Complaint Review: The Art Institute online

The Art Institute online is not what they want you to think it is. I have been lied too, scammed and right down screwed by this school. I for one have felt the sting of this school, I 1st applied to this school almost a year ago and thats how long I have been fighting with them over a charge of 1662.00 that they say I owe.

Let me start from the beginning, back in February of 2012 I started a search for a school who specialized in the field of study I was interested in, The Art Institute contacted me about there program and on how the classes worked, it all sounded good to me, however I told the admissions adviser that it would all depend on the financial aid and if they could get it done were I would not have to pay anything while I was attending school. She proceeded to tell me there shouldn't be a problem and the financial department would let me know if there was. I also told the adviser that I had just drop from a former school a month ago. I was told that shouldn't be a problem and once again financial aid will be able to help me with that.

I told the adviser I would have to think about it and talk it over with my husband. It all sounded good and I was getting excited about going but I still wanted a few days to think it over and check on other schools. Wrong thing to say, even though I was told that is wasn't a problem, they called everyday for 3 to 4 days while I was thinking about it and keep reminding me about a dead line for the next start date. I felt very pressured into applying, so I did because so far this was the best school (so I thought) for the program I was interested in.

Everything was going good at first, talk to financial aid and explained to them that I had just recently left a different school and that I need to make sure that all my tuition was covered for thier school because I was unemployed and only had my husbands income that just enough to get up by, that any out of pocket money would mean that I would not be able to attend thier school. Adviser informed me that everything would/should be ok but we need to get the paper work done a sumited. So far we are all still on the same page and things are going well. A few days later I get a call from my financial aid adviser to inform me that I was totaly covered and I can start on the start of the new term with no worries. I had to ask her serval time if she was sure, I don't want to stress over finances while I was in school. She guaranteed me it was all done and good to go.

So I went ahead and started my classes, and 3 weeks into my 1st class I get a call from my financial adviser telling me that I will have to come up with over 3000.00 to continue my education
at this school. I couldn't drop the class because they inform me after drop/add due date. So now I have to drop my school after my class was over, due to the fact I didn't have 3000.00 laying around, and after I told them this could not happen from the get go. I was informed that If I drop now that the class I just got done with would be paid by financial aid, and could come back in a few months. So of course I said ok, cause I didn't know what else to do. I felt betrayed and lied to and was so upset that my education was put on hold due to the school not doing thier jobs right.

The real kicker is the day I received a bill from the school telling me I owed them 1662.00 for the class they told me would be paid for. So I get on the phone and call the financial adviser who was in charge of my case/account and asked her what is going on, you guaranteed me this was taken care, she told me she would look in into it and get back to me the next day. The next day came and went, then a week and than 2 weeks, I emailed and called for serval month with no reply. I finally got a reply on the 5th of September with I will looking into it. I am still trying to get this taken care of this, however I have to start from scratch because the adviser no longer works there.

I have talked to the former advisers supervisor off and on (more off) the past few months, that is when he feels like it, most of the time I get voice mail, I leave a message to have him call me back, and he so I call again and leave a message. I think I have called and waited for a call back for over 2 month, when I finally got a call from him on the 18th of January 2013, I once again had to go through the whole story and what took place and after all the he informed me that to much time has gone by for him to investigate my matter at hand. He also told me he would summit a ticket/request for me not to pay this 1662.00. I feel I should not have to pay the school this money due to the fact of broken promises, and guarantee.