American Commercial College ACC deceives students and parents about financial aid. The information provided to us in the beginning is NOT what we ended up with. Now we oweat least $14,000 in student loans. San Angelo, Texas
My daughter enrolled in ACC in the Medical Assistant program. The tuition cost was $12,700. We were told she would receive $3500 in pell grants and $12,125 in a combination of subsidized and unsubsidized student loans. As her parent, I had recently divorced but, she qualified as an independent student for the first 2 semesters. The financial aid department used only my salary for the first semester to determine her eligibility but for the second semester, they used the combined income from the joint 2009 tax return from me and my ex-husband. This caused her funding to be decreased. She started her third semester in November 2010 and was due to graduate January 28, 2011. Around the middle of January, my daughter told me that I needed to call the financial aid office because there was someting missing for her funding for this semester. I was told to apply for a pin and given the step by step information to sign a master promiassary note. I notified the school when these steps were complete and was told the remaining funding would be here in 3-4 days. After almost 2 weeks, we still had nothing. I called the Direct Loans Plus and found out that this was a parent loan and that I had signed the promissary note but had not filled out the application. I filled out the app and was approved and was told that the school needed to submit their portion of the loan information. I called and had been reassured that they have done this. My daughter should have graduated on Friday, January 28, 2011 but cannot because she still owes $1800 in tuition. I have questioned the dean and the financial aid officer numerous times as to why we were not notified at the beginning of the semester that she wouldn't be getting any funding or why they waited so long to notify us of this problem? Why was her funding cut? Why did she go from an independent student for 2 semesters and then change to a dependent student? I am still waiting for answers and they still have NOT sent their part of the documents in for the parent plus loan. In the meantime, my daughter has nothing to show for her time at school. She can't even show any of her certifications for job placement because all of this is withheld until tuition is paid.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
darlene
shreveport,Louisiana,
United States of America
I am very sorry about your experience
#5General Comment
Thu, December 27, 2012
I am a former student of ACC in shreveport la. My experience with our administrator,staff was very.
Challenging. They made sure that all.policies were understood before signing any documents. We hadto bring.our own documents to attend. As far as financial aid goes it was made sure the amounts we would recieve and if we did not have a high school diploma we were not allowed to attend until we did. As for the
financial aid, it was made sure of what would prevent us from receiveing it,what the student had to pay,
the amount of pell,when the first installation of loan paybacks were due and so forth. Because of ACC I
Am a Medical Assistant and it is because of the caring staff here in shreveport that me and others like me have
A different and second chance in life. I would recommend ACC to all. I have graduated in two courses both in the medical field, and the externship sites were all hands on. So again I am sorry about your experience with
the one your daughter attended,but I am a living testimony that not all of them are like that.
Now I would like to know is this incident the reason the ACC here has closed? Please e mail me a response.
johnnybucks
Abilene,Texas,
United States of America
RE:Interesting....
#5Consumer Comment
Fri, May 27, 2011
@Manitobaed...you don't even live in Abilene, so your argument is invalid. They (ACC) ripped me off for over 8000 dollars, provided absolutely NO job-placement, in fact, they didn't even try. So, Manitobaed...go troll somewhere else, mkay? I happily pay my bill, even though I wasn't provided with any of their supposed "benefits"(and I graduated with a 3.87GPA with honors). My point is, if you don't know what the heck you're talking about, then why make yourself look stupid and open your mouth? Then to insult us former students, making it seem like we want a free handout? Please....do the internet a favor and shut down your computer. Just thouht I'd register JUST to respond to your comment. Have fun up there in Witchita-Falls. ;)
manitobaed
Wichita Falls,Texas,
United States of America
interesting.
#5General Comment
Fri, April 22, 2011
Any self-respecting adult who is serious about their future shouldn't be so concerned with what everyone else is going to do for them! I attended a 4 year university and they didn't explain the financial aid and I did my own FAFSA. Be accountable and read the literature that schools give you, they don't want you to enroll unless you are serious about wanting to go to work. Career schools in Texas are judged by their accreditation and state agency.
The only schools in Texas that care about whether their grads go to work after making a sizeable investment in Themselves are career/vocational schools. Universities and colleges that receive mine and your tax dollars are not forced to report the outcomes of their grads.
I personally know many graduates from career schools who have enjoyed great success since graduating. If the school in Abilene averages 200-250 students and 9 have filed a lawsuit it sounds to me like most of the people in our world who want something for nothing as obviously there have been many other students who got what they paid for as I read that school has been there since 1961. Come on people, get off your rear And do something!
After reading the employee update, it strikes me as humorous that they were probably one and the same employee who may have lied to these students since they have such helpful info on how to report any discrepancies the school may have.
I say grow up and these 9 students and the bleeding heart employee instigator go get a job and stop blaming everyone else for your shortcomings!
Manitobaed
funnybusiness
abilene,Texas,
United States of America
American Commercial College:
#5UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, February 04, 2011
1st issue:
American Commercial College is a proprietary college. This means it is for-profit. Their main goal is to process as much Title IV money. (Pell Grants and student loans)They also need to to meet 90/10 federal requirements. This means 10 percent of their funding needs to be none government financial aid.That is why they charge the administrative fee which can be paid after you recieve you refund. (expense money) Technically still coming out of your financial aid. Thats one issue you may have. They do this to help get within the 90/10 percentage. Most propriatery colleges have this fee.
2nd issue:
If you do not have a High School Diploma or GED you are not elgible for Title IV or financial aid. If you recieved your diploma online, certain schools (Dorothy Perkins or Masters ISD) you may be elgible for a full refund and be excused from paying your federal loans. These high school diplomas may be intended for job reasons and not education. You may have also been admitted without a diploma and never recieved it. The school is accountable for verifying your diploma and you would be entitled to the refund. Many times, the school just wants you to become enrolled and they do not verify.
3rd issue:
Legally the financial aid officer is the only person who can discuss Federal aid, pell grants, student loans, and expense checks. If a Director, Admissions rep, secretary or anybody other than the financial aid officer explains this, they are not following federal laws. ACC alledgedly allows the financial aid to be processed by the financial aid officer, but the Director or admissions rep explains and sells the financial aid and tuition. If this is true in your case, you may be entitled to a refund.
4th issue:
A students Pin number for FAFSA is your electronicsignature. It is illegal for the financial aid officer to set this up for you. ACC has done this in the for many years. When they processed your FAFSA, did they ask you to set up your pin number and ask you for your secret questions? This gives them access to make corrections and change data. However, they should not set this up for you as it is a private number for you to set up.
5th Issue:
Placement rates they told you may not be accurate. If they told you placement rates are 70 to 90 percent, more than likeley they are not right. However, these numbers can be confirmed by the Texas workforce commission.
6th issue:
Some complaints have been that the Externship sites do not provide the training ACC promised. Some of the sites may be entirely medical secretarial or no lab training.
7th Issue:
Many instructors do not have the training or experience to teach classes. The pay for instructors is very low and the quality of instructors suffers for this reason. If your class has several subjects being taught at once due to lack of staffing or other reasons, the state guidelines are not being followed. This happens a lot due to scheduling problems and the lack of qualified instructors to teach.
These are a few issues that you might have. It is important to say that there are many more issues you may have. These are common issues that you can address to the Department of Education, Texas Workforce Commission Phone Number #5124279057, VA department if you are VA, DARS or ACICS.
You may also want to seek legal advice. An attorney with Career College Experience is recommended. Dallas has several that deal with Career colleges. I believe Julie Johnson is handling several cases dealing with career colleges. Her number is (214)290-8001. I would start with the Texas Workforce Commission (512)427-9057 hope that helps.
According to Cable 7 in Odessa, Seven students filed a lawsuit Against American Commercial College on November 19th.