Brown College ripoff dishonest financial aid advisors Mendota Heights Minnesota
Brown College currently has dishonest finanical aid advisors. Especially Heather Belz, finanical aid directior. They get you into the school with overly high tuition, let you take out all the cost of living loans you want, then when it's almost time to graduate they say that by CEC regualtions you can only have so much a quarter. They recently got audited, but wont tell the students that. They are putting restrictions on the amount of cost of living loans you can take out, stating that you can only take out an extra $1500 a quarter. Most students rent is more than $500 a month. They recently stated that the federal government doesnt care about students living costs, but in actuality it's Brown College that doesn't care. BE ADVISED, don't waste your time or money at Brown College. They are not accredited, but dont tell you this until you are a couple quarters into your schooling and it's too late to drop out.
Frustrated Student
Mendota Heights, Minnesota
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Jeff
Burnsville,Minnesota,
U.S.A.
Brown does not look out for students interst
#3Consumer Comment
Fri, May 30, 2008
My wife enrolled with this "company" back in 2002. Let's just call it a company, because it is certainly not deserving of being called a school. At any rate, Brown was gracious enough to assist her with financial aid. They were so kind in fact they set her up with a loan with variable interest. Every quarter, the interest rate would rise %2. By the time it hit %18 we had totake out a signature loan to pay this off. Now the employee rebuttal claimed that his company is looking out for the customer's (student's) best interest. That is absolutely false.
Now I understand my wife (girlfriend at that time) should have read the fine print. There is no denying she should have been more careful. However, she was suckered by a company that probably received a nice kickback from the lender. At the time she was 19 and thought she was on her wqay to a better life with this so called school. Live and learn I guess. But to say that they were looking out for her best interest at that time is rediculous. They should have told her the details if they actually gave a d**n about her.
It cracks me up that they actually send out acceptance letters to the poor people that actually sign up for this place. If they have ever rejected any applicants, I assume the only reason was because they had bad credit history. This company needs to be investigated for it's misleading and unfair financial practices. My wife stuck it out and finished her so called degree even though she knew it was a joke. She had already borrowed over 20k for it so what the hell. She definately came out of that place worse off. She did not learn anything as her instructors were morons, and we had 20k in debt to boot. If she learned anything it was to not trust any company you deal with and read the fine print.
And shame on you sir for blaming the students. Your company is deceptive, misleading, and not recognized as legitimate institution by anyone in the education community.
Tucker
Edina,Minnesota,
U.S.A.
in defense of Brown....
#3UPDATE Employee
Thu, February 14, 2008
.....the Financial Aid Advisors here at Brown are just that....ADVISORS. It's their job to make sure that school is possible for students, but to also protect students from making bad financial desisions. They regulate the amount of "living expense loans" to $500/month so the students will have money available throughout their time here, and not use it all in one quarter. If they allowed every student to take out as much living-expense loans as they wanted, students would leave school with a unimaginable amount of debt and risk going into "default" status, thus ruining their credit. However, students do have the option to file an appeal to take out more money for living expense. Again, it's all to protect the student.
Brown does in fact care about students living situations. Unfortunatley, it's not the school's responsibily to make sure that the student is paying their bills and keeping "out-of-school" responsibilities in check. At the end of the day, it is the students' responsibilty to make sure that upon starting school, they are prepared to take care of their expenses, whatever they may be. That is also why Brown has Career Services to assist students in finding part-time employment while they're in school. However, it's up to the student to use those resources.
And Brown College is Nationally Accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT). All accrediting and approval information is available on their website.