Complaint Review: Colorado Tech University Online - AIU Aka Career Education Corp

I graduated from CTU and I can clearly understand. Yes, it is expensive, and, yes, with the project instead of exams method it “feels” like you don’t progress. But that’s an issue with all online education.

But, it is not a scam, and, in my case, it bootstrapped my career and changed my life. While I can see that it is not for everyone, for some, like me, online education is the ONLY way. Without programs like this I could never had attained a College degree.

On the CTU method we don’t have exams. There is no way to prevent cheating that way. So, you present assignments, either a comment on some conversation topic, an essay and / or a power point presentation. Each assignment is part of a project, and, at the end, you will have built a real life relevant project, like a market study or a full project plan. For me, this was fantastic. To this day, many years later, I still keep going back to my school assignments to do my work. I larned how to make presentations, study the market, design products, make project plans, invest.. etc etc...

Unfortunately, it is not for everyone, especially young people, which come with the idea that learning is memorizing stuff for several days and advancing by simply passing a multiple choice test. If that’s what you think, then CTU is not for you, nor any other online university.

At the end, how much you learn depends on you. The material, guides and mentors are all there. If you didn’t find it valuable you are the only one to blame. For me, CTU opened my eyes in ways I didn’t expect. I am never coming back to the regular sit in boring class and just pass the test, but maybe that’s for you. Or I might say, maybe that’s all you can do ?

     I think you are blowing off steam regarding your own personal unfortunate circumstances at CTU. I am an alumnus with a B.S. in Business Administration and emphasis in Management. I came back to school after having been out for about 8 years from a couple other universities mainly because I did not know what to get a degree in. I did my degree in 2 1/2 years and that included about a semester I took off due to job related issues. It is a shame you did not do your "homework" in researching CTU as you would have found that it is listed in U.S. News and World Report as one of its Best Colleges and Universities. You only get out of any school what you put into it. I have heard people complain just like you, even about Ivy League schools, so complaining is only as good as the source. I am truly sorry that your present CTU experience has been so unfortunate but you cannot go around and publicly discredit a school or anything for that matter based solely on your own experience. DO YOUR RESEARCH. There are many high ranking military and corporate executives who have excelled due to their degrees from CTU.
     I am currently unemployed due to our president's lack luster economic prowess and decided to return to school and pursue my grad degree. I am going to Charleston Southern University for my MBA which, if you do your homework, is a U.S. News tier 1 ranked school for masters programs in the South. If you know anything about tier 1 ranking, you would know that such ranked universities do not accept anyone with a degree from just anywhere and certainly not ones from degree mills or uncredited universities. I worked hard to get my good grades and my entrance into my grad program shows it. My grades and GPA from CTU allowed my to bypass taking the GMAT which, if I had not done as well at CTU, I would have been required to take.
      Look, we all have bad experiences with just about everything in life; but do not express to everyone how yours is the standard to which everyone should adhere. Get your work done and prove that you are able to do better. I had a couple instructors at CTU that were less than helpful (just like every other university in the country) but I proved I was a good enough student to prevail and upon addressing those circumstances to my adviser the matter was handled in my favor...because I rose above it. In one instance I even had the Dean of Students email me a formal apology for the experience I had with an instructor. The bottom line is, it got handled and I showed I was worth it to CTU. Be better than your circumstances. Prove it to yourself and others. Blaming everyone else only makes you look incapable in taking control of your own education...and no one is in charge of that except you.

I recently graduated (with honors) in December 2008. Everything CTU promised me came true. I was told I would graduate in 15 months. I did. I was told about different grants I could apply for. I got them. I was told that after graduation, CTU would help with a resume, they have. Everyone does get accepted. Our local community college accepts anyone as well. I did my research and contacted several online schools before making my choice. I found my advisor very helpful in answering all my questions and did a wonderful job explaining how their online education works. Another school I contacted was not so helpful. He asked me what I want to know. I didn't know how the process worked, why couldn't he just explain it to me? Someone commented how expensive it is to go to CTU. I compared tuition costs with brick & mortar colleges here and found there to be little difference. In fact, CTU was a bit cheaper than the local university. College is what you make of it. If you work hard and study a lot, you will do well. If you don't, then your experience will be similar to Jennifer's. Adjusting to the schedule and speed of things at CTU was my hardest obstacle. I found attending the live chats rather than the archived ones helped me tremendously. That was my chance to ask questions and get clarification. It was a lot of hard work and late hours. I thought about quitting at one point because it was almost too much for me. I am sure that is why people drop out. My family kept encouraging me to finish and I did. I am so glad I did. The sense of accomplishment afterwards still carries with me today. I do not regret my decision and should I decide to take my education to the next level, CTU will be the way I will do it.

I recently graduated (with honors) in December 2008. Everything CTU promised me came true. I was told I would graduate in 15 months. I did. I was told about different grants I could apply for. I got them. I was told that after graduation, CTU would help with a resume, they have. Everyone does get accepted. Our local community college accepts anyone as well. I did my research and contacted several online schools before making my choice. I found my advisor very helpful in answering all my questions and did a wonderful job explaining how their online education works. Another school I contacted was not so helpful. He asked me what I want to know. I didn't know how the process worked, why couldn't he just explain it to me? Someone commented how expensive it is to go to CTU. I compared tuition costs with brick & mortar colleges here and found there to be little difference. In fact, CTU was a bit cheaper than the local university. College is what you make of it. If you work hard and study a lot, you will do well. If you don't, then your experience will be similar to Jennifer's. Adjusting to the schedule and speed of things at CTU was my hardest obstacle. I found attending the live chats rather than the archived ones helped me tremendously. That was my chance to ask questions and get clarification. It was a lot of hard work and late hours. I thought about quitting at one point because it was almost too much for me. I am sure that is why people drop out. My family kept encouraging me to finish and I did. I am so glad I did. The sense of accomplishment afterwards still carries with me today. I do not regret my decision and should I decide to take my education to the next level, CTU will be the way I will do it.

I recently graduated (with honors) in December 2008. Everything CTU promised me came true. I was told I would graduate in 15 months. I did. I was told about different grants I could apply for. I got them. I was told that after graduation, CTU would help with a resume, they have. Everyone does get accepted. Our local community college accepts anyone as well. I did my research and contacted several online schools before making my choice. I found my advisor very helpful in answering all my questions and did a wonderful job explaining how their online education works. Another school I contacted was not so helpful. He asked me what I want to know. I didn't know how the process worked, why couldn't he just explain it to me? Someone commented how expensive it is to go to CTU. I compared tuition costs with brick & mortar colleges here and found there to be little difference. In fact, CTU was a bit cheaper than the local university. College is what you make of it. If you work hard and study a lot, you will do well. If you don't, then your experience will be similar to Jennifer's. Adjusting to the schedule and speed of things at CTU was my hardest obstacle. I found attending the live chats rather than the archived ones helped me tremendously. That was my chance to ask questions and get clarification. It was a lot of hard work and late hours. I thought about quitting at one point because it was almost too much for me. I am sure that is why people drop out. My family kept encouraging me to finish and I did. I am so glad I did. The sense of accomplishment afterwards still carries with me today. I do not regret my decision and should I decide to take my education to the next level, CTU will be the way I will do it.

I will say, I have read many schools reports regarding how bad they are or how they are a rip off. I have done quite a bit of research on the school that I am attending. I am a student at CTU online and am finding it to be very successful. I am passing, but it is very hard. It is very hard work, but isnt any school? College education is what you make of it. This school is highly accredited and worth every minute of your time. It is a great school and has great professors. I am an honor role student and know that if I did not put my hard earned work and time into my education through this school, I would not pass.

In my opinion, anyone can have problems with any school. I can dis the school I previously went to because of the cost, but I will not as, the school is good for other people...just not me. But for those of you considering going to a certain school, please do research, no one can tell you the school is completely horrible and a rip off. You have to do the research, someone will always have something bad to say about a school. If school was easy, everyone would have a degree.. But it is not, it takes work and those who do not want to work, it will not be worth it.

I will say, I have read many schools reports regarding how bad they are or how they are a rip off. I have done quite a bit of research on the school that I am attending. I am a student at CTU online and am finding it to be very successful. I am passing, but it is very hard. It is very hard work, but isnt any school? College education is what you make of it. This school is highly accredited and worth every minute of your time. It is a great school and has great professors. I am an honor role student and know that if I did not put my hard earned work and time into my education through this school, I would not pass.

In my opinion, anyone can have problems with any school. I can dis the school I previously went to because of the cost, but I will not as, the school is good for other people...just not me. But for those of you considering going to a certain school, please do research, no one can tell you the school is completely horrible and a rip off. You have to do the research, someone will always have something bad to say about a school. If school was easy, everyone would have a degree.. But it is not, it takes work and those who do not want to work, it will not be worth it.

I will say, I have read many schools reports regarding how bad they are or how they are a rip off. I have done quite a bit of research on the school that I am attending. I am a student at CTU online and am finding it to be very successful. I am passing, but it is very hard. It is very hard work, but isnt any school? College education is what you make of it. This school is highly accredited and worth every minute of your time. It is a great school and has great professors. I am an honor role student and know that if I did not put my hard earned work and time into my education through this school, I would not pass.

In my opinion, anyone can have problems with any school. I can dis the school I previously went to because of the cost, but I will not as, the school is good for other people...just not me. But for those of you considering going to a certain school, please do research, no one can tell you the school is completely horrible and a rip off. You have to do the research, someone will always have something bad to say about a school. If school was easy, everyone would have a degree.. But it is not, it takes work and those who do not want to work, it will not be worth it.

I will say, I have read many schools reports regarding how bad they are or how they are a rip off. I have done quite a bit of research on the school that I am attending. I am a student at CTU online and am finding it to be very successful. I am passing, but it is very hard. It is very hard work, but isnt any school? College education is what you make of it. This school is highly accredited and worth every minute of your time. It is a great school and has great professors. I am an honor role student and know that if I did not put my hard earned work and time into my education through this school, I would not pass.

In my opinion, anyone can have problems with any school. I can dis the school I previously went to because of the cost, but I will not as, the school is good for other people...just not me. But for those of you considering going to a certain school, please do research, no one can tell you the school is completely horrible and a rip off. You have to do the research, someone will always have something bad to say about a school. If school was easy, everyone would have a degree.. But it is not, it takes work and those who do not want to work, it will not be worth it.

I am currently a student @ AIU, and I've had nothing but a great experience with the staff, and advisors. You are making allegations without having any proof to support your statements. You mentiend Stu @ AIU...Stu Who? What is his position other than failing students purposly? If you had all the assigments, and can prove you did the work, you could have contacted the dean. Also, every business has their MIS dept that backs up daily transactions. Are you saying someone from their MIS dept was told to remove your assignments? Did you react the moment you noticed your assignments missing, and contact your instructor or tech support team?

As far as transfering credits, most students are faced with the same issue whether they earned their credits online or in a traditional brick school.

It's very easy to throw accusations, but how creditable are they when your not providing any proof of your mishaps? When a person has a bad experience, it's easy to log on to the internet and file a compliant.

Online schooling is not for everyone. By all means, I do not believe that every institution does not have it's bad points, but removing your web page just fail you seems far fetched to me. What I don't understand is how people feel it's right to slam a business without doing their homework first.

I am not an employee for the school, I just to happen to believe that they are good school, and regionally accrediated by SACS who is under the Board of Education.

I just finished my Masters in Management program with CTU Online. It certainly is not a diploma mill. The schools is accredited and it is one of only 17 schools endorsed by the project management institute. This means classes can be used for educational hours towards your PMP certification. The classes varied in difficulty for me. Some were easier than others. Some Professors graded really tough and some didn't. This can be said of the B&M I attended for my undergrad too. The financial aid office was great. They had my loans done lickity split. The admissions officer was a salesperson but It didn't bother me. I knew what her role was. I just made sure I was informed on my program before I agreed to anything. The classes were a nice mixture of PPT presentations and papers with some discussion board postings. The pace is really hectic. It took me a while to acclimate. As time progressed I became more and more efficient at research and typing of my papers. I think the 5.5 week classes cause a lot of people to quit. Some people didn't have enough time to devote to school. It isn't easy but if you want your degree bad enough and are willing to sacrifice it can be done. I would whole heartily recommend CTU to others. It isn't for everybody but it was a great place for me.

I am so sorry for your loss. Although it is really kind of your fault for not doing some extensive research on this school. Whenever you go to a college you should always look and see how much the college is going to costs, rather or not credits will transfer if you ever want to leave the school, and will you be able to get a job afterwords. Those are just some of the things that you have to do if you want to further your education past high school and go to a college especially a online school! You have to be smart and KNOW rather or not you are making a good choice. I have a friend that goes to AIU and he enjoys it! Although he has paid a lot of money to go there. He didn't find out until later that NONE of the credits will transfer when he leaves, but he will get his 4year degree in 2&1/2 yrs! That is just some of the pro's and con's of going online. Although my friend is going on campus.

To all CTU people that believe they got ripped off I did graduate had a great experiance while I was enrolled at CTU coming from a background of not liking school and dropping out in the 10th grade CTU gave me the experiance of my life time, and boosted my esteam, self achievement, and gradification thank you Colorado Technical University Online
Best, Kevin

I attended AIU and had a completely different experience. I recieved my associates degree in business administration. In my experience they were very helpful with every step that I took. Maybe it isn't fair to lump them all together because you had a bad experience with one. I haven't anything bad about any online schools until today and as a military spouse most of my friends also attend school online. I wish you the best of luck in completing your education.

I attended AIU and had a completely different experience. I recieved my associates degree in business administration. In my experience they were very helpful with every step that I took. Maybe it isn't fair to lump them all together because you had a bad experience with one. I haven't anything bad about any online schools until today and as a military spouse most of my friends also attend school online. I wish you the best of luck in completing your education.

I attended AIU and had a completely different experience. I recieved my associates degree in business administration. In my experience they were very helpful with every step that I took. Maybe it isn't fair to lump them all together because you had a bad experience with one. I haven't anything bad about any online schools until today and as a military spouse most of my friends also attend school online. I wish you the best of luck in completing your education.

I graduated from CTU with a BS in Software Engineering in June of 2007. I enrolled in late 2005 at the age of 42. I experienced nothing like Jennifer's story. My experience was very much like Peter's.

I would like to tell of a small tuition related issue that held up my degree after graduation. It was a matter of $548.36 which my balance sheet showed unpaid.

While at CTU, I did not incur long term debt, as I wrote the school an interest free note, which I paid on a schedule. It's called a student cash agreement. That's right; the school gave me a short term loan at 0% interest. This happened twice, once for each of two terms.

The issue arose after I had made the last payment, which should have cleared the ledger. Upon crediting my final payment, a balance remained. The billing group was satisfied and issued no bill because I had paid in accordance with the cash agreement; which must have been their reference for billing me. The folks that issued the degrees, however, could not do so while a balance was on the books.

It was the classic organizational problem often referred to as "one hand not knowing what the other is doing." It was incumbent upon me to make a few calls if I wanted to graduate. The process was handled well and ultimately I was shown where there was a class change that caused the extra amount due. I had made the change to suit myself, so the extra money was, indeed, payable. CTU acknowledges some responsibility in not correcting my payment schedule to absorb the extra tuition however. I conceded the dispute and requested a final bill so I could get my degree.

I never did get a bill. To the contrary, CTU saw fit to make an academic scholarship of the balance. This is certainly not characteristic of a scammer, as described by Jennifer.

I have heard many horrible things about CTU. I have heard it is a diploma mill. I have heard that it lacks accreditation. I have heard that the degree is not recognized or is somehow worthless; the list goes on and on. I can't imagine how the school can have the face of generosity toward me, yet con Jennifer so horribly. On the other hand, I cannot imagine that people would go to all the trouble to declare the damnation of CTU without some cause.

I speak for myself. The school did me no ill. I enjoyed my education there and I do not feel I wasted my money. The degree has not failed me, and I make a very good living.

This is a complete joke. Any school you go to, if you fail the classes, you can't transfer the credit to another school. WHY?? Because you never received the credit for the class because you failed!!! And as far as instructors deleting your page so there is no proof that you submitted your assignment?? Let's be real here. If you were on the Dean's List, then how did you continually fail your classes? And after several failing grades, most University's (and even online), will put you on Academic Probation, they don't want students attending their university that can't pass their classes. And if you fail? Yes, you will still have to pay for the class, you took the class...you pay for it. That's like saying I am going to go buy a car, drive it for awhile, and when I decide things aren't working out...bring it back and expect not to still have the loan to pay. That was your choice to sign up, take out the loan...and fail the class. You can't blame anyone but yourself if you failed, it seems hard to believe that someone on the Dean's list at a community college or anywhere else suddenly ends up failing classes because they were online. If you were a good student somewhere else, why didn't you just keep going to that school? Did you think online education would be easy? It's not, it takes alot more discipline and self-motivation than going to a classroom where the instructor shows you step-by-step and holds your hand. But like I said, online education isn't for everyone and obviously it wasn't for you. I feel bad that you are in debt, but going to any other University...if you didn't apply yourself to the classes and failed them, would have provided the same result...lots of loans and nothing to show for it.

I am a newly enrolled student at CTU which is indeed an accredited college through the Higher Learning Commission. Though AIU is through the same corporation they are two different schools and accredited through different agencies, both of which are regionally accredited. AIU is on probation but is still accredited. My suggestion is that you do your own research. Your degree does not state that you are an online student so the only way your job would know it was online is if you volunteer the info. Some people on here seem to expect to just receive a degree because you paid for it and that is just not going to happen folks. Please do your own research people the resources are there.

You were fired "New England" thats my vote.

Listen, you speak of AIU, this discussion is about CTU.
Although they may be owned by the same company, CTU is healthy.
The original discussion here is based on Jennifers rant about how she felt ripped off.

I am now finished with my IT degree at CTU and I can tell you that all (or most) of the folks I started with, I finished with. The ones who did not make it to the end was due to their own issues. Jennifer has issues, and I think was expecting an easy ride, and found that hello this was a "real" undergraduate program.
Is CTU easier than a brick and mortar? Possibly, but I know I worked substantially harder at the CTU degree than I did my Associate at a local community college. I got to spread 2 classes out over 16 weeks at the b&m, but had no such break at CTU.

About the cost, you seem to be jaded and are reporting incorrectly that a brick and mortar is cheaper by far.
My daughter attends the University of Michigan, so trust me when I say I know what I am talking about on costs, I pay the bill every semester.
Prior to me selecting CTU, I shopped around quite a bit (approx 10 onlinne schools) and CTU was one of the lower costing online campuses.
My first was Phoenix online, talk about expensive, at about $465 a credit, I dropped that like a hot potato realizing that it would have costed me about 40 g's to get my undergraduate.
By the way you can earn a masters at CTU for $28,000 without grants or whatever.

On the staff, I agree that they do not appear to be with very much education, but realistcally does an accounting firm hire and pay a certified accountant to answer phones and set appointments? Does a doctors office hire an RN or MD to set appointments for patients? Are the people who answer the phones at Ford Motor Co educated as Engineers? The answeres would be NO NO and NO. These people do advise students, but the advisors follow the script that the managers give them, no different than if you called the doctors office.

It is not economical to do that, and as a so called boss as you say you were, you should have known that. The facilitators for the courses are educated, often with a Masters, and many with a Phd. The simple or basic classes have individuals that have (at least by their bio's) a minimum of an undergraduate degree.

This company is there to make money, but they must follow the guidlines of the accredidation that they hold as well.

G

Jennifer, you caught my grammatical errors. Sorry I did not profread my post before sending it. I did graduate AIU in Feb 04 and I am about to attend Central Michigan.
I am satisfied with my academic experience at or I should say on AIU. The professors were top notch, but I decided not to pursue my Masters degree because of the above mentioned problem.

After reading your response, it is hard for me to think that you are/were a college student. I really hope you are just posting in jest.

I don't what colleges will or will not accept AIU credits, but I do know Easter Cariolina University and Central Michigan University will. I graduated AIU in Feb 04 with BABA in Human Resource. Due to AIUs probatation, and lack of AACSB accredidation, I decided to pusue my Master's degree at Central Michigan's off Campus program. I would advise people to transfer their credits as soon as possible.

I am by no means digruntled. I was a boss at one of the Career Education Corp schools. I left at my own will unknown to my peers.

In repsonse to your comment: "Nick's suggestion that CTU is a diploma mill is ridiculous. We need a lesson in business here. The company that owns CTU is profit driven, so why would they risk loosing their accreditation and millions of federal dollars, in an effort to scam someone. In order to earn the accreditation CTU has to follow certain criteria, and are routinely surveyed to verify this is the case."

They risk losing there accredition all the time. Some of their schools has. All they care about is profit. To get title IV funds from the government you have to have students, hence the reason for open enrollment. The more kids in class, the more revenue and funding from the govt. There have been many news reports of CEC schools reporting "inflated" numbers to get federal dollars.

Ad for the cost or a B&M school. It's still cheaper. You are misinformed. You are looking at tuition before fin aid, scholarships and grants which are more ready available. On average a B&M school that offer an online program is usually cheaper since you don't use the service a traditional undergrad would. It usually costs half. In addition, the amount of student debt owed is less after graduation than a for profit student attendee. For example, a Master's at a CEC school costs anywhere from $32000-$34000 for one year! That's riduclous. Most state ran universities have online programs with better cirruculum for 1/2 the price or less after the kid in there own fin aid options.

As for the quality of faculty, most do not have terminal degrees as a true university does. There are people at these schools who don't have degrees at all at times. Especially the admissions counselors. How can you advise college students appropriately when you never went to college or have any experience. My boss was a former travel agent who barely made it through high school.

Bottomline, it's all smoke and mirrors. You have to look beyond what's in front of your face to get real answers.

Everyone who posts really needs to do their research. CTU is a regionally accredited school with NCA and and 2 findings in their last visit. They have also previously had perfect visits. Is this a school that is a diploma mill? NCA doesn't think so.

Jennifer, I am not sure what the problem is or what you have or have not done is, but I too am a student, with 1 week to go until completion and have not experienced 1% of what you are talking about.

If you were expecting an easy ride at CTU, maybe that was part of the problem. I have been thoroughly challenged during my time at CTU, and have learned much.

I too was on the deans list, and have been since, but not because they were baiting and switching me or any other such tactic. No, sadly or happily enough (depends on your perspective) I have worked very hard at it, to the point of staying up nearly every night for 15 months until about midnight to do homework. I work M-F from 7AM till 5PM, So it takes persistence, effort, and drive.

Is it the same as a brick and mortar school? No it is not, but then again I work full time and have a family, so brick and mortar is not realistic. The amount of time I put into CTU would equate to attending a 4 year B&M, but I can do it at my leisure.

Nick's suggestion that CTU is a diploma mill is ridiculous. We need a lesson in business here. The company that owns CTU is profit driven, so why would they risk loosing their accreditation and millions of federal dollars, in an effort to scam someone. In order to earn the accreditation CTU has to follow certain criteria, and are routinely surveyed to verify this is the case.

Peter is exactly right in his comment of being ready for the experience. If you decide to go on a mountain hike, pay a fee for a guide as well as the adventure, and you are unable to complete the journey, Is it the guides fault? Is it the mountains fault? No! The simple truth is that it was that individual's lack of being ready for the hike, which caused the failure to complete issue.

I think the employee that works for CTU commenting here may be disgruntled in some way. Maybe anonymous did not get a good review from his/her boss. In any event, I would ask this so called employee, when was the last time you checked the prices of a B&M school? A four year degree costs approximately 30 to 50 thousand dollars, that's right $30,000 to $50,000, not to mention the time, gas, books, and other incidentals that are difficult to measure.

The instructors often times at a B&M will be no different than you would see at CTU, with the same types of issues. Some grade harder, some are more organized, some have a knack for teaching and some are social retards.

So be careful when you represent yourself as an authority or a spokesperson for an organization and the organization is exactly what it represents itself to be. If individuals are looking for an easy degree, then pay your 200 dollars at diplomas-r-us and leave the university studies for those that are ready to work for it.

What I meant by lucky, is that you did your research and asked the right questions. The frank and repectful at the same time, the majority of people who attend these for-profit colleges don't fit the traditional college profile. Usually, but not all call from lower socio ecomomic backgrounds. They don't fit the demographic that would apply to or are afraid to apply to a traditional university. Most likely the wouldn't get in either. I met with these students all the time. When your company advertises during Jenny Jones and Jerry Springer, the people who call in are usually the late bloomers or underachievers in high school. The get duped into 14-17% student loan interest rates and the retention rates are horrible. There are minimal school sponsored grants and scholarships and if they give one it's considered more of tuition discounting. We used to give them out to students who only had $1000 to $4000 that couldn't be covered just so we could get the revenue.

You asked the right questions and weren't easily duped. Trust me I been to corporate hq, attend meetings with senior management. The school has bottom line and that is all they care about. Why would you charge near double for an online degree as a for profit when you can go to a moderatley selective nonprofit for less time and money? The education is mediorce at times too since there are no standards really. I have been in meetings where we refered to programs as "sexy" in order to get student interested whcih turns into dollars.

The anonymous poster said I'm one of the "lucky few" who didn't get scammed.

I'm trying to understand the distinction between me and the others who, you're saying, did get scammed. In what way was I lucky? If it's simply the fact that I was ready for the experience and others were not, that's not an indication that some are scammed and others are not.

Perhaps what you're saying is that open enrollment, with high school graduation or GED as the only determinant of eligibility, is inherently wrong. Is that what you meant?

I used to be in a senior level position within Career Ed which is the corporation that own CTU. Granted there are some people who benefit from what a for profit school has to offer, and there are those who are exploited. Usually people who didn't do any research or ask the right questions are the ones who end up fooled.

The admissions people are not couselors; they are sales people who sell you a "dream" and education. Most of the time they are temps with no college degree.

How can you be an admissions couselor or VP for that matter and not have a degree when you work for a school? There are quotas (sales numbers) to be met as well. The interview and the call setting the appt is all from a written script. When you go in just ask. If you sat in a meeting and heard some of the things that go on you'd crap your pants knowing how the treat people.

CTU is an open enrollment school so anyone can go because they get Title IV funds so they don't deny. Usually the quality of education and schools are lacking and credits are usually not transferable. If you are lucky to have good teachers, you will learn something. It's cheaper to go and and enroll in an private or public non-profit institution who offers on-line classes. The education is better 9 times out of time with less attrition.

I have worked both sides of the fence in for-profit and non-profit. Do your research. Peter, you are one of the lucky few who didn't get scammed.

Nick suggested that Colorado Technical University (its proper name) is probably not regionally accredited.

Actually, it is, and its accreditation is in good standing. Below is a link to the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the regional body under the Higher Learning Commission that accredits CTU. This is the same regional accrediting body that accredits traditional institutions of higher learning in the same region.

http://www.ncahlc.org/index.php?option=com_directory&Action=s****.> Hope that helps.

The internet is rifile with diploma mills turning tricks to make a dollar;therefore, its wise to reasearch the school you are going to before putting thousands of dollars on the line. Colorado Techinical College probadly is nationally accredated, but the college is probadly not regionally accredited. Probadly can get credits for the courses taken at a non-accredited school if the student is willing to test out in some courses, and take time with appeals and motions thru college adminstration.

Yet, my opinion of the college system is that there is lack of standardization between private and public insitutions,non-profit and for profit insitutions. The lack of standardization in the quality of education leads to students wasting time and money. Still, I know that fraud, curroption, cronyism goes on in state and private college system. In addtion, many people spend time and money to transfer credits, and colleges provide no set standard from private schools like the one stated above creates the problem. Regional accrediton needs to be national standard with set critera that any school, from regional, domestic, private, for-profit even oversea schools a person attends that credits tranfer smoothly.

I found this site and the CTU-related comments while searching for something else, and I find it so deeply disturbing that I had to comment.

I enrolled at CTU in late 2004 at the age of 44. I had been forced to drop out of high school and get a job in the wake of my parents' divorce, and didn't even THINK about college until many years later. CTU presented me with the opportunity to match school with my work schedule, and I jumped at the opportunity.

It's NOT a scam. It's just a lot of work. The CTU teaching model requires that you first learn the material from the textbooks and instructor-led discussions, then apply what you've learned in fictional scenarios in order to complete assignments. So -- say you're taking a marketing class. After you've learned about segmenting the market, developing target markets, etc., you'll be told you're a newly-hired marketing analyst for a fictional company in (for example) Salt Lake City, Utah, and you're presented with a problem to solve or an opportunity to pursue. You'll have to do REAL WORLD RESEARCH through the Census Bureau and other available resources to develop your solution using the theories and techniques developed in the class, which you then present as a paper or Powerpoint presentation or other deliverable (depending on the assignment). I found many of the assignments had direct applicability to my work, which was a definite plus.

I was also impressed that CTU encouraged me to take as many College Level Examination Program ("CLEP") tests as possible, thus reducing the time it took to earn my degree AND reducing my tuition. They didn't charge anything for transferring in the CLEP credits or for assessing my work experience portfolio (which was worth 18 credits). They also provided books and other materials, including full copies of Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Office Professional, as part of the tuition. Other institutions charge separately for textbooks.

If CTU was a crooked institution, focused solely on maximizing its income from every student, I can't imagine why they would have encouraged me to take so many tests or to work so hard on a work portfolio. By doing so, I reduced my tuition by HALF. That just doesn't square with the notion that someone at CTU is rubbing his or her hands together and scheming to rip students off at every opportunity.

Nobody ever mysteriously "failed" me in a class in the manner the original poster describes, though I did run into some professors who were certainly harder graders than others. But I invested a lot of effort and graduated summa c*m laude in fifteen months as promised. Several fellow students I met and befriended along the way -- all high achievers -- had the same experience. I also encountered students who were having difficulty, several of whom dropped out. That's the nature of postsecondary education: it's not a giveaway. If your life or your work situation doesn't permit you to devote the time and energy needed for success, you'll fail. If you don't have the intellectual horsepower needed to succeed, you'll fail. That's life.

And while I'm sorry about that, I'm concerned that my alma mater is being publicly accused of fraud, bait-and-switch, racketeering, abuse, and so forth, when my experience shows that's untrue. Not only is it unfair to CTU, it's unfair to other prospective students who might benefit the same way I did.

Jennifer - I wish I could include my personal contact information, but Ripoff Reports doesn't allow that. However, if you're a current CTU student and wondering if I'm a real person and not some sort of CTU "plant," you can find me as an alumnus through the CTU alumni search system. There's only one "Peter G." who's a CTU graduate in Connecticut. That in turn will lead you to my contact information.