Complaint Review: Heald Business College In Sacramento California

I will make this as short as possible. I need assistance on this. In 1989 when living in California,
I was told by Heald Business college that they could help me get educated with a certificate in Accounting. I was 18, a ninth grade education, had a 4 year old son and on AFDC.

I started the school attended a month in ahalf and decided to talk to the dean and let him know I was not learning, I had 2 Incomplete and a D. He suggested that since I was financially responsible for the first semester to try again in the second. Desperate to learn, I did for two weeks. I decided to leave and had a Non Completion and 2 F's,

I tried to fight the school and the dept. of education, because I felt as though I should have not been charged at all. Whether write or wrong, I did not know how to fight the school nor the Dept. of Education. I went back to High school and graduated in 1991 from an alternative school.

Throughout the years I tried to explain my situation to the Dept. of Education, and felt as though I did not owe 5000.00

for 1 semester. I owed maybe 1650.00, yet I was being charged a lot more then that by the dept. of education. I requested my records in 1996. I looked it over and tried once again to dispute the full charges, which at that time were like 8000.00 because I defaulted really believing that I did not owe the money.

Recently I looked in the records that were sent to me from Heald Business College few years ago, In it was 10 other students person social security numbers, their drop out dates, and how much their loans were for with a signed letter from Rhonda Shaw an employee at the school.

The students never gave permission like stated in the policy and procedure Manuel listed online Copy below

STUDENT RECORDS AND PRIVACY RIGHTS
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), 20 USC 1232g, protects the student from having his/her records released to persons or institutions without the student's written consent and allows the student to review his/her own official education records to make sure that no misleading, inaccurate, or otherwise inappropriate information has been included in his/her file. FERPA does not require the student's written consent for the release of "directory information," which includes (1) name, (2) address, (3) major field of study, (4) dates of attendance, (5) degrees and honors received, (6) name of the most recent educational institution attended, and (7) other information defined as "directory information" by FERPA. A student has the right to refuse release of "directory information." The refusal must be presented in writing to the director of academic affairs within 10 days of the beginning of the student's first quarter of classes. A student may review his/her records with the director of academic affairs or designee upon request. A student has the right to ask for amendments to records that he/she feels are inaccurate or misleading. A complete copy of the Heald student records policy under FERPA is distributed annually to students and may be obtained by contacting the director of academic affairs.


Here are the names:
Joan Bender
Adela Nabong
Tania Codero
Angela dubord
Heidi Todd
Todd Declouette
Teresa Magee
Jenny Fogal
Angela Orozco
Marie paulin

I found that someone from The school filled in that I graduated fromAroe Have high in 1989 and i did not graduted from McClellan in 1991.

The GPA on the financial aid plan says my GPA is 0.

I have two different drop out dates in the records.
There are copies of covered checks not showing the amounts nor the check numbers.

Checks that were supposed to be returned that from my understanding were never.

I spoke with the Dept. of Education about three weeks ago letting them know what was happening and all the incorrect things in my file,

The rep at the Dept. of Education said that Dept. of Education sent a large check for 4000.00 in Feb of 1990 and it was not returned. Long after I left.

that other checks were not returned either
The representative said that he had me leaving the school 6/89.

I have a date from from Rhonda Shaw on in a signed letter from Heald College, of 11/07/89 and in my file that i have show s 10/30/89.The Rep asked that I send all my paperwork in because he was certain something was not right with all that I have found. I sent it to him at Dept. Of Education, Rod Paige, Secretary of Education, and Heald Business College ( not the full file, I was afraid they would try to hide something)., I was not getting any responses from Heald nor Mr. Paige

I started calling Heald Business College and asking questions, I wrote 3 letters requesting my information to Denise Pham asking why there are so many discrepancies. She said she could help, she just called me and tried to make excuses.

Saying she herself ripped up certain papers in the files after 5 years. One being my admission paperwork the other being my entrance exam. She was lying she's been there 3 months. I have called everyday since requesting my file from 10 different people, and no response.

Until a few days ago, I received a letter from DR Virgen from Heald Business College on Oct 17th, It said that they did not have to keep my admissions test nor did they have to keep the entrance test. They ripped it up after 5 years. He says that there is one piece of paperwork that say I received a 54 out 80 points and that to him is proof that I took a test, yet he does not have proof of that test.

DR Virgen cannot provide that paperwork, when I requested it. and it is not in my copies of the file either.
Which the Dept. Of Education needs for me to be able to receive the ability to benefit.

I Never Took an exam!!!!!!!

Heald Business College Knows that Dept. of Education requires that any individual who attends heald business college must have a test to get in, You cant get anywhere with the Dept. Of Eductions, ability to benefit, without it, if a former student is applying for an ability to benefit, which will help get your money back if you feel honestly that you could not benefit from the school.

The Dept. of education in a signed letter saying that The Federal Family Education Loan Program Or Federal Direct Program, schools are required to certify that the student borrowers who do not have a high school diploma must be able to benefit by one of the following

A high school diploma at time of enrollment, ( Did not have)

a ged by the completion date (Did not have)
an achieved passing grade on the ATB test (Did not have)

Nor successfully completed the schools program and did not exceed one year (Did Not do)

Oct 15th I started to get a call from Hayward Howell a rep from Heald, asking that I call him back, snd that he will take care of me on this situation so it does not get messy. I think something is going on.

He said he may be able to get my money, when I said I want to be compensated for all the stuff I been through he said he "you would not be able to get anything for that, and he knows that i dont want to go to court " Then he said that he used to work for the Dept of Education so that he could talk to them, and that he did not know any of the names that i was mentioning when i said "i spoke with" Im not sure what he meant by that, but it sounded threatening he mad it sound as if he could pull strings at the Dep of Education.

They cant seem to provide me with, when the policy changed that you could attend the college only if you have a high school diploma like it states on the website!
They cannot provide me with an answer to why they sent me others social security numbers.

I have tried getting my records from heald once again, because I wanted to see what they had and now they wont release them to me at all.

I have requested in certified writing, I have called i have written the Secretary of education, Rod Paige.

I may not have Dr. Nor Virgen in front of my name, but I am a little more grown and I know something is not right and there may be possible fraud here. I need help in getting my file once again. maybe if I go publicI can get answers and my file.

I also would like to know if there is anyone out in the California, Oregon area's that feels as though Heald Business College has taken advantage of them, please contact me at xxxx*
l
Please don't let These types of colleges scam you. Especially if your a young uneducated single mom.
The more I investigate, the more I am finding out that there are many of these business colleges doing wrong to low income people.

Can you broadcast this or help find someone to print this story. I have all the proof to prove my alligations. I would like to get an attorney ASAP heald still will not send me transcripts or answers to any of my questions. Even the president Lary Barton will not help, he could care less he's sitting pretty making his money of all of us!!!!!!!!

Lisa
colorado springs, Colorado

* Read below why a phone number or link was removed from this Report

*EDitor's Comment

The reason why we have removed links, e-mail address or phone numbers from this report is because people have, in the past, attempted the following, ...all too often.

Posting LINKS

Many times links to unknown web sites will cause your pc to freeze up and /or cause you to get a computer virus, virtually rendering your computer useless. Most of the time, this is the work of a Company or an Individual who has been reported.
Many Government links are no better than the BBB and are just a waste of time, giving you false hope. Many government sites (like the BBB) just collect all information from you, the consumer, but never make that information available, so consumers will NOT be educated as to what exactly they should be looking out for. On the other hand, many government agencies have and do come to the Rip-off Report for information. We have been assisting many government agencies for some time now, including the FBI and Attorney General offices from around the country..

Now that all these Rip-off Reports are out in the open for everyone to see, in a way, this embarrasses these agencies into doing something when they see so many reports on a Company or Individual, because they are now out in the open for all to see. Unfortunately, many (not all) Attorney General Office's and government agencies will not move against a rip-off unless there is going to be some sort of publicity on the rip-off. By reporting your experience on the Rip-off Report, is the next best thing to getting your story on TV or in a newspaper. Most national TV networks and many local TV stations from all around the country come to the Rip-off Report for information they will not get from the BBB, Attorney General office's or any other government agency. Rip-off Report has instigated many local and national stories, resulting in help for victims, in one way or another. Most government agencies will never even bother with rip-offs unless it involves $50,000 or more. Now that the government is cutting back even more dollars for these types of programs, this number will even get higher and we can expect even less to get done, by even less people to work on all these rip-offs.

LAWYERS :

We have also struggled with the following for a long time..
The reason why we delete phone numbers, ..all too often unscrupulous lawyers or individuals posing as lawyers are collecting victims information to only further victimize them. Many times, well-meaning consumers think they are going to collect names and get them to a lawyer who will do something. In every case we have allowed a consumer victim to do this, nothing has ever came of it. Consumers were under the impression that something will be done to get them help. In every case this did nothing but lead the consumer on, further victimizing them, and some consumers were mad at us. We feel it is our responsibility to check the legitimacy of the lawyer before advertising their service on the Rip-off Report.

We will also not allow lawyers to use this web site for free when they will end up taking a large amount of fees, leaving the victim with very little. There are many competent lawyers out there that know how to get the unscrupulous Companies or Individuals who ripped you off, to pay their fees. Those lawyers capable of this can post their numbers after checking with us here at the Rip-off Report.

POSTING YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS:

For similar reasons as mentioned above, we will not allow individuals to post e-mail addresses, so they can be contacted for more info they claim they cannot post. If that person can contact YOU and get the information, so will everyone else be contacting you anyway, and, if it's good enough for them to receive it by contacting you, then you should be able to post that information for everyone to see and know about. And, many times, in an attempt to get your contact information, consumers will leave an email address; this is just a ploy to sell you a product or some other service. Most likely, you will end up on other junk mail lists. ..if they have something to sell, they should place an advertisement showing support to Rip-off Report.com so we can further help consumers.

ADDITIONAL NOTE ...about our advertisers:

As an extra added precaution to our readers, even all our PAID advertisements are checked out to the best of our ability before allowing them to be placed on the Rip-off Report. WE have turned down many advertisers to date. Advertisers on the Rip-off Report know, they are not immune from a Rip-off Report being filed on them. How many times do you see Rip-off companies advertising on TV and in publications when you know there are so many complaints about them!

We welcome your feedback on this subject.
Click on the REBUTTAL BOX below and submit a Consumer Comment so everyone can see.

ED Magedson
EDitor@RipoffReport.com
badbusinessbureau.com
www.ripoffreport.com