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  • Report:  #95505

Complaint Review: Hallmark Institute Of Photography

Hallmark Institute Of Photography ripoff tuition paid in full less then 24 hours before graduation my son was dismissed from school with a so called failing portfolio We paid $40,000 for 9 months How can you wait until the 9th hour after you received all fund to fail a 19 year old Not to mention the humiliating way it was done Turners Falls Massachusetts

  • Reported By:
    — Saddle Brook New Jersey
  • Submitted:
    Sat, June 19, 2004
  • Updated:
    Wed, October 13, 2010
*General Comment: Hallmark Institute Of Photography ripoff tuition paid in full less then 24 hours before graduation... *Consumer Comment: Hallmark Institute of Photography - One of the BEST. *Consumer Comment: Half truths

My son attended Hallmark Institute of Photography with the hopes of being trained to go on to a profession in photography. First of all the marketing and advertising was very false. They promised many great teachers that would work around the clock to help students succeed.

My so went to the school and was on a government loan. He would have to meet certain criterias throughout the year in order for the school to receive payment from the government loan department. They did receive all the money. He was due to graduate on June 18th and on June 17th was told that his work was not up to graduating standards and therefore would not graduate. He was humiliated by be escorted from the building.

When he called me obviously very upset about this situation, I called the school and was informed that they were preparing for graduation and could not take 5 minutes to speak to me but that I would have to wait until the following Tuesday to speak with them. Bottom line they took money from us and never gave my son a certificate of degree which he earned. They are very slick with paperwork and very cold people.

I want this report out there so when other people are looking for a great photography school, they are warned and look elsewhere. I will further my own personal experience through the law but really hope others will not have this experience.

Pat
Saddle Brook, New Jersey
U.S.A.

3 Updates & Rebuttals

TJ

beverly hills,
California,
United States of America

Half truths

#4Consumer Comment

Wed, October 13, 2010

I am a recent graduate of Hallmark and can tell you first hand that if your son failed, its because he didn't do the work required.  I kept hearing how tough the school was and that it was considered "Photography Boot camp".  After attending myself and graduating with a highly rated portfolio, I didn't think the school was that tough at all. If you have any amount of initiative or responsibility, you will graduate.  You have to work hard to fail.  Based on my experience in the program, your son must have been a goof-off.


On the same token... I will also say that the school is definitely not worth the $59,000 tuition cost and it is not all that it markets itself to be.

The instructors are great and hardworking people.  The facilities are awesome.  But the management is in the toilet.  So much so that the school, until it was sold to Premier Education Group in 2009, was destined for bankruptcy.  How was that possible?  The President, George Rosa, had a gambling problem and he had a habit of ripping-off vendors.  I personally spoke to local business people in the Turners Falls area who were owed thousands of dollars each by the school.  Some even went bankrupt themselves because the school had not paid them the money they were due. Some staff members even quit the school because the president had failed to contribute to the pension accounts they were contracted to have.  Others that speak up against his management have been fired.

The school is great at teaching photography, but the business side is a joke.  They teach some business practices for portrait studios, but nothing for those wanting to get into weddings, commercial, fashion, or editorial photography.  They do not discuss copyright infringement, licensing or image usage rights.  These are the main areas killing many photography businesses today, and Hallmark doesn't touch them.

If you are successful at balancing your personal checkbook, then you already know all you're going to learn at Hallmark about financial management.

You can learn just as much for a lot less money.  You can make some of the same connections that Hallmark offers as well.  Look into workshops at the Maine Media Workshops, Sante Fe Workshops, Sports Shooter Academy, and Eddie Adams Work Shops before attending Hallmark.  I would also look into attending the workshops of individual photographers like Joe McNally, Bobbie Lane, Skip Cohen, Ken Whitmire, and Justin Marantz.  I've found that these workshops were much more thorough and gave me much more for my money than Hallmark did.

Just google their names and you will find plenty of information on how to enroll.


Dwight

Newport,
Vermont,
U.S.A.

Hallmark Institute of Photography - One of the BEST.

#4Consumer Comment

Thu, September 30, 2010

I am a graduate of Hallmark Institute of Photography in Turners Falls, MA.
During the school year I was hospitalized for over 30 days due to serious illness. I had fallen behind in my studies and was destine to fail and NOT graduate. The instructors at the school worked with me and indeed wanted me to be able to graduate in the month of June. I worked my butt off and DID indeed graduate. It is my opinion that if your son's portfolio did NOT meet the expected quality of the school it is no one's fault but his own. There is no way he could fail unless he did NOT follow instruction, seek help and find answers as to how to produce an acceptable portfolio. A number of students were dismissed from Hallmark while I was a student for not maintaining grade averages and or expected photographic works. If dismissals such as these were not to take place than Hallmark would not be one of the best photography school in the world. I would summise that there is more to this story than is being disclosed. To be "Escorted from the building" is NOT typical of any learning institution. Hallmark Institute has provided an amazing and most useful course of study for decades to individuals from around the world. Check out Hallmark Institute of Photography for yourself. This school markets and promotes themselves as being just what I have described. To fail at Hallmark Institute is no ones fault but the student who fails.   Posted by Hallmark Institute of Photography graduate and Professional Photographer Dwight Fellows Walker

Report Attachments:

Mark

Fairview,
Tennessee,
United States of America

Hallmark Institute Of Photography ripoff tuition paid in full less then 24 hours before graduation...

#4General Comment

Wed, May 05, 2010

I'm a former student.

First, I'm sorry that the offended party feels they have been ripped off.  I understand Hallmark is not a small investment and to not accomplish what you set out to accomplish when you attend a school like Hallmark has to very disheartening.  However the final portfolio is a pass or fail grade.  If your portfolio meets the standards of the judging body then you pass and will graduate with the rest of your classmates.  If it does not, then you are given a week to correct the deficiencies (a process known as rereview).  If your work is corrected during this process, you pass.  If it is not corrected.  You fail and yes you find out the day before graduation.  At this point in the school year.  Tuition is nonrefundable anyway, pass or fail, so I could hardly call it being ripped off.

The thing to understand is that there is no way you can do extremely well in the earlier 9 months and then totally tank at final portfolio.  Only borderline students, students who did just enough to get by, were the ones, for the most part, to struggle during final portfolio.  Some made it through and others did not.  Even though Hallmark only gives a Professional Certificate of Completion that certificate is earned and not "given."  

I don't think this is an issue of being ripped off as much as it is a parent being upset that her son did not graduate.

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