Complaint Review: Empire Beauty School - Empire Education Group

I am a former student of Artistic Beauty College a.k.a. Empire Beauty School in Aurora, Colorado.  I had an overall A grade average and a good attendance record.  I attended 1044 of the 1800 hours required by the state of Colorado to graduate from September 15, 2008 to May 20, 2009.  I really wanted a high end, top shelf education, which is why I chose the school over others and which is what I thought I was paying for.  Tuition ALONE costs $15,075. 

CONTRACT  -  PAGE 1 Section 1 Students who extend beyond their enrollment agreement term will be charged for each additional credit hour needed to complete the program at the rate of $230.00 per credit hour is what the contract states, however, the school charges $251.25, which is $15,075 divided by 60 weeks in the program.  Page 2 Section 3 - #2 The contract states If a student cancels his/her enrollment agreement and demands his/her money back  in writing within seven business days of signing the enrollment agreement, regardless of whether the student has begun training, a full refund will be issued.  After seven business days, the student is responsible for all charges for kits or textbooks received and the registration fee.  The cancellation date will be determined by the postmark on the written notification or by the date that said information is delivered, in person, to the School Campus Director.  In my case, as well as many cases, students sign their enrollment agreements well before they start school.  For example, I signed my contract August 28, 2008 and began school on September 15, 2008 as I previously stated.  In between these dates, I was promised an Orientation before school started and was told thats when I would receive my kit.  To my disappointment, orientation was cancelled.  Page 2 Section 3 #3-  Students who cease officially withdraw the first five calendar days of the program start date shall be entitled to a refund of all tuition.  Students will be responsible for the Registration Fee, and any kit, book or supplies received by the student.  Page 2 Section 5 Employment Assistance : While the school cannot guarantee employment for graduates, we offer job placement services to help graduates efforts to secure employment in the field represented by the program completed, or in a related field.  Thats BOGUS!  The schools admissions person said the school provided employment assistance, bragging about their partnership with Regis, which they never did the entire time I attended the school.  Page 2 Section #7 RULES, REGULATIONS AND TERMINATION:  The school reserves the right to dismiss or discontinue a student for failure to maintain satisfactory progress, failure to attend classes regularly, breach of school rules or regulations or for any cause the school deems necessary for the good of the school.  A complete statement of school rules and regulations is contained in the catalog and orientation materials.  Termination may also occur if a student misses more than the number of consecutive days permitted in the schools attendance policy.  I was denied an orientation, cancelled for an unknown reason, nor did I ever receive a student catalog.  In a separate Enrollment Agreement, it states verbatim in the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This Enrollment Agreement contains the entire agreement between the School and Student and no further modification or representation except as otherwise expressly stated herein will be recognized.  STUDENT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT STUDENT HAS READ BOTH SIDES OF THIS AGREEMENT IN THEIR ENTIRETY AND HAS RECEIVED A COPY OF THIS AGREEMENT AND ALL BLANK SPACES HAVE BEEN COMPLETED TO STUDENTS SATISFACTION.  STUDENT ALSO ACKNOWLDEDGES THAT HE/SHE HAS RECEIVED A SCHOOL CATALOG, A LIST OF THE ESSENTIAL FUNTIONS THAT STUDENT MUST BE ABLE TO PERFORM IN ORDER FOR STUDENT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM, POLICY AGAINST HARASSMENT, SCHOOL COMPLETION/LICENSURE/PLACEMENT RATES, STATE LICENSURE REQUIREMENTS, THE AMOUNT OF COMPENSATION A GRADUATE MAY REASONABLY EXPECT, AND CONSUMER INFORMATION CONCERNING THE SCHOOL.  STUDENT ACKNOWLEDGES THE IMPORTANCE OF THESE DOCUMENTS AND IS ADVISED TO RETAIN THEM.  This Agreement is legally binding once signed below by a representative of the School and the student.  NOTICE TO STUDENT - Do not sign this contract before you read it or if it contains any blank space. You are entitled to an exact copy of the contract you sign.  This document was in my student file, and my signature was forged on it.  I never received a copy of the Agreement until I asked for a copy of my student file.  I reported the felony forgery to the Aurora Police Department.  This is also a NACCAS violation.  A copy of the student catalog is supposed to be posted in a conveniently accessible location for students reference as per NACCAS regulations, as well.  I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw my name forged, especially since the wording on the document was so sensitive!!!  Getting back to Page 2 Section #9 WITHDRAWAL DATE AND LAST DATE OF ATTENDANCE The actual last date of attendance would be the last day the student was physically in attendance.  A withdrawal date for a student who had been previously attending could be up to, but not exceed, 14 calendar days from that students actual last date of attendance.  My last date of attendance was May 20, 2009 yet the school used May 15, 2009 as my last date of attendance on my STUDENT WITHDRAW REPORT as well as on my transcript, yet the transcript says drop date is May 26, 2009??????? On Page 3, prior to signing at the bottom (which I wish I never did) the contract states:  My signature below indicates that I have received a copy of this executed contract (which I did), the School catalog and the Enrollment Information Packet (which I did NOT receive) and that I have read, understand and acknowledge that all policies and procedures are conditions for my enrollment.  I also understand that non-compliance with any policy, procedure or guideline may result in corrective action, up to enrollment termination.  This is not very fair when you dont have a copy of the policies and procedures.  I signed the document on Aug. 28, 2008 anyway thinking in good faith that I would be getting a student handbook eventually at student orientation before starting on September 15, 2008, which never happened, unfortunately. 

As I previously mentioned, I wanted a high end education, which is what I thought I was signing up and paying for.  I had a blast learning during basics with a wonderful instructor, named Dominique Thompson.  I left school every day excited about what I had learned that day.  She was courteous enough to give us a syllabus so we would know what to expect and when. 

It was a sad day for me when I had to promote from basics to the 360 program, which threw us right out of basics into working on clients.  We had a new instructor, one who would NOT give us a syllabus, and from there it had remained nothing other than organized CHAOS at best.  We were learning hair color simultaneously while working on the 360 program, which made me feel cheated out of time & knowledge when it came to hair coloring (which is one of my favorites).  Fortunately I read a lot on my own time, passed, and earned my hair coloring certification.  Being brand new to the salon floor, it was during the 360 program that I realized how shorthanded the school was on products and supplies.   The school would run out of perms, hair color, shampoo and conditioner, and artificial acrylic nail supplies.  This was a problem when working on our mannequins for grades, one day in May 2009, we had to use paper towels and / or notebook paper when performing mock foils for a GRADE!  This day we also were out of shampoo and conditioner so at best all we could do was rinse our mannequins out with water.  When servicing clients, I quickly became embarrassed not only when shorthanded on product and supplies, but also when my instructor would be unavailable when needed.  This happened on a regular basis.  The school has signs posted in many places stating All services are performed under the supervision of licensed instructors.  This was not the case, as there were many instances when an instructor had to walk away for one reason or another. 

The school has a Dispensary where they keep all or most of their products and supplies.  For example:  perms, relaxers, hair color, shampoo & conditioner, styling products and the like.  Sometimes the school will assign a student to work in there so that other students can come to them and check out what they need.  Other times, the Dispensary is locked and only the instructor(s) have a key to it.  This is the only place where MSDS sheets are located, and they are not updated.  MSDS SHEETS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE KEPT WHERE THEY CAN EASILY BE ACCESSED.

Stephanie Coppage, was hired in February 2009, as the Director of Education.  She had a TN Cosmetology license.  She was teaching classes at the school without her Colorado cosmetology license.  She didnt gain reciprocity for her license until June 5, 2009.  Mechelle Capra, the Regional Director, claimed she didnt know until I brought it to her attention and had her cease teaching classes.

The school misplaced my familys 2008 income tax return filing.  Ms. Capra stated that Jamesha Russell and Stephanie Coppage looked diligently for it and couldnt locate the documentation, which contained my familys personal information.

Sometime in March 2009, a couple instructors, a few staff members and a NIGHT STUDENT, were celebrating a staff members birthday OUTSIDE OF THE SCHOOL.  The student graduated the last week of August 2009.  This is FRATERNIZATION.

During the majority of my attendance at the school, I was a day student on the CLIC curriculum.  The students who had started before me had been on the Miladys curriculum and didnt have CLIC books unless they wanted to buy them, and they arent cheap!  Those students had to depend on their notes in order to pass tests or to get a good grade on an assignment.  I found this to be very unfair.  The school should have given them books since they changed the curriculum on them.  However, the night program was not CLiC certified and still using the Miladys curriculum as late as June 2009 that I am aware of.  Not all instructors employed at the Aurora location are CLiC certified.

In the 1044 hours I attended the school I had valid issues and concerns for someone who was paying for a top shelf education.  I was extremely disappointed with the staffs attitude towards the quality of education, considering the cost of tuition.  The majority of my complaints stemmed from trying to get my moneys worth out of my education.  I was going to transfer to the Arvada campus to avoid issues I was having in Aurora.  In the less than smooth process of the transfer I realized a lot of the problems stemmed from the Regional Director, Mechelle Capra.  I was afraid if I would follow thru with enrollment there I would be risking reprisal for trying to help correct the problems at the Aurora school, because the Arvada school is supervised by Ms. Capra as well.  All of the Denver schools are.

In closing, the school is wrongly taking money from students who want a cosmetology education.  The school should not be eligible for Title iv funding because the government is wasting good money on poor education.  I can assure you that if you were to investigate the school you would find inconsistencies within each students personal records.  Also, it was very frustrating walking into the school every morning (after basics) wondering who is going to be your instructor for the day or what would be expected of us.  Students should not have to worry about their grades getting lost or their hours not accurately being accounted for.  The school was not dispersing the right amount of credits as required by the state of Colorado, therefore, the school desperately needs to be investigated for the sake of government funds, thus for the students sake.  Students can only do and say so much because the administration has the final say.  Having to deal with a corrupt administration with no integrity or morality makes it nearly impossible to make more than reasonable changes as students.  Something needs to be done about this.

Under penalty of perjury I swear the above statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge,

A R