Complaint Review: Devry Online University

 I attended Devry University online for a very short period 8 years ago, before I learned they were basically scam artists. At the time I thought they were a legitimate institution. I received Federal Student loans obtained via Fafsa.  I underwent an IRS audit 1 year after beginning Devry. I failed the IRS audit, so in turn my federal students loans stopped. I received notice from Devry that my loans had stopped being funded and that I could no longer attend until I secured further funding. At this time I stopped attending Devry and worked out a payment plan with FedLoanServicing to repay the accrued debt, which at that time was less than $4000  (I was only approved for part time attendence, 1 class per semester.) I paid these loans for several years.

 6 years later, July 2014, my wages began being garnished, with no prior warning, by Progressive financial services on behalf of the DOE for a balance of $27,000. I did as much research as I could and learned that even though I only took a few classes that Devry "decided" to provide me with funding so I could continue attending classes.   

 Their stand is it was not their fault I did not attend and they charged off the  amount of debt for many many more classes (years) than I actually attended to the DOE. It took me over 15 phone calls to Devry before I reached an employee that would disclose this to me. She said that she should not even be telling me that much, but she claims that this happens regularly and she was sympathetic to my situation, and like everyone else she needs a job.

 I never signed anything, agreed to anything, or was I even notified that Devry had decided to fund themselves. The last correspondence I ever received from Devry was that my funding had ceased and that I CANNOT attend until "I" secure further funding. They did not in any way or form tell me that I could continue to attend on their dime that I would be liable for.

 Because of prior child support obligations, everyday bills, IRS debt of around $15,000, etc.. this garnishment has cost me my job. I was unable to pay for my vehicle and rent, therefore lost my job and was forced to move across the country to live with a relative. I am still currently unemployed and finding it very difficult to secure employment with the DOE waiting for me to become employed in order to continue garnishing me for this bogus debt.

 In the meantime I am accruing child support arearrages of a substantial amount. I have consulted with bankruptcy attorneys who will not consult with me more than 2 minutes after I say Department of Education and IRS. They all basically tell me I am stuck with this.

 In my opinion Devry is committing fraud. Something should be done to stop their morally and ethically deficient business practices.  I find it appalling that Devry can just tell the DOE that "this student owes us x amount, you pay us and go ruin their life," with no burden of proof, just debt manufactured from thin air and the DOE takes their word for it. With a system that allows this Devry essentially has a warehouse of blank checks, and they can write one to themselves any time a student's loans have stopped short of graduation and the DOE will attack the student.

 I am likely to go to jail just because Devry didn't feel the few thousand dollars they received from my loans were enough. When I first consulted a Devry financial aid counselor back in 2006 they said amount for the program I was inquiring about would cost me a total of around $40,000. With the amount of funding I was approved for, I was only able to attend about 10 or 15% of the classes I was to take to obtain this bachelors degree but somehow accrued over 65% of the debt. My guess is Devry financial has a dartboard with random 5 figure dollar amounts used for students whose funding is cut off and they decide to "fund" the education themselves but tell the student they can no longer attend until they secure their own funding.

Avoid at ALL costs!