American Intercontinental University AIU Online Be Wary Hoffman Estates Illinois

All I want to say that as a veteran I have many friends that have attended or are attending AIU. I have a friend at FT Sill Oklahoma in the Army. He has been attending AIU for several months with no issues. Recently he went to his Army Education Office to get Tuition Assistance to pay for his next class. The education office told him that the Army at Ft. Sill was no longer allowing soliders to attend AIU and that the Army is looking at repealing it's agreements with the university. I attend UOP and have for years, I have NEVER had any issues and it has been nothing but awesome!

I must agree that one must take the responsibilty of getting a clear financial commitment before "going into the classroom". They don't "have you" until you go through that door. I double checked my financial aid package the day before classes were to begin and it had changed drasticly from two weeks before.

I notified every dept. that I was not going to attend due to bait and switch tactics and notified them that I had turned documentation over to my attorney.

If you think you smell a rat, put on the brakes. Do not take any calls, forcing them to communicate via the email. Keep copies of all correspondence.

The best advice is to look into an electronic program from a college in your state. They are out there and offer true financial aid........not a lucrative loan department. I have done so and CAP and Pell cover all of my expenses.

To Whom It May Concern:

All of you are grumbling and complaining about this university which is a reputable one with ten's of thousands of students worldwide. The university is regionally accredited just as all other state and private universities. Typically this accreditation is considered the highest and the best. All of you are complaining about the sales pitch, but who made that first call. Unlike state universities AIU Online is a private for profit university and is quite expensive in comparison to state universities. However, it offers a real world education via the online format. Just because you did not take the time to do your own research regarding total costs, does not mean you can just ridicule and deride the school as a whole which. Again the school is reputable and accredited and has been around for over thirty years. I graduated from this university in early 2005 and as a result of this education obtained employment at a Big 4 accounting firm. Grow UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I too had the same sale pitch and was called upto 5 times a day regarding the education, I had to withdraw from the program due to emerncy medical reasons and when I advised that to my advisor she still insisted that I should continue my school since that was more important. Quite frankly life is more important to me than attending school on line.

After I sent in the letter and emailing over half of the staff in AIU regarding my withdraw from the program and calling the other Advisors they finally got ahold of mine that was upset at the fact that i was not able to continue. She then told me that I would have to speak to someone else and they will cancel everything.

Again here they went with their appt over the phone and was finally called by someone else asking my why when i told them it was medical reasons he tried a sales pitch on me and then i finally got torugh and told them to cut the crap up and cancel me. I will never go back to attempt to attend this messed up sales school

First off Teresa, you DON'T know what I was told or given when I was first contacted by the AIU admissions representative. Fact is, they were eager to get my tuition and bum rushed me through the process because it was 'imperitive' to be done by such and such a date to be able to begin the classes in the next session. It was presented in such a way that I felt that this was the only option, though I do know better now and would have been better off waiting to examine this school a bit more.

As to the award letter... it was broken up in years and they assumed I would receive a separate personal loan to cover the small expense that was not met by PELL and student loans for the first award year. A wrong assumtion that had me scrambling to find another source of funding to cover the tuition. And it took several calls and several weeks to straighten this all out.
And I had no idea that for the next award year another LARGER sum would have to be found separate means to pay for. And that is why I had to withdraw (as explained in my original complaint -- the almost four thousand that was expected to be paid during the final eight months)

As to the timely fashion I was replied to... TRUST ME... I tried contacting EVERYONE on that list from academic, financial to admission advisors both by phone and via e-mail to try and resolve the financial issue in a way that I would not be stuck with an uncompleted Bachelor's Degree. NO ONE returned my phone calls and it took several e-mails to get a reply. I tried to meet them MORE than half-way... to almost no avail. That's very frustrating and how one can draw the conclusion that all this school is interested in is getting your cash, bottom line and will say and do anything to get people enrolled.

I'm not even going to get into the poor quality of education that I feel this venue supplied, and I am heartily sorry that I did not find a way to enroll in a REAL Graphic Design Degree program in an area college to at least get my educational dollar's worth.

Kathy--
I feel your pain and I think I probably would have choked when graduation time came around and they wanted MORE money. Good luck on getting your degree.

I was thrilled when I read other reports from students/former students of AIU. I went through the exact same thing with the sales pitch and pressure (I was very special because I was going to be "put in front of the Acceptance Committee within 15 minutes" if I could send my $50 by Credit Card.

I was accepted to AIU and filled out my FAFSA but could not qualify for personal loans. I had not attended any school at all in over 20 years and digging up 35 credits was nearly impossible - so I took CLEPS to bring me to 35 required credits for admission within the 30 day period.

My e-degree plan was inundating and I could not make heads or tails of anything - and was called and sent a new Cash Agreement to sign to extend my payments out for another 18 months (my payments went from $256 a month to $666 in 2 months)I had to transmit this agreement immediately because it was the final hour. The BIT Program Sequence clearly showed available courses that I could have taken in conjunction with the IT courses that I was taken (and would have happily paid extra for them) but was told to continue waiting because the school was still trying to get my college transcripts. I waited until I passed my graduation date - another quarter ($5,000) was added to my schedule and the courses that were scheduled were nonsensical - nothing that I needed to graduate.

I was asked for my $125 graduation fee yesterday and it was like a punch in the gut. I will get to graduation date and still be 42 credits short - and because my payments ae extended until the end of 2005 - I would not graduate for over a year from today.

I will pay off my student loans - I am happy to do that and was given the money and did receive the education.

I have applied for a withdrawal from AIU and will have my credits transferred to a local school, CLEP what I can and complete my degree. I don't mind putting out more money or time but want to do it in an environment that is concerned with it's students education rather than how quickly they can collect your money.

Trish,

I can be empathetic with the fact that you had a bad experience, but let's look at it one step at a time.

First, I know that you were contacted by an advisor to discuss if you would be a qualified applicant, then if you fit the criteria, you scheduled a second interview to go throught the information that the admissions advisor sent to you via e-mail. In this information is where you are provided with complete multimedia presentation about the entire FA process. If you would have taken the time to go through that, you would have had a clearer understanding of how it was broken down.

Also, when you signed the student cash agreement for your remaining balance (or reviewed the award letter that they sent you), you had to be aware that the loan amounts/or any other monies put toward you tuition didn't = up to the full tuition cost. If it was shocking to you, you should have asked your councelor to explain it. FYI-per DOE the accellerated programs are procken down into acedemic years. The first 8 months, and then the remainder.

I also feel that you are wrong when it comes to it being completely expensive. I think it's about $28,000 for your BA in 13 months. That's incredible. This is a regionally accredited school #1, and secondly it's an allinclusive tuition cost. This means that you don't have any of those out of pocket expenses that you would normally have going to the campus schools. Usually tuition is about $15,000, then you have about $1,500 per symester worth of books, not to count the parking, and the fact that you will have to pay all of this for two years (assuming that you have your AA). AIU is a lot less expensive.

In regards to your statement that AIU advisors do not get back to you in a timely fashion, I have to DISAGREE! Your admissions advisor (the one who presented you to the acceptance committee) can no longer assist you with the details after your first class (5weeks). They would probably like to, but it's out of their relm. That is why you are to correspond with you acedemic advisor (you found that by looking on your campus, under student services). He or she would have done everything needed to make sure that things were taken care of. They can't want it more than you. You have to meet them halfway. I think that you were really upset at the cost factor, but you just didn't take the time needed to get all of your "Ducks" in a row.

Trish,

I can be empathetic with the fact that you had a bad experience, but let's look at it one step at a time.

First, I know that you were contacted by an advisor to discuss if you would be a qualified applicant, then if you fit the criteria, you scheduled a second interview to go throught the information that the admissions advisor sent to you via e-mail. In this information is where you are provided with complete multimedia presentation about the entire FA process. If you would have taken the time to go through that, you would have had a clearer understanding of how it was broken down.

Also, when you signed the student cash agreement for your remaining balance (or reviewed the award letter that they sent you), you had to be aware that the loan amounts/or any other monies put toward you tuition didn't = up to the full tuition cost. If it was shocking to you, you should have asked your councelor to explain it. FYI-per DOE the accellerated programs are procken down into acedemic years. The first 8 months, and then the remainder.

I also feel that you are wrong when it comes to it being completely expensive. I think it's about $28,000 for your BA in 13 months. That's incredible. This is a regionally accredited school #1, and secondly it's an allinclusive tuition cost. This means that you don't have any of those out of pocket expenses that you would normally have going to the campus schools. Usually tuition is about $15,000, then you have about $1,500 per symester worth of books, not to count the parking, and the fact that you will have to pay all of this for two years (assuming that you have your AA). AIU is a lot less expensive.

In regards to your statement that AIU advisors do not get back to you in a timely fashion, I have to DISAGREE! Your admissions advisor (the one who presented you to the acceptance committee) can no longer assist you with the details after your first class (5weeks). They would probably like to, but it's out of their relm. That is why you are to correspond with you acedemic advisor (you found that by looking on your campus, under student services). He or she would have done everything needed to make sure that things were taken care of. They can't want it more than you. You have to meet them halfway. I think that you were really upset at the cost factor, but you just didn't take the time needed to get all of your "Ducks" in a row.

Trish,

I can be empathetic with the fact that you had a bad experience, but let's look at it one step at a time.

First, I know that you were contacted by an advisor to discuss if you would be a qualified applicant, then if you fit the criteria, you scheduled a second interview to go throught the information that the admissions advisor sent to you via e-mail. In this information is where you are provided with complete multimedia presentation about the entire FA process. If you would have taken the time to go through that, you would have had a clearer understanding of how it was broken down.

Also, when you signed the student cash agreement for your remaining balance (or reviewed the award letter that they sent you), you had to be aware that the loan amounts/or any other monies put toward you tuition didn't = up to the full tuition cost. If it was shocking to you, you should have asked your councelor to explain it. FYI-per DOE the accellerated programs are procken down into acedemic years. The first 8 months, and then the remainder.

I also feel that you are wrong when it comes to it being completely expensive. I think it's about $28,000 for your BA in 13 months. That's incredible. This is a regionally accredited school #1, and secondly it's an allinclusive tuition cost. This means that you don't have any of those out of pocket expenses that you would normally have going to the campus schools. Usually tuition is about $15,000, then you have about $1,500 per symester worth of books, not to count the parking, and the fact that you will have to pay all of this for two years (assuming that you have your AA). AIU is a lot less expensive.

In regards to your statement that AIU advisors do not get back to you in a timely fashion, I have to DISAGREE! Your admissions advisor (the one who presented you to the acceptance committee) can no longer assist you with the details after your first class (5weeks). They would probably like to, but it's out of their relm. That is why you are to correspond with you acedemic advisor (you found that by looking on your campus, under student services). He or she would have done everything needed to make sure that things were taken care of. They can't want it more than you. You have to meet them halfway. I think that you were really upset at the cost factor, but you just didn't take the time needed to get all of your "Ducks" in a row.

Trish,

I can be empathetic with the fact that you had a bad experience, but let's look at it one step at a time.

First, I know that you were contacted by an advisor to discuss if you would be a qualified applicant, then if you fit the criteria, you scheduled a second interview to go throught the information that the admissions advisor sent to you via e-mail. In this information is where you are provided with complete multimedia presentation about the entire FA process. If you would have taken the time to go through that, you would have had a clearer understanding of how it was broken down.

Also, when you signed the student cash agreement for your remaining balance (or reviewed the award letter that they sent you), you had to be aware that the loan amounts/or any other monies put toward you tuition didn't = up to the full tuition cost. If it was shocking to you, you should have asked your councelor to explain it. FYI-per DOE the accellerated programs are procken down into acedemic years. The first 8 months, and then the remainder.

I also feel that you are wrong when it comes to it being completely expensive. I think it's about $28,000 for your BA in 13 months. That's incredible. This is a regionally accredited school #1, and secondly it's an allinclusive tuition cost. This means that you don't have any of those out of pocket expenses that you would normally have going to the campus schools. Usually tuition is about $15,000, then you have about $1,500 per symester worth of books, not to count the parking, and the fact that you will have to pay all of this for two years (assuming that you have your AA). AIU is a lot less expensive.

In regards to your statement that AIU advisors do not get back to you in a timely fashion, I have to DISAGREE! Your admissions advisor (the one who presented you to the acceptance committee) can no longer assist you with the details after your first class (5weeks). They would probably like to, but it's out of their relm. That is why you are to correspond with you acedemic advisor (you found that by looking on your campus, under student services). He or she would have done everything needed to make sure that things were taken care of. They can't want it more than you. You have to meet them halfway. I think that you were really upset at the cost factor, but you just didn't take the time needed to get all of your "Ducks" in a row.