Complaint Review: PIMA Medical Institute

I attended PIMA's radiographic technology program for 10 months from Jan '07 to Nov. '07. During that period of time I maintained a 3.45 GPA and had no absences until October 20th. For the 2 and a half months prior to Oct. 20th I was in clinicals and taking classroom lessons in Intro to computers. I have a B.S. in computer science so I was doing well in the Intro to computers class. On Oct. 14th I had an incident with a rad tech working at Kaiser who felt it necessary to curse and belittle and generally verbally abuse me. I let the tech's supervisor know about the situtation but she was not particularly concerned. I went to clinicals the next day and noticed that the atmosphere was much more isolating and I got the feeling that I was being given the cold shoulder and that I was "perona nongrata". The next day I came down with stomach flu or some such and was too sick to go to class. I abided by the rules of the program and left a voicemail with the instructor to let her know that I'd be absent that day and that I'd be able to make the exam that was scheduled that day at her convenience. The rules of the program state that make-ups are up to the discretion of the teacher. I felt that I was in good standing with the program and that it shouldn't be a problem for me to make up the exam. Since the computers course only consisted of 3 exams and you need a 78% to pass the class, the makeup was critical. The teacher refused the makeup and gave no explanation why except "it's the rules". I plead that I was violently ill and that there's got to be some way for me to make it up. She wouldn't discuss it and said I should study hard for the final and I might pass. Since there was also an unannounced class project done on the day I was sick I calculated that I was getting a zero on the exam and the project and given that, there was no mathematical possibility of me passing the class. I planned on bringing this up during mid term evals the next day. During evals, I was called into the program Director's office instead of course instructor's office as everyone else had been. Once in front of the Director, I was told that there were some really bad reviews given by some of the tech's in clinicals and that there'd be a meeting at Kaiser to decide whether I'd be able to stay at their site. The Director (Ryan Minic) told me that if they didn't want to keep me at Kaiser he'd be hard pressed to move to another site. I was near passing out at this point given that I'd already invested $10000 in student loans into the program along with the enormous resources me family had contributed to my educational pursuit. This program was a "do or die" for me and I had the Director and instructor telling me that I was as good as dead but I could "stick it out at Kaiser thru next week and see how it turns out". I was extremely distraught and didn't see any way that I was going to make it thru with the main players in the program and the current clinical cadre totally against me. The program was well aware of the unprofessional attitude of some of the techs at Kaiser yet didn't care one iota that I was trying to work thru that situation. I was curious about what my total debt was to the program at that point and went to the billling office to find out. They told me that currently it was at $9500 but if I went past next Thursday it would jump by $2500. After hearing this it became clear that the cadre at PIMA had already decided to fail me but was playing it out another week to get an extra $2500. At that point, I decided that there was no winning, I'd already lost so I withdrew to save the additional $2500. This program is in essence a personality contest. Being 44, I was not as perky as most of the 20 somethings but was cordial, professional, focused and always gave my all. The program is 3 to 4 times as expensive as other Rad Tech programs. The cadre are not "teachers" but brand new program grads with no educational experience or credentials who don't want to be techs. The equipment is decades old and doesn't function. It preys on desperate students who can't wait to get into other programs whose waiting lists are 3 to 4 years long. Now I'm in debt $10,000, can't find a job since I haven't worked in 5 years cuz I've been in school and the IT field doesn't hire unless your skills are current. My references don't check out anymore as they've moved or changed their phone numbers or both. The job market is tanking and if my parents don't let me move in with them I'll be homeless in 4 months as well as $10,000 in debt. My attempt at entering the healthcare field is probably going to kill me. I'm lost, out of options, out of hope and probably not alone given the prevalence of these types predatory education outfits. Work at McDonald's until you can get into a real Rad Tech program. These guys are hyenas.

John
Denver, Colorado
U.S.A.