Ashford University Bridgepoint Education scam, fraud, rip-off,ashford, bridgepoint Internet

Ashford University operates a for-profit entity online, as well as operating several brick-and-mortar campuses across the U.S.

Do Your Homework - Research this place first! I do not recommend Ashford University.

My boyfriend enrolled at Ashford University and began classes on January 20, 2015. He enrolled with pending financial aid and military educational benefits.  In February, he requested that the university deduct his tuition costs from his federal student financial aid. He took out two loans and was to receive a pell grant to cover the cost of attendence.

We kept waiting and wondering why he had not received his student loan/grant refund (Ashford calls them stipends). At the beginning of March, he contacted the university's financial aid department. The financial aid department said that the reason he had not received it is because they needed him to submit more forms.

(Why didn't they inform him sooner?)

The forms requested included a copy of my boyfriend's W-2 for 2013, his IRS tax transcript, and a form called the Household Income Verification form. The HIV form was requested due to the fact that my boyfriend had not worked an actual paying job in 2013. He lived with family for most of the year. When he moved out, I helped to support my boyfriend. He used student loan refunds, borrowed money from me and my family, and sold personal items such his broken down car, comic book collection, etc. to pay the bills.

Please note that each time documents are requested, it takes up to 3 business days for the university to acknowledge and process their receipt.

The first time, the forms were submitted to the wrong email address and we acknowledge that it is no fault but his own. The university began sending my boyfriend emails stating that if his bill wasn't paid by March 31, that they would place a hold on his account and withdraw him from his courses.

We resubmitted the form with corrections made and to the correct email address. Then they said that they could not read his writing. We redid the forms and resubmitted them once again. The university uses SFA Online to process forms. He phoned the financial aid department who acknowledged that the documents were received.

Days later, he received another email from the university stating that they needed those documents (again) and reminded him that he would be withdrawn on March 31. Once again, the forms were completed and uploaded.

Yet another email came from the university stating that they needed the same three forms submitted.

The university had told my boyfriend that because he had no W-2 that he could write a statement attesting the how he had covered living expenses for 2013. He had submitted this the first time that the university asked for it.

He called the university, yet again, and spoke to Sterling Graves. Mr. Graves followed-up in an email and confirmed that all of the necessary information had been received and that Ashford University would begin processing his 2014-2015 FAFSA.

And another email from Ashford University, requesting the same information came again. My boyfriend phoned the university. The representative tried to tell him that he must submit a W-2. Finally, she said that the university wanted more information regarding his finances in 2013. We submitted the requested HIV form yet again, with a less than nice note attached.

On April 4, he received an email from the university. This email said that the form was called a Student Statement and the purpose of it was to account for household expenses and financial situations for 2013. Seriously?

It is now April 6. The semester ended on March 30 and my boyfriend is already in his second semester at Ashford University. He STILL has NOT received ANY financial aid for the semester that he attended from January 20-March 31. He was a transfer student and Ashford University STILL has NOT informed the department of education that he is enrolled at their institution, meaning that his loans are about to go into repayment (despite the fact that he's actually enrolled).

The second issue that my boyfriend experienced with Ashford University is related to transcripts from previous institutions. While one of his previous schools told Ashford that they would not release my boyfriend's transcripts, two others have ignored Ashford's requests all together. Now Ashford is sending emails stating that it is my boyfriend's job to get those schools to send transcripts or a notice that they won't release his transcripts... and that if he doesn't submit them, he will be withdrawn after his fourth class. The enrollment advisor had been informed of this when my boyfriend enrolled and said that it was okay, my boyfriend simply would not be able to receive transfer credit.

My boyfriend has received acknowledgment, both verbal and in writing, that the university had the proper information to process the FAFSA forms for the previous semester, yet Ashford University seems to be stalling in their process. We depend largely on his student aid refunds to assist in paying our rent and living expenses.

He has sent several emails asking for the university to explain the financial aid department's inept communication skills. Representatives of the financial aid department reply, but their lack of action otherwise prove that Ashford University is shady.

Ashford University was slapped with a class action lawsuit that would eventually award only students at the Clinton, Iowa campus more than $7.xx million. My boyfriend has found online many students who have similar complaints regarding Ashford University. He has saved each and every email since March 9th. There are more than one dozen emails regarding this issue, many of which receive a generic (but non-automated) response.

What's up, Ashford?

Ashford doesn't receive federal student aid funds until the paperwork is processed or until a student pays (and we certainly will NOT be paying out of pocket!), so I have to wonder what's the deal? Seems like a shady rip-off to us.