For Profit Colleges: Share Your Stories

For-Profit colleges have been criticized by the federal government for their deceptive recruiting practices and predatory financial aid programs.

Are you a student at a for-profit college or university? Have you been victim to these policies? Share your story below or email [e-mail].

Are you a student at a for-profit college or university who has been misled by deceptive recruiting practices or predatory financial aid? Share your story below!

Are You In Debt To A For-Profit College?

 

Find a picture, click the participate button, add a title and upload your picture

Comments

[Full-Time Student]

05:29 AM on 02/07/2011

I am a full-time student at Colorado Technical University Online; a military college. I have read some of these posts and some I agree with and some are just out in left field. I attended the University of Phoenix a few years ago; Axia Online. That was a disaster all in itself, but since attending CTUO since 2008 has been nothing but enjoyable. Not only have they helped me every step of the way, but have given me the opportunity to achieve my educational goals in the process; especially my professors. For those of you who think online colleges are out there just to make money, do your research a little more. I admit, there might be some who only care about the money but 9 times out of 10 it is the wrong college for you. I graduate with my Bachelor's degree with a concentration in Healthcare Management in March and go back to CTUO in may for my Master's; all of which has been, is, and will be online and will be paid the same amount of money in my career as any other person attending a traditional college would be paid. The only difference is I do not have to see any of you who are shallow, close minded, and believe everything you hear type of person. Just remember this; 80% of people believe what they hear: the other 20% actually research the information. Which one are you?

[solarfleck]

03:07 PM on 01/04/2011

I am a terminated Kaplan employee that tried my best to improve the situation my students found themselves in. I have chronicled my experiences at www.modestocj.com. This is a website where I used to post pictures of student activities and graduation. Instead it sits as a reminder to what could have been.

[Jen Dubiel Hernandez]

10:30 PM on 01/02/2011

I just want to say that I returned to college after being out of school for over 10yrs and I chose Northwestern College because of the staff, the environment, the help with financial aid and the lifetime placement they offer once you graduate. I have seen too many of my friends go to big universities and colleges and can do nothing with their degree. In the year that I have attended Northwestern College in Bridgeview, IL it has been nothing but great. They assist me with tutoring, and help with financial situations. They have assisted me when I needed to take a semester off due to personal issues. Not to mention, the classes are small, so your one on one time with the teacher is great. Their teachers have hours during the day and evenings that they can assist you, so it helps for everyone's schedules, whether you work or have kids or whatnot ... Plus they have 3 campuses, so if for some reason, a class you need isn't offered at your home campus that semester, you have the option of attending a different campus or looking online. I think everyone needs to get off the for profit bandwagon, unless you really know what your talking about. I am a student there and wouldn't have it any other way!!! It has been an overall great experience, and I cannot picture myself going to another college.

[Lori DeMaille]

04:41 PM on 01/01/2011

I am a student at Keiser University in FL. I have nothing but good things to say about my education. After carefully considering my options, I chose this University because it has the BEST program available at a LOWER cost than anything else around me. Not only that, the staff has guided me through every part of the process and has ALWAYS been available for me when I need assistance. For my educational needs, Keiser University fit my needs financially.

[sweething852002]

12:54 AM on 01/01/2011

In my own opinion, not all schools are bad and not all schools are for everyone. It all depends both on the person and the school. Depending on how you carry yourself through out the school will determine if it is adequate for you. If you run into any concerns with your school you should talk to your supervisor and see if there is anything that can be done to work things out. We all may run into some kind of rocky road along the way, but that is to be expected. We all may run into problems with staff and/or teachers. We should keep in mind that no one is perfect. Let them know if they could be doing something better to improve their teaching skills. Everyone has their own way of learning. As far as finacial aide... I have not ran into any problems with them. I have not become a victim for anything dealing with college.

[Melissa McDiarmid]

10:04 AM on 12/31/2010

I just want to set the record straight. Everyone is saying how on-line college is not adequate or is wrong in some way or another. I am a 27 year old single mother who just wants to provide the best life I can for my 8 year old daughter. Without Kaplan University on-line I would have never been able to complete my bachelor's degree. I intend to get my Master's degree on-line as well. I think that the ability to complete higher education will drastically decrease if financial aid is no longer available to those who need on-line colleges. I have completed my bachelor's degree with honors and could have never completed it at all without Kaplan on-line. My education is important to me. Never let anyone tell you that you cannot go to college. I am a single mother, work full-time, and attend college full time! If I can do it, so can you!

[Rosetta Marie Archie]

02:54 AM on 12/31/2010

To all those disbelievers who think Colleges and Universities Online are taking advangtage. Let me tell you something I am a 51 year old black female who went back to school after 27 years of being out of school. AIU and Salem University have allowed me to achieve getting my Associates and Bachelors Degrees and now I am working on my MBA and there after my PhD in Child Psychology. My education is so important to me and it's a power and gift that I am grateful and so very thankful for by the Grace of God. Let no one tell you what you can't do and do what you have too when it comes to education. As they say, "A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste"

[Brian Holladay]

02:08 AM on 12/30/2010

I attended University of Pheonix a number of years ago and it was a terrible experience and I felt ripped off and strong armed. It was terrible.

I am now attending IADT for web design, and from what I've learned in the first year I have started a business and just received the LLC for my company. I think it is different from school to school, and what you make of it. I don't have my degree yet, but I don't see myself going further into dept in the future.

[aligatorhardt]

01:08 AM on 12/30/2010

Next time an organization solicits comments they would do well to check the previous comments from posters. I am a liberal socialist and am generally against the privatization of public institutions.

[chad5770]

10:39 AM on 12/30/2010

What does the privatization of public institutions have to do with this discussion? You should know what the topic is before commenting...

[aligatorhardt]

07:15 PM on 12/30/2010

State colleges are being privatized. Research at schools is being designed and sponsored by companies. The emphasis turns from education to profiteering. The cost go up and much of the public is excluded from higher education. Sound relevant now?

[aligatorhardt]

12:52 AM on 12/30/2010

I went to Xray technology school at a public community college. If a private school had been my choice I would have been stuck with even greater debt and I doubt there would or could be any advantage over a public school. The public school get's support from community hospitals and the VA hospital system. It is a real tragedy that schools are being privatized. This always raises the cost to students and profiteering adds to the cost of education. It is for the benefit of all of society that people are educated, and public schools achieve that at lower costs than private schools. Stop the sell out of our public school system.
PS: my comments were solicited from a private school organization, and I doubt they will be pleased with the results of their efforts. Who gave them my E-mail address?

[Lori DeMaille]

04:51 PM on 01/01/2011

I greatly dislike the liberal social agenda of many public schools and chose private schooling for my college choice. And that's the way it should stay... as a choice. The run-around I got, the lousy counceling, and "matter-of-fact" assistance was sub par in the community college here and where I was living prior. I get better all around service, and financial counceling, at the private university I attend.

Private schooling should always remain as a choice. The public school system needs over-hauling itself because it's a joke, and blaming it on private schools is a bigger one.

[NonTradional]

10:07 PM on 12/29/2010

Why is everyone focused on for-profit schools? I helped a friend look for a MBA program yesterday and the public and private school were more expensive than any of the for-profit schools. The debt load for all of the programs were high. The return for these program are based on the student's approach to using what they learn in the program.
This is a one-sided discussion. Look at College pricing for all schools.

[Rosetta Marie Archie]

03:10 AM on 12/31/2010

Dear Non-Traditional,
I agree with you and it's so unfair that people think that the onlines schools or for profit schools are taking advantage. I mean look at you helping a friend find a school and good for you and I wish them the best of luck in all their endeavors and God Bless!!!

[robpurdy]

08:22 PM on 12/29/2010

I attend, and work on-campus, at the Cedar Rapids campus of Kaplan University. I moved to Iowa last year after losing nearly everything in Utah due to poor decisions made on my part. Within six days of being in Cedar Rapids, I decided to enroll at Kaplan. I had my doubts about for-profit schools and went with my instincts and enrolled after meeting the staff and some of the faculty. The last 17 months have been the greatest of my life. I am still attending school, but many of my fellow IT students that have graduated have had no difficulty finding jobs in the IT field. None of them are making 50K or so...yet, but some are on their way by impressing their employers.

I watched part of the testimony given by the student from my campus in front of a Senate committee. I happen to know this student and was shocked by what she said.

I was never pressured into signing up. I interact with the staff and faculty every day and I watch as the admissions reps take prospective students around the campus and have never noticed any strong-arm tactics being used. In any large organization it is inevitable that certain individuals are going to go beyond the bounds, and from what I have seen Kaplan has made great efforts to fix any problems brought to light.

In my case, going to Kaplan is the best decision I have ever made.

[Eric Goode]

07:09 PM on 12/29/2010

You will always have competitors in any industry finding ways to degrade the credibility of their competitors. Obviously since most public schools are government-owned, I do not find it unusual for the government to make these type of accusations against its biggest competitors: for-profit schools.
I have the pleasure of attending both public and for-profit schools. I am currently a MBA graduate student at a for-profit school where I also finished by BBA in Organizational Psychology and Development.
I was never deceptively recruited to the school nor have I been a victim of predatory financial aid practices. The fact that most for-profit schools require you to fill out a form of interest before a recruiter will contact you gives the school permission to make efforts to recruit you which make the recruitment non-deceptive. I have conducted research on several different for-profit schools and have filled out several forms of interest, but when I am contacted, if I am not interested and have expressed this to any recruiter, I am not contacted ever again. As far a predatory financial aid practices, I had a far better experience with the process in a for-profit school. The fact is when it comes to my money, I take charge of my financial aid process and make sure that my future financial obligations can be met. I try to understand the financial aid process and ask questions of my financial aid advisor as they come up.

[Dennis Charles Weiser]

05:48 PM on 12/29/2010

The present insistence that the purpose of education is exclusively to secure a job and career, like the moronic insistence on standardized test scores offer empirical proof that education has taken root, is not simply misguided, it is a lie. All education, but particularly higher education, is for the whole of one’s life. Employment and employability has never been a very good measure of either the quality or value of an education. Witness the rash of MBA's and our current global depression.

Sincerely,
Dennis Weiser

Dennis Weiser is a poet, novelist and philosopher, whose articles, poems and stories have appeared in Chouteau Review, New Letters, Abramelin: The Journal of Magick and Poetry, p.r.n., Thorny Locust, and several anthologies from Outrider Press. An excerpt from Crash Dummies (“Tzytzyan Ysalane”) won first prize for prose fiction at the Printers Row Book Fair in Chicago and was published in Things That Go Bump in the Night (Outrider Press 2004). Former regular columnist for The Kansas City Business Journal and book reviewer for National Public Radio affiliate KCUR-FM, Dennis Weiser writes in Kansas City, Missouri, where he has lived since 1981. His profile is included at Poets & Writers (http://www.pw.org), Who’s Who in America (2007) and Who’s Who in the World (2008). Dennis is currently writing his third novel, Soul Snatchers of Java, a historical thriller set in 1879 Jakarta against the backdrop of the Wahabbist Acehnese war on Dutch colonial exploitation.

[aligatorhardt]

12:57 AM on 12/30/2010

Seeking good jobs is what sends most people to college. Only the rich attend school for "personal improvement".  A career without a job is just a hobby.

[Dennis Charles Weiser]

09:30 AM on 12/30/2010

That's utter nonsense. I was a middle class child of blue-collar, Depression era parents who never went to college. Some of the best students were middle and lower income, work-study, scholarship students. Most people could use "personal improvement," but a real education involves a lot more. The ability to read with real comprehension and understanding is the birthright of every American; one we have ignored at our own peril--as recent decades and our present cultural, political and moral bewilderment amply demonstrate. A career with or without a job is what we call a vocation, not a hobby. Only a person who equates citizenship with job-holding could think otherwise--of course, mass consumption has reduced this nation to "a society of job-holders," as Hannah Arendt observed more than 50 years ago. Consider the parallels with German joblessness in the 1920's. Watch my documentary series "American Weimar" http://www.youtube.com/sitadcw

[chad5770]

04:49 PM on 12/29/2010

Will the Huffington Post not accept success stories from students who attended a for profit institution? I get it, thats not "sexy," you only want the horror stories of deceptive recruiting and predatory Finacial aid? What is predatory financial aid? Title IV is pretty strict with its rules and regs...