraud. It's all about the fat cats in Denver ripping innocent students off.

All brick & morter colleges and community colleges offer on line classes now at reasonable state tuition rates. If everyone would just stop this Bull$#*& of attending these rip off places of higher education, you would not be getting yourselves in a financial bind, or having these rip off companies trying to ruin your credit. Then UOP, AXIA, STRAYER, CAPELLA, and who ever else Jon Doe for profit schools will close up shop and be gone for good!

These on line schools are a 100% rip off. I have taken a few on line classes through one of my local community college's and I am satisfied to know that its 100% accredited and transferable to any 4 year university, no questions asked.

Please everyone, stop giving yourself a heartache

Jim, I am actually a former employee of Westwood (online admissions rep) and the financial aid process was a joke and was the main reason why most enrolled students bailed prior to their start date. That was quite possibly the most frustrating part of my job. That and the fact that I was forced to be dishonest with my students and I was very uncomfortable with what I was selling a few months after I started there. I only stayed because it was just a paycheck.

Most students I enrolled had to get on the $150/month plan, but couldn't stand all the red tape they had to go through just to get it. Otherwise, they were left paying about $500-700/month even after whatever grants and loans they get are applied, which typically wasn't much and barely made a dent in a $70k degree program. And then they realize that this degree and school isn't even worth all that hassle when they could go to a regionally accredited school and finish all of FA in just a few minutes since the process is a hundred times easier and no hassles.

For someone that works there you do nto seem to have a great grasp for what goes. Students do not have to pay out of pocket, unless they cannot qualify for any Financial Aid, and that decision is not even up to Westwood, its up to the loan provider. Its not a cheap school, but its up to people to do some research about a school before they attend. And 3rd, Westwood has already qualified for Regional Acredidation, should have it in the next couple years.